Worked in various computing support roles most of my life. Currently working at multiple public school sites.
With all the AMAs on forums lately I thought now's a great time for me to post. Ask anything you like! :)
[AMA] I'm a Computer Support Technician Working in The Education Industry
[Deactivated] on 28/10/2017 - 01:02
Last edited 21/02/2022 - 14:46 by 1 other user
Last edited 21/02/2022 - 14:46 by 1 other user
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I'm not quite as high up as a bachelors (my role would be more equivalent to a diploma or something) so I can't really comment beyond generic advice.
Overall, be ready to convince people a round wheel is better than a square. If it's anything like my job you'll constantly need to convince people things that make perfect sense. You may also need more advanced communication skills to ensure they understand things.
Might also be worth attending things like EduTech (it's free from memory) to further your knowledge of IT solutions used in education.
Lately it's been "have you turned it on?" when people ring about printers not working. They automatically sleep and staff are a little scared about pressing the on button.
Hello,
Considering I also work for Education undertaking a different role, I am starting to get buried in Admin (paperwork, reporting) where it is becoming 80% of the daily task.
Are you constrained with predominant Admin based/reporting activities rather than just undertaking your IT support Tech role?Cheers
It depends on the exact role of the individual and structure of the schools staff. For me I had to do a professional development plan at the start of employment, but I don't think anyone has even looked at it since. There's also a lot of forms for ordering new parts, but the larger school I work at has a staff member working in finance who's also hired to assist with that kind of thing. They're more than happy to help.
Without someone like that it'd be a nightmare in all honesty.
Hi, I just thought I'd say thanks for doing a AMA. I love reading these :)
Same here, that's why I thought I might do one! :)
I'm almost tempted to do one myself now.
Is this a lucrative gig and what are the working hours like?
Currently working 8AM - 4PM, not much different to elsewhere. I just have to get up an hour early and have an extra hour to rest in the afternoon before making dinner. I don't mind it at all.
Probably could get a higher pay elsewhere if I lived in a city, but public sector is the best available for IT in rural areas.
Funniest item found inside a computer?
My favourite memory is a room full of SGI indys, about a third had floptical drives. During a really intense submission day and overbooked period one student asks to put his floppy disk in another student's indy to load his files. Turns out that there was no floptical drive and the block had been pushed in so the disk disappeared into the bowels of the computer meaning the kind student lost his computer for half an hour while the disk got retrieved. Won't take a minute :p
I've been fortunate enough to not find anything unusual yet, though my colleagues apparently found a meat pie inside a disk drive once… However that works.
What is your salary and how does it compare to your peers?
Do you do the rounds of the schools or are the computers sent to you? What's the mix of desktops and laptops?
I have an office on all sites where laptops are often brought in for repair. When things get a little slow I'll usually do a quick walk around and there will be multiple things to fix that no one submitted a support ticket about.
Hahah I used to be a SSO level 1. First year out of high school part-timing with uni. Those were the days !! Mainly inputting printing credit receipts, remoting desktop into student machines to see if they were doing work or not, moving CRT monitors around (too heavy for a skinny 18yo girl) and tech support for teachers…
Is your job very similar or different now?That's what my original plan was - part time with uni. Still here now though lol
SSO-1 is meant to be strictly junior techs, but a few sites play the system a little.
It's meant to be similar to what you explain, just updated with todays technology (ie entering details into automated printing credit systems (papercut usually), replacing LCD monitors, calibrating projectors, etc). Also reimaging laptops in bulk - these days it's as simple as plugging a network cable in and pressing F12, so junior techs usually do that.
On some sites you'll often see it a little differently, but I personally don't mind that too much. For example, at one school I'm responsible for the upkeep of around 100 iPads, 150 laptops and 40 desktops. There's an SSO-3 there one day a week, the rest of the time it's me alone doing the job. That school only pays me at SSO-1. By the definition of the different rates it should be SSO-2, but it's not uncommon to see it as SSO-1 despite this.
tl;dr:
If classified correctly, yep, about the same. Employees aren't always classified correctly these days though.
Hi there. I am someone who is currently studying a bachelor of IT at uni and my plan is to work in the education industry.
What are the most important skills you believe are necessary to get by in your role and if you could give one piece of advice what would it be!?