What I enjoy most about my job in school ICT
This blog follows a series of insightful articles from our staff about their day-to-day roles - see more >
I am lucky in many ways that workwise my job in the SBS school ICT team is varied in its nature, so I have a wide range to choose from when considering what I enjoy most.
This in and of itself is a 'perk' as some jobs can be repetitive and mundane by their very nature. Not this one! If variety is indeed the spice of life (as the old cliché would have us believe), then this job is the spice rack!
Elements of my role include:
- Project Engineering - providing engineering resource for projects that would take place outside of normal working hours (e.g., summer server projects). This can include server replacements, desktop rollouts, data migrations, application rollouts, mobile devices, etc. This part is very varied and will often feature exposure to new technologies.
- Providing telephone support to customers - this involves talking to users, logging details in a ticketing system and using remote tools to assist in fixing issues and providing training and 'how to' information.
- Providing 'back office' support to engineers on the ground - this can include working a checklist, finding out the causes of technical issues and advising on deploying fixes, and liaising with 3rd parties.
- Providing a 'break and fix' service to schools - this involves 'going in blind', discovering root cause, effecting a repair, and feeding back into the support process to prevent recurrence where possible.
- Major Incident Management - providing a focal point for all interested parties when a Major Incident (an Incident affecting multiple users possibly on multiple sites) takes place, co-ordinating the various rescue efforts and keeping everyone up to speed with progress made/ETA for fix.
- SLA cover - providing cover on the ground/remotely for schools whose engineers are otherwise engaged (e.g., sickness or holiday cover).
- Research and Development - looking into new and upcoming technologies that will be useful in an education setting. This part is particularly interesting as all kinds of tech products appear, and it can be fun trying these out and working out which will become features of life in the future.
So what do I enjoy the most?
Simple – making someone’s day better. All of the elements of the role feed in to customer support, and whilst the technology exposure is fun and interesting, 'the people bit' is the part I enjoy the most. The sense of satisfaction from helping people is immense and is the reason I do this job. Developing and maintaining relationships with people is where this role is at for me, and I would not change this for anything.
Technology changes, but people do not. I remind myself regularly that people are the reason I come to work and not a distraction. Whilst this job is not 'astronaut' (my ideal job all things considered), it is pretty close – I am reminded daily how lucky I am and will keep doing this job for as long as I am successful at it.
Get in touch today
Please contact the ICT Service Desk on 0345 222 1551 • Option 1 or email ICTservicedesk@schoolbusinessservices.co.uk
