Need some advise - work issues.

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Guys need some advise about the following email. Basically I am completely hating working at this school where anotherone I work at is completely fine. I never get any thanks or breaks etc. I am doing my dissertation at the moment final 3 weeks of university and I am just feeling sick with stress. This is not helping.

A company called School Care i rearranged to visit us to sort out an issue last month. However they came in this month when they wern't meant to. Yet he blamed me? Even though I checked with him.

I was also asked to make a piece of furtinture which isnt in my job description. I am trying to get different things working for different teachers and with 8 hours I didnt have enough time even though i stayed late. Also laptops are being used by teachers to teach! ARGGGG

Anyway basically need some help with how to proceed. I am seriously thinking about just handing in my notice, I hate it, I hate the people and it all.


Email:

Hi ****

**** came in as you arranged on Wednesday, but today (Thursday) was
his scheduled visit and so he was in again. Nobody at school was
expecting this, and it meant (again) that I had to be realeased from
class to work with **** and to organise some work for him to do.

As you are aware, as the IT technician it is your responsibility to
know when School Care are in so that you can organise the work for Paul
and work with him on it.

As you will recall, I had asked you to print out the dates that you
are in school and when School Care are in. Had you done this, we would
have avoided this problem. The School Care visits are expensive and we
can't afford to waste them.

When Paul was in, I had wanted him to configure the laptop that I had
asked you to bring in (which we urgently need for teachers currently
without a laptop). I cannot find this in school, and assume you have
not brought it in yet. Please ensure this is in school.

**** and myself are also struggling to keep up with where you have
moved various bits of equipment to. Teachers have been given laptops
that should have been given back to the teacher they came from! As a
matter of urgency you need to get organised with this, and produce a
list of where things have come from and where you have put them. This
lack of organisation is creating extra work for Helen and myself, and
teachers are also getting frustrated.

Hope your exam goes well on Monday.
***

 

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I'm... not sure who is who in this scenario.

 

I am the top paragraph.

The stuff below is the I.C.T Co-ordinator who is a teacher at the school. (Indirectly My boss)

 

I'm still confused... you do contract work for them? You say that "they came in"... came in for what? My apologies, mate, I'm not following the scenario as to who is doing what to whom.

 

Please don't take this the wrong way but the ICT coordinator has listed your faults and has also questioned you organisational skills, so in my opinion you have 3 options:

1) Address and rectify the faults/concerns he has listed
2) Retaliate with evidence that he's talking sh1te - basically fight your corner
3) Leave/resign/walk/vote with your feet.

By the way, who are "School Care"?

 

I am the I.T. Technician at the school. Dan is a teacher (I.C.T Coordinator).

 

Yes, but do you work for the school or for a company that is employed by the school or the LEA to cover the IT for the school?

Also, is Dan correct in anything that he says in his email and, if not, do you have written evidence to back you up?

 

I am employed by the School. He is not correct in his emails. They were not on my list of jobs. There is written evidence to say he was in last month in the school office (school carE). School Care are a seperate I.C.T company who go to schools to provide technical support. They also resetup the School Network recently some issues which they did not fix which I was blamed for as well though I dididnt create the issues. Infact I was not even told when they wre coming in to create the new network and I wasnt involved at all in any of the processes.

My plan of action is:

1) Explain the School Care problem
2) Ask to implement a helpdesk system (we have a book at the moment)
3) Explain that teachers need laptops to teach
4) Say I will only do jobs that you have requested in the help desk

Grr I am so angry. At the advise of my cousin, he suggested I wait till next tuesday when I am in and come in with a plan of action and tell them how I am going to fix the ""issues"" presented with myself and how things are run.

 

You need to be calm when you're going to discuss this. If you get angry, then you lose the argument. The reason you have me, and possibly some of the other guys confused is you don't appear to be in the school all the time. Can you be more specific about the arrangement? Are you working at more than one school and, if so, are you employed a few days in each?

As an aside, I always (and I do mean always) make sure I get people to give me requests in writing or by email... sure, tell me in a phone call, but back it up with written info. If not, then it's your word against mine.

If SchoolCare are making changes, then they should document any and all changes they make. At the same time, if you make any changes (add a laptop, rename a printer, set up a user aaccount) you make changes - date, time, who instructed you - so that if there are any issues, you have an audit trail (and you protect your arse).

 

I am in the School (an infants school) once a week for 8 hours currently. At the other school I also work 8 hours however they are giving me more hours next year to do more jobs etc - start an I.T. Club.

I agree, I need to start documenting everything. I am not looking foward to next week at all now

 

Its just petty, I dont get this at all at the other School, infact I pretty much do it all, including what you could say (Dans job is) as the other I.C.T co-ordinator doesnt give a hoot at the other school which is cool with me, I deal with the very approachable head and deputy head when doing purchasing and sorting out problems etc.

I asked school care to email me which they didnt. The Dan guy should of called me as well, easy to do, I could of spoke to the School Care guy over the phone to tell him what to do.

Fact is I need a new job anyway In september. I am not happy there, I am not challenged, I am not learning, the working with kids is cool but the fact is I dont do anything with any of the kids anyway in regarsd to their learning.

The only good thing is I am let pretty much alone to do it all and some staff are really thankful. End of! Going to deal with it next week with my action plan which I will present to the head and the guy named Dan. If they want to have a go at me, I will remain calm and cool! No emotion.

 

Sparky's right... try not to stress (sometimes easier said than done, as I know from personal experience).

Before you do discuss it with Dan, make sure you jot down dates, times, memory of phone calls, an/or copies of emails, so that you aren't stumbling over the details when you do come face to face. If you have got written evidence (as I say, emails can be very useful) then 'keep your powder dry' - don't throw it in his face - see what he has to say.

If there are concerns over processes (keeping audit trails can be part of those processes), tell him what you believe needs to be done to tighten things up. Proposing a solution to an issue often diffuses what could blow up into a problem, and shows you're thinking about those issues.

 

Spot on!

 

Good plan, mate!

 

Sounds like one of the more usual student placements, you do all the work, something goes wrong you get the blame.

Anyway your plan sounds good.

 

Get a Hardware Register up;

Even if it is just a spread sheet. Give each Laptop a number such as PC001, have the make and model, the serial number underneathe, the location of the laptop and the person it is assigned too.

If you get on top of it that way, you will know where everything is. Whenever a new piece of hardware is bought, put that in too, External hard Drives, Monitors, Printers, put them all in there with as many details as you care to have.

Give it some filters at the top of the spreadsheet, with maybe a column for notes. It will save you a huge hassle and will probably be really appreciated by your boss.

 

Just on top of this, I would also produce a form for people to sign when they have received the kit, that way you have verification that equipment is with who you say it is.

 

This post should be required reading for any techs who are given responsibility for the asseting side of IT. In smaller organisations it can be an absolute nightmare to keep track of things - often worse than larger places (where things are actually far more likely to get pinched) because there's usually one poor sucka left with the responsibility - along with having five million other things to do.

Some pointers here that may help others in similar situations

1 - ASSET REGISTER

By far the most important (and, sadly, most time-consuming) aspect of IT equipment responsibility is keeping track of it all. Knocking up a quick asset database in Access will take you, at most, two days - importing the data into it may take a bit longer, but once up and running you will never have to worry where a laptop is if you maintain and use the system consistently. You can incorporate features like printing out removal forms for itesm that are handed out to people, along with making them sign a piece of paper which reinforces the fact that they are legally responsible for that item of equipment. Even doing this in a spreadsheet would be infinitely preferable to just writing it down in a book (or, worse still, keeping all the info locked away in your shwede!)

2 - VISIT REGISTER

Anyone coming into the IT area needs to sign a register to state the date, time and purpose of their visit. That way you have chapter and verse to refer to if you ever get the old 'I spoke to IT' chestnut when someone just wants a good old gripe. Sad fact of life is that when people don't understand something properly, the first thing they want to do is moan about it and blame someone else for their own shortcomings. IT is the worst field to be in for this, because most people still haven't got a Danny about computers.

3 - HELPDESK SYSTEM

Again, something you could knock up in Access (slightly more involved but, if you're the only user using it then it shouldn't be too difficult). You need to make sure you record all the salient points (user's name, contact details, problem details) and, if you're clever, you'd tie it in to your asset database so you can record specific faults against individual items of equipment (very useful for knowing when something may be coming to the end of its useful life). If you use this system consistently it will cut down massively on all the head scratching later when someone complains about a request not being fulfilled. Beware - there WILL be people who refuse to adopt this, but if you get most people onside, you'll be able to implement a 'no helpdesk request - no response' regime.