A Day In The Life
This is an excellent article written about me in September 2003 by journalist Cait Rhodes
If you’ve ever felt
frustrated with your computer and wondered why IT can’t come to the rescue
within minutes, then you’ll be interested in this month’s ‘Day in the
life’. We found out what one of
the technicians, Jonathan Higgins, gets up to all day.
Jonathan, 29, has worked at
the Trust for three years, having had a wide range of jobs ranging from working
in a cinema box office to jobs in local health authorities.
He explains: “My ‘A’ Levels were in Government Politics, Psychology
and Classical Civilisation, so obviously it wasn’t always my intention to work
in IT. When the Internet took off
in the mid 90s and became popular with the masses, it really sparked my
interest. I had a PC at home, so I
was able to find my way round the system and to an extent teach myself how it
worked.
During his three years at the
Trust, Jonathan has been attending night school twice a week after work and has
just gained an HND in Computing. After
working initially as a Helpdesk operator, he is now working with the
technicians. Jonathan is one of a
team of six covering the whole of the Trust.
The others look after specific directorates, but he is a floating
resource working in all areas, as well as covering other technicians if they are
on holiday or off sick.
Jonathan explains: “Because
I cover all directorates, and work at Solihull sometimes too, I have a lot of
variety and meet lots more people. I’d
say that less than half of my work is pre-planned, most of it is responding to
calls to the IT Helpdesk. This
means that I can never predict what my workload will be, or where I’ll be, so
my days are full of surprises and no two days are the same.”
The Helpdesk can receive over
100 calls a day, which the team of six has to respond to.
These range from 10 minute quick-fix jobs to huge projects. Jonathan continues: “Sometimes the problems result from
simple mistakes like trying to enter passwords in capital letters.
However, it’s important that people don’t feel silly, so it’s my
job to help them understand where they went wrong without being patronising.
“I also have a number of
major projects I’m currently working on, which take a great deal of time.
For example, I am upgrading a number of secretaries’ computers with new
software and more memory, which can take a couple of hours per PC. Also when
departments have a major move to a different part of the site or new offices, we
have to oversee the reconnection of their systems and the position of cabling.
“My busiest day is usually
Monday, when we are sorting out problems that have arisen over the weekend.
We also have a Monday meeting to share best practice and any problems we
are having that other technicians could help with.
“I love how independent my
role is and that I can manage my own time.
I am given certain tasks at the start of the week, but apart from that,
the larger part of my job is reacting to people’s needs, which makes life
unpredictable and interesting.
“Another benefit for me is
the fact that I’m not desk-bound and I get to work all around the Trust,
meeting a wide range of people. And the IT team is great, so I also enjoy the
atmosphere back in the office.
“I don’t think this job
would appeal to everyone as you have to be really patient and a careful
communicator. People tend to only contact IT when they have a problem,
which means sometimes they are frustrated or angry. We understand that
colleagues get annoyed when they have an IT problem that may be preventing them
from doing their job, but with so many calls coming in, we can’t see everyone
immediately. However, I have never
found anyone to be unwelcoming or aggressive when I actually go and help them, I
am always welcomed and treated with respect.”
Jonathan, who lives in
Solihull, surprisingly still has some energy left over after running around site
all day fixing our technology nightmares. In
his spare time, he certainly likes to live life in the fast lane and is a big
speedway racing fan. And he even
finds time to do a bit of shopping – on line of course.
So next time, before you ring 41130, remember to check you have plugged in the computer, that your Caps Lock is off, and that your monitor is on. And if you do have to wait for a technician, it could be because 99 other people are also calling for an IT doctor.
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