Road trip Nation

I just enrolled in class for next semester.  These classes will be my last classes that I will take as an undergraduate in ASU.  I am very excited, but a little apprehensive about the future and the decisions that I have to make.  As a way to explore my options earlier this semester I started to ask people around me who have careers and seem successful why and how they are where they are in their careers.  As I was talking to my manager one day she offered me some really great insight on settling and she also brought up a show.  Her advice based on her own experience was to never settle.  If you are not happy with your choice at the time change, but you must always be doing something.  If you are always working and working on yourself then really have nothing to complain about because one way or the other you are gaining something.  The show that she suggested to me gives the same messages.  The show centers on different groups of three recent college graduates before they settle into a career path.  These three individuals take an RV cross country and speak to people that they have deemed are successful.  Most are and most have similar stories.  Their stories go; graduated from college, worried about life, got a job they thought they were supposed to have, hated that job, found a career that they loved with a lot of struggling and questioning in between.  Since I started watching these people on their journeys I have worried a lot less.  If something is wrong I will know and I will change, but I must not stop questioning and working. 

Wii Day!

I really do have a great job!  It is closing in on the end of the semester and we have a very busy winter session coming up to get all of the computers on campus imaged for spring semester and all the rooms cleaned and ready to go.  So, before we get into the craziness of this we like to have a day to relax.  We try to have a Wii day at the end of every semester.  This is a day where all the IT people from the downtown campus get together and pretty much play games because we all are nerdy techies at heart.  Of course, it is just nice to come in and play around all day, but it is also really nice to get to know the people that you work with in a more relaxed setting.  Last year we had a pot latch style Wii day and for those who aren’t great at the games (me) we also played Apples to Apples.  It was a great time and I am excited for this it again especially since this semester seemed extra stressful!

Student Worker Evaluation

So I don’t know if I had mentioned this in previous post or not, but I am what ASU likes to call a “student worker”.  That means I go to school and work for ASU, but I am not on work study and I am not a staff member so no real benefit.  Also, student workers are technically hired on through a contract.  Meaning that at the end of every semester the staff and manager or whichever department you work in evaluate your job performance and decide if they would like to renew your contract.  If this tradition was kept in the past is unbeknown to me, but it is being set forth this year.   As mentioned earlier my job is fairly easy so I can’t really complain.  That being said I do like to show that I care and if I can go the extra mile.  So I am not too worried that I will be “let go” this coming semester, but it is a little disconcerting knowing that your every move is being judged.  Now, hopefully ever employer does take their employees performance into consideration at least every now and then, but it seems a little more apparent when you know that it is happening.  

Down Time

As difficult as my job can be at time when you aren’t certain what is wrong with a room and how to fix the problem it is a fairly easy gig.  The only problem with this is that there is a lot of down time.  I hate down time for many reason.  One of the biggest is that I am a pretty honest individual and sitting around doing nothing while I get paid just rubs me the wrong way.  So in order for that guilty feeling to go away I end up creating things for myself to do, which is the second thing that I hate about down time.  I will clean, test equipment, create unneeded documentation just to sooth that beast inside of me.  On top of this I work 14 hour shifts so there is only so much cleaning, testing and documenting that I can do in a 14 hour work day.  I need to figure out a way to satisfactorily use my down time during the day.  It does, at least, give me time to get some homework done!

On the Job Training

One of the greatest things about my job is the constant training that I receive in all aspects of the field.  Whether it dealing with people, co-workers, computers, and audio visual equipment.  I have had a great opportunity to receive knowledge that will look amazing on a resume in a time that relies heavily on technology.  I really feel that this experience will benefit me as much as they degree that I am currently working on.  

Working with the Public

Every single job that I have had in my life was around the general public and was very customer service oriented.  Starting this job over a year ago I knew going in that it was going to be largely customer service based.  I was okay with that, actually it was one of the only things that made me confident in learning and pursuing more responsibility.  That being said, my mind has changed.  It is possibly a cliché how IT is thought of by people that need them and how IT is viewed internally.  Every time I answer a call I could face someone who knows nothing about technology and is irate that their computer won’t start or a perfectly nice professor that is dealing with malfunctioning equipment.  Either way these years that I have been working with the public has made me very cold towards people.  I have figured out that if you greet people as an IT person with a smiling face and a friendly attitude they will always view you as what they preconceive a IT person should be viewed as.  Whether that be as a helpful member of their institution or that person that tells them that everything is wrong and we don’t know when it will be better and we don’t know how long it will take because surprise surprise we don’t know everything!

Getting Ready for Spring Semester

It is not yet half way through November and plans are already in the progress of being made for spring semester and how preparing for spring semester throughout winter semester.  The biggest changes that is in the process for our downtown Phoenix location is the refresh program.  The refresh program happens every five years for all campuses of ASU.  This is a time were computers and AV equipment is “refreshed” or in other words we get rid of the old and bring in the new.  We got the okay to purchase the needed equipment last week and if all goes well we will be installing and testing equipment throughout the winter break.  Usually we only have spring imaging to worry about during the winter break, but if we do get new equipment it will be an extremely stressful and busy break.  In the end though, hopefully, this will be better for everyone involved.  The professors will benefit from have newer equipment that will have less faults and the students will benefit from this new equipment in the classrooms and a few one-to-one stations that are planned to be installed in the information commons area.  Personally, I will be happy to be ensured plenty of hours during the break since there will plenty of work to do!

Career and Internship Fair

As I stated in the previous post, this semester has been very tight and it seems like I have been working everyday that there has been a career fair or any career services event.  Luckily, though, I was able to attend a few events last semester.  One of the events that I attended was the internship and career fair.  Unlike the career panel I did not leave feeling very confident about my degree or future career perspectives.  There were a few issues that I faced during the fair.  One of the biggest obstacles that I felt that I faced during the fair was that whenever I told that anybody what my major was they instantly had a blank stare on their face.  No one knew what an Urban and Metropolitan studies major was so they didn’t think that it could fit into their field. Another thing that I didn’t like about the career fair was that at the time I was looking for an internship and there didn’t seem to be a lot of internship opportunities or the panelists were from private businesses that didn’t provide internships.   I was very discouraged after the event, but it did motivate me to pursue internships outside of what public governmental sphere.   

Career Panel

This semesters schedule has been so going to the career services events has been difficult.  Luckily, I was able to attend a few during last year.  One of the events was a career panel that featured non-profit and governmental sectors.  I thought that the insight that they gave in applying and preparing for a career was very interesting.  They focused in on specific majors that looked attractive in a field and even what your social media profiles should look like.  A few people from the non-profit sector urged us to intern as a way to get into the field.  Also, they stressed that the career choice that you make now isn’t necessarily the one that you will end up with.  After the panel I was able to talk to a UMS grad and discuss a little of the hardships that someone with our degree faces in the career field.  I took away from that panel a better idea of what I wanted to do and what I needed to do if I wanted to be in those specific fields.   Since it has been close to a year since I attended I have been able to accumulate more advice, which has only intensified what was being conveyed in that event. 

Calibration Calls

Recently I was given the opportunity to join my manager and director in analyzing calls and chats that come in through the Blackboard Student Services help center.  This entails my listening to the calls and looking at the web chats and judging whether the customer services provided was up to ASU standards.  I also look at whether the information provided to the customer was the correct information.  This opportunity has given me the chance to adjust the way I see my job so I don’t make the same mistakes that I might see in the call center agents.  Also, it has given me a sense of pride in my job and the institution that I represent.  I want take the mistakes that the agents make and I give critique.  I want them to be courteous to the customer and give correct information because at the end of the day they agent does not represent ASU, I do.  The calibration calls happen once a week and I am really enjoying them.  I hope this will open the door for more things along the road.