Forming Working Relationships

Beyond the perks of my job, the easiness of it, and the flexible schedule I must say the best part of my job is the people that I work with.  Even the ones that get on my nerves constantly help to form a working environment that I think makes the job.  There are people who I can have a long meaningful conversation with and others that I can act like a total fool with, but no one takes themselves too seriously.  In fact, last week we pranked our new manager’s desk.  Our director loved it and our manager, I think, has a new found respect for us.  I think most of all this is what I would miss if I would get a “real job”.   I really do love the people that I work with and I am so appreciative everyday of being able to work with them!

Lovely Mercado

As I stated before in a previous post, the downtown Phoenix campus UTO is responsible for classrooms in four different buildings.  One of the buildings that I have grown to love the most is the Mercado.  Guessing from its name I am going to venture and say that the complex was once to home to shops, but somehow I have a hard time believing that.  It is know that home to ASU classrooms and office space.  The UTO department is housed in a quiet little corner “office”.  Office is in quotes because I have a strong feeling that it is a converted closet (very small and no windows).  But this is why I love this building.  No one really knows about it so it is never packed and since I have been working the classrooms for so long I can easily solve much of the issues that arise.  Plus, everyone thinks it is haunted. 

“Working Adult…?”

I don’t know if it is the same for other departments in universities that hire on student workers, but everyone in my office has a very unique definition on what a “working adult” is or what an “adult” is.  I have been working full time and going to school full time since I was sixteen.  I have been paying my own bills since I was eighteen and going to school, yet I have never really felt like I was an adult.  Even now, I live by myself, pay my own bills, and take care of myself 100% I still have a hard time telling myself that I am a “working adult” and I think it is because of my current job.  The same goes for the other student workers and staff member who are still completing a degree.  We all talk about how we don’t want to graduate because then we will have to enter the “real world” and get a “real job”.  Yet, we are all adults and could easily find work elsewhere.  Perhaps we are all in denial. 

Plans for the final semester

The closure of this semester has really put in perspective how horrible my studying habits have become.  I owe this to the fact that all of my classes this semester were online and I had to one physically to be accountable to.  Not to say that I did horrible this semester, I will be fine, but I definitely feel that there was a big change from previous semester.  Thankfully there is always time to start a new.  I am currently mentally and physically preparing to plan for next semester, the final semester.  Whether this means deleting my Face book account or dedicating all of my spare time to reading and writing then so be it.  I don’t want to look back after I graduate and think. “I did well enough.”  I don’t want to do good enough.   I want to do great.  I want to completely understand and enjoy what I am learning and the only way to do that is commit myself 100% into my studying.  I know that I can do it I just need to create a habit out of studying rather than procrastinating. 

Promotions

I think that I have mentioned something about pending promotion before, but just in case I haven’t I am madly jonesin' for a promotion.  As stated in my previous post, in August it will be two years that I have worked in this position for ASU and I really don’t see myself leaving in the near future.  That being said, it is hard not to wonder if there is something out there that I might not benefit more from.  Don’t get me wrong I really enjoy my job, but I always have the mindset that I should be constantly moving.  If I am not moving and progressing in a company within a certain amount of time I feel like I am wasting my time and will be relegated to the depths of “good enough”.  Meaning, you are a good worker and we trust you so we don’t want to lose you as good worker in the position that you are currently at.  So there is talking around the office of changes and promotions and   I really hope that I am able to showcase my abilities in a way that will finally get me that promotion!

Trade Secrets

In August I will have worked in the University Technology Office for ASU for exactly two years.  Before that I would not have even dreamed that I would ever be considered as “IT”.  I, like many who only deal with IT when something drastic goes wrong, had a limited view on what exactly they did.  If they were called I suppose I thought that they know what they were talking about and were able to easily solve the issue at hand.  Very soon after starting this position my mindset changed.  To be very honest, when you call IT, even when you call IT that have degrees in tech related fields they have no idea what they are doing when they first approach a problem.  Yes, they may know what goes wrong with the system or equipment, but that does not mean that that is what is going on in this specific instant.  After they have eliminated that they problem is not one that is common it is a simple act of guessing and trial and error until a problem is solved.  So, please, next time you interact with and IT person give him or her benefit of the doubt that they do not know everything.  And a little trade secret, when we say, “Let me check my knowledge base.” That just means we are looking it up on Google.

Working in the IC

                The Downtown campus is a smaller satellite campus of Tempe.  As a department, the DPC University Technology Office covers four buildings downtown and the one computer lab/library area known as the Information Commons.  The information commons is a unique place to work.  Since it is combined with the library and is open to the public there are a lot of interesting people and issues that we encounter.  To cut to the chase, out of all the areas that we cover I enjoy working in the information commons the least.  It does not matter how long you have worked down there or how tech savvy you may think you are every issue that arises will always through you off.  The printers are very old and jam constantly.  Last week we had four computers completely loss power as student were working on them.  Sure, it is always rewarding when you figure out a problem and come to the rescue of a severely stressed out freshmen, but there is always that looming fear that the person walking up to you right now will throw you that curve ball that you have no idea how to work out. 

Finals Week

                We are currently at in the middle finals week.  The week that every student both dreads and looks forwards to because even though it is a time of all-nighters and cram sessions it also signifies a time of completion and the impending holidays.  As a student who takes mostly online classes finals week has not been that stressful for me, but as a student worker I have learned to expect the worst.  It is a time when procrastination reigns supreme and it seems like every student is printing off study guides and term papers right before their last class, which also means that Murphy’s Law is fully in affect.  Luckily, though, the downtown campus on a busy day probably pales in comparison to the traffic that Tempe gets on a normal day.  Sure the occurrences in paper jams and papers that need to be formatted in certain way are up I still get to enjoy knowing how easy the few next week of my life will be!