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.   

I QUIT!

Well the title says it all.  I should probably give a little back story.  I am using my job as a technology consultant as my internship (officially), but I wanted to do something else that would give me firsthand experience in some other field.  In a previous post I stated that I did get an internship at a venue/events coordinator company.  Since it was located downtown and had connections to some of the more interesting structures and local companies in Phoenix I thought that I could get a really good idea of different aspects of the city.  In reality, I got to get a good idea of how appease a bride. The company, it turned out, mostly catered to weddings and due to my schedule this was the only thing that I was going to be exposed to.  I had a chance to blog for them (mostly about wedding stuff), but considering how much I enjoying blogging I thought it would be best not to pursue that. 

                I don’t like to quit and I am wouldn’t consider myself a quitter in any sense so the decision took me a very long time and I felt horrible about it. When I say that I will do something for another person in a business sense I take it very personally.  They are relying on me and I have a reputation to uphold.  With the internship though, I just couldn’t justify it in my schedule.  If I felt that I was learning something extraordinary or that I it could open doors for my in the field that I am studying I would have stuck it out, but none of that was happening.  I was answering e-mails and when I did work event s I was guarding art and greeting people.  It just wasn’t worth it.  So I quit.  I have more time to for school and work now, which makes everything less stressful.   It wasn’t a total waste, though.  I learned what I don’t want to do, what kind of culture I want to promote, and that if it something is not benefiting me I should just let it go.  Perhaps, it is not such a bad thing to be a quitter? 

And proud of it!?

Excuses and Lack of Motivation

Although writings on the topic of excuses and lack of motivation could fill up entire libraries I will shorten this entry to my experience as of late.   As I might have mentioned in previous posts, I will be graduating (come hell or high water) in May.  So it is without saying that I am extremely anxious, but when I get anxious I also shut down almost completely.  I have already finished two classes for this semester and since they were shortened classes I went full steam.  Now I am completely worn out.   This brings me to the part about excuses.  I am a firm believer in the no excuses policy or that excuses are like a certain part of the human anatomy.  Yet, that rule does not seem to apply to me when I am justifying why I am starting my research paper hours before it is due or why I am just considering which graduate program I want to apply to.   Nope, I have excuses to fill the Grand Canyon for those things.    I try to relieve the situation by being super organized and dedicated for a week and them, again, I lose steam and fall off the wagon. 

One excuse that I do standby is that I get tired of reading chapters from a text book and regurgitating the information in a neat little package that will suffice in the eyes of the professor without really caring about what I wrote.  This scares me the most.   It makes me think that my lack of motivation is because I don’t care about my major?  Have I spent these last two years of my life dedicated to a field I have no interest in?  The thought of this horrifies me.  But, it can’t be true.  I do love learning about the city, the people, and the way they interact.  I just never have been the person to sit back and learn second hand, just facts no passion. 

Here comes the catch.  In order for me to be involved in the city or learn firsthand how it develops I have endure this year and another two of graduate school.   I fear and I know that I will continue to struggle with excuses and lack of motivation.  This has never stopped me before, in fact, I do very well under pressure!

(http://positiverecognition.wordpress.com/2011/07/07/motivate-your-staff/)