Grinnell College Information Technology Service
To assist students in their studies and work, Grinnell College hired and trained roughly 50+ students to work in the Technology Consultant (TC) Corps. Although the TC Corps encompassed multiple domains (see AV Center, Mathlan, and Helpdesk), Grinnell trained each TC to staff numerous computer labs around campus. Though I preferred the more knowledge-oriented positions, each semester I scheduled shifts in these general labs, serving as the primary line of defense against technical troubles for the majority of students and professors. I resolved issues relating to common applications (recovering corrupted documents, converting between file formats, adding filters in Photoshop, etc.), specialized hardware (such as pen tablets, printers, and scanners), and Grinnell-specific configuration (accessing network storage, connecting to wireless, and so on). As I quickly became certified for more technical labs, I also carried the domain-specific knowledge into the generic TC position.
During my second year, the TC Coordinators granted me the privilege of training members of the next generation of TCs to staff both the generic and more specialized labs. For each, I created a small lesson plan of material to cover for the first half of our shift followed by time for exploration and to gain more experience with the topics discussed. I found training the mentees to be particularly enjoyable because they would often raise questions I hadn't considered and they tended to become interested in topics that I hadn't had the time to focus on before. Over my career at Grinnell, I mentored more than a dozen students, gaining a much broader perspective on the uses (and frustrations) of modern technology along the way.
While working as a Technology Consultant, I became certified in a few sub-disciplines:
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Helpdesk Technician
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Grinnell College Information Technology Service
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January, 2006 - May, 2008
Solved problems with hardware, software, and anything else; via both telephone and face-to-face
Perhaps the most elite of Grinnell College's Technology Consultants, the Helpdesk Staff were trained to provide the highest-quality technical support the college could offer to students. There was no technical task which we would turn down, and we would take each case as far as possible given our equipment and skill sets. These challenges often required multiple days of work (unlike traditional TC issues) and ran the gamut from optimizing operating systems to finding failing hardware to speaking with Sony and other manufacturers on behalf of users. Our day-to-day operations largely consisted of ridding computers of malware and configuring the relatively tedious wireless settings, but the helpdesk always housed one or two "tough" problems, which I enjoyed solving.
For example, I received the Helpdesk Foster Parent award for nursing an ailing desktop from the grave by discovering its dying (though misleading) hard drive, donating a small hard drive of my own, and when the user couldn't find the original Windows cds, installing Ubuntu in its stead. I walked a professor completely through e-mailing a photo found on the Internet when she wasn't experienced enough to know where the control key was. I created a 95% backup/recovery from a hard drive which could not be recognized within its native operating system. I saved a guest lecturer's presentation by quickly re-seating the RAM on her Powerbook minutes before the event. All in all, this position entailed the most challenging and (therefore) most rewarding technical issues I have faced while providing just enough user interaction to never allow me to lose site of the people I was helping.
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AV Center Staff
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Grinnell College Information Technology Service
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August, 2005 - May, 2008
Handled audio-visual equipment, including check out, set up, and support
To become an Audio-Visual (AV) Center staff member, a Technology Consultant needed to prove his/her knowledge of various AV technologies by becoming certified. AV Center shifts required an understanding of the many different digital and analog still/video cameras, audio recording equipment, projectors, etc. which were (generally) freely available to Grinnell students and faculty. We logged usage of the different pieces of equipment with Web Checkout, a simple, widely-used inventory web application. Aside from checking in/out equipment and answering common AV-related questions, we also handled the set-up and tear-down for events on campus, including AV-enhanced lectures, visiting speakers, and concerts. These events demanded knowledge of larger systems, such as mixer boards and multiple input/output feeds, in addition to more universal troubleshooting techniques.
Duration:
2005-08 - 2008-05
