I work for a modern communications company
and that of course means computers.
We are an internet service provider.
We also have an internal network of computers and that's where I come in.
At the moment, I'm in charge of ten servers and about 70 PCs,
including about 10 laptops and my job is to maintain all those,
so that the staff can work productively and efficiently.
I'm a systems engineer and an IT consultant.
Hey, Marcus. What's on for the week?
Oh, hi, Al. We've got quite a few ...
Marcus is my boss and he usually sets me up for the jobs
that I need to do for the day and for the week as well.
So if you can have a look at all those as well. Yeah, can do.
OK. Thanks for that.
One of my jobs in the data room is to back up all our servers on to tapes and every
morning I have to come in and make sure the data was backed up successfully.
Another one of my jobs is fixing PCs.
Occasionally we find that PCs stop working,
so I have to go in, take them apart,
find out what the problem is and replace any parts
necessary in order to get the machine functioning again.
I have to be here when the problems
occur so generally I work from 9 to 5.
Sometimes I have to come in after hours and work during the night.
Generally it's for about 50 hours a week and the pay is pretty good.
I've always been interested in computers. I've been playing
around with computers for ... pretty much all my life and,
to get this job, I went to TAFE for a year, completed that and
went off and got a couple of industry certifications as well.
You've got to have a passion for this job. You've got to love computers.
Computers are changing so much, so rapidly that you have
to keep up with them otherwise you'll be left behind.
Doing a TAFE course was a good way of getting into this job.
Another way is to get your qualifications through university.
You can get qualifications directly from industry as I did for two areas.
You also need to make contacts and get to know as many people in IT as you can.
From here, I guess I can go anywhere, I mean, with the industry changing
so much, so rapidly I could be doing anything in five, ten years from now.
Oh, hi, Alan. Thanks for coming up so quickly.
I've got some problems with my computer. I was
wondering if you could take a look at it.
Yes, sure. What seems to be the problem?
I don't seem to be able to get on
to the network, for some reason.
At the moment, I'm trying to solve a user problem.
Kim says that she can't access the network, so
I'll have to go and investigate her machine and
see if it's a problem with her machine.
Otherwise, I’ll have to go and check the servers.
Providing you have the appropriate
qualifications and knowledge, it's
not hard to get a job because the
industry is constantly expanding.
The key is being able to apply that knowledge to troubleshoot
the problems, although that's not all there is to it.
OK, Barbara. First thing we're going to do is we're
going to hook up all the cables for the router.
Communicating with people, not just solving
technical problems but being willing to listen
to people and have the patience to see it
from their point of view is very important.
In this case, I am training this person on how
to configure a router to access the network.
OK, Barbara. The first we're going to be
doing is setting a password for the router.
I enjoy the opportunity to train people.
I like the interaction that I have with them and I also really
enjoy the fact that I'm passing my knowledge on to them.
At the moment, I'm very happy where I am.
The job is challenging and interesting and always keeping me on my toes.
For the future, I don't know where it'll take
me so I guess I'll just have to wait and see.