Please tell me about your role at the university
I am an IT Support specialist at the University of York. Usually we are based at the helpdesk in the library, but at the moment due to the current pandemic I am remote working from the dining room of my home. We are first line IT support offering assistance to staff and students via telephone and our incident manager system. When we are based in the library we also provide face to face appointments to help the students with their computer problems or with advising them of new ways of working, such as improving their workflow efficiency. We are here to help with a wide range of issues from access issues, like issuing password resets, to fixing broken devices; no day is the same! We also use a remote support tool which means we can share the end users screen which is a lot easier than them describing the error message or what they are seeing. This is especially helpful while we’re unable to interact with users face to face.
How did you come to work in higher education? Please tell me about your career background.
At University I studied Fine Art with the initial idea of becoming a Teacher. I enjoyed art so much I wanted to further that career and I had a few jobs as an Art Technician. It was in these roles that were half art-based, half teaching based that I then decided I wanted to work in HE. I have always enjoyed the idea of working in HE. It’s a great sense of community and there’s so many more roles than just the Teachers which I had previously wanted to be. I realised that I really enjoyed learning and helping others to learn what I had. As an Art technician I really learnt to problem solve which is really a key transferable skill in IT. If something doesn’t work it is my job to either fix or find a work around until it can be fixed. As an Art Technician not only was problem solving a large part of my role but it was mainly helping people. I really enjoy being able to help people which is great when working on a helpdesk!
Would you say your job is rewarding/meaningful?
My role is extremely rewarding. With a job like IT you get lots of immediate fixes which means it’s very fulfilling. It’s really great to be able to help someone regain access to something which is vital for their role.
A big part of my job is communicating with people. It’s really great to speak to people from many different departments and understand their roles a bit more. Not only is the day to day role fulfilling but the bigger picture of helping the University run as a whole. The students are a big part of our job; even if we aren’t always student facing we are keeping those systems running that help them with their degrees. A difficult part of the role is helping students when they have deleted their essay that they have spent hours and hours on, but it’s a great feeling if we are able to get this back for them.
Please highlight any development opportunities you’ve had
At the University there are a wide range of learning and development opportunities, and since starting a year and a half ago I have been able to take part in a range of courses. I have taken a Mental Health First Aid course, which is important for both our students and our staff to make sure we are able to look after everyone’s Well Being. I also felt that this was important in the role I have as often I can be dealing with people who are under a lot of stress, for instintance trouble submitting an essay or they have just lost their work.
I have also been on the Springboard Course which is about developing both ourselves and our careers. This course is specifically designed for women in all stages of their personal and work development. The course ran once a month for four months and we had a booklet to complete in between sessions. Because the course ran for a good length of time we were also able to develop a support community between ourselves. These courses have really helped me grow as an individual as well as an employee. This course helped me gain the confidence to apply for another role in IT at the University. I started at the University as a Technical Assistant and when the IT Support Specialist role came up I wasn’t sure whether or not to apply for it. The Springboard course gave me both the confidence and some tips and tricks to be able to succeed in the new role.
Please tell me about your experience of the facilities on campus for university life/wellbeing
The library is a great resource, working in the same space as the Borthwick Archives (one of the leading archive repositories in the United Kingdom) is really inspiring.
Another great part of working on the University campus is the wide variety of different food courts. A big favourite of mine is Burrito Wednesday! There is also a wonderful vegan restaurant located a short walk from my office. Of course we have our own staff rooms which is perfect for a cup of tea and a chat with colleagues.
However, the best thing (in my opinion) about the campus is the beautiful Lake – it’s really nice to take your breaks and lunches walking around spotting all the different kinds of geese and other wildlife.
There are also shops, a bank and a post office on campus, which means it’s super easy to get any errands sorted in the day and not have to wait until the weekend when I can pop into town. As well as these, there’s the Sports Village on campus, which offers a swimming pool, gym and exercise classes. It’s really nice to be able to take an exercise class on an evening after work.
What do you like most about working in a university?
The University has so much to offer, I really like that there are so many different career paths – it’s great to hear the stories of people who have worked in a few departments over the years. I started as a Technical Assistant in the IT department and then moved onto the helpdesk. I really enjoy that you can learn and grow with the roles and take the things you know from one department and apply them in the next. IT is definitely for me but there’s so many different areas I can grow into. The University has flexible working which means I am able to take half days off when needed, which is vital to our wellbeing as I am able to gain back a better work/life balance. I also enjoy being able to go to lecturers that interest me – I keep an eye out on some of the public lecturers that go on and it’s great to go and listen to what people have to say.
What has been your career highlight whilst working in higher education and why?
I think the most recent highlight has been throughout lockdown. The amount I’ve been involved in helping others be able to work from home has been so rewarding. It’s been a difficult time but being able to help others, especially those who aren’t so technical, learn how to get onto our systems from home has been a great success. I’ve found that the people I’ve been helping have really appreciated the help and for some it’s the first person they’ve spoken to in a while so it’s also nice to have a chat with them about how they are coping with the new arrangements. The amount of great feedback we have had just shows how well we as a team have done as well. We have managed to change so many of the ways we do things in such a short amount of time which really shows the teamwork and support for one another that we have.
I also really enjoy volunteering at the open days we do for prospective students. I’m able to learn lots about the University during these, and really appreciate what it has to offer for incoming students. It is always really encouraging.
What are your tips/advice for those considering a career in HE at a university?
It’s such a wonderful place to work and there are such a range of careers in HE to get involved in. I think it’s really important to share the same values as your place of work so it’s worth looking at the University’s policies and ideas. It is also really important to visit the city the university is in if you are going to relocate. I came to York to study and loved it so much I didn’t want to leave the area.
IT has been something I’ve been good at but it wasn’t something I was 100% sure was the right job for me until I started working here. When looking at HE, if you’re not 100% sure on which department you want to be part of, find one that interests you and then once you know a bit more about the University you may want to move to another department, bringing a wide range of transferable skills with you. On the other hand, you might find that you find the perfect fit straight away. The beauty of working in HE for me is that there’s always a new challenge around the corner.
How things have changed for you and your University in the HE sector.
Due to Covid we obviously had to move to working at home wherever possible. As I work in IT we actually started trialling this the first week in March as we needed to be able to make sure our systems were ready to be accessed from home. It meant having to implement a lot of new things very quickly, such as having to use two phone systems in place of our desk phone and calling system. During Covid we have been extremely busy as we have had to help train people on how to use these new ways of working. Our team meets over Zoom in the morning and in the afternoon just to catch up on the day checking in with each other. We communicate through Slack, an instant messaging system which is useful as we no longer have that peer to peer help in our offices. Personally, I have enjoyed working from home and hopefully, one day when we are back in our offices it will be nice to have the flexibility of being able to work both from home and in the office.
For us, the start of term has been the real big change. Usually, when the students arrive they can drop into the IT helpdesk for help in getting their devices connected, however this year that had to change. We have still been open with the phones and emails and we had one person on-site for if we were unable to get them set up remotely, most we are able to help remotely. This meant that we have been busier as before we may have handed them a leaflet or directed them to our webpages, but we are pleased we have been able to do a large majority of this remotely and have still been able to provide support to our students and staff during this time.
This interview was conducted before the Coronavirus Pandemic. Working arrangements on university campuses may have changed due to social distancing measures.