School districts now have an additional option when it comes to purchasing IT support from Questar III. Districts now have the opportunity to purchase a junior-level IT Support Technician in addition to or in place of the traditional network engineer.
Questar III Director of Information Technology Chad Goodfellow says the service evolved through conversations with districts that were looking for more hands-on support rather than the higher level tasks usually handled by a senior network engineer.
“We saw a need for a hands-on, junior level person in districts that have an IT director doing the engineer level work,” Goodfellow said.
The position is designed for people newly out of school or still in school, and is an especially good starting point for students coming out of Questar III’s Academy of Information Technology (AIT) program.
“They work together with the engineers a lot and that’s part of the mentoring that takes place. I fully expect in a few years someone in the technician role will be ready to move into an engineer position,” said Goodfellow.
Primarily, this services provides someone to monitor and maintain a system that an IT director or network engineer has built. Tasks like replacing toner, changing bulbs in projectors, handling help desk calls and installing various software are common in the day to day work of the support technician role.
The benefit to school districts is simple- why pay for more than you need? Goodfellow says previously, districts might have had to pay for a network engineer to handle the day-to-day tasks that the new junior support tech position will do at a much lower cost. He says this new service benefits all the involved parties.
“Engineers aren’t content doing the entry-level work, districts don’t want to pay for the expertise of an engineer to be changing toner and doing other basic tasks, and the techs get great experience and are able to develop relationships with school staff.”
He also says purchasing the service means more than just having the person on site. The technician in a district has access to engineers and higher level support from the BOCES should a problem arise that is beyond their ability to fix or troubleshoot.
Districts now also have the ability to split days between having an engineer and a support technician on site depending on where they are with their network and infrastructure. Another new offering is the ability to purchase a block of days for either the engineer or technician.
“The mix of technological expertise and outstanding customer service has been a perfect fit for Wynantskill UFSD,” said Superintendent Thomas Reardon. “Network Systems Engineer Anthony Vescio and Support Tech Marcin Margiewlewski, who work in the district on alternate days, work great together.” He also credits Goodfellow for instilling in his staff an authentic sense of ownership in the district.
“Anthony and Marcin are well qualified but what is really great is when there is something where they don’t know an answer, they’re willing and able to ask their colleagues in other districts to find out,” said Dr. Reardon. “It’s the best model. It’s like having access to a much larger technology staff.”
“We’ve had districts say we need to image 300 computers, can we have someone for three or four weeks or however long. If we have the capacity and the scheduling to send someone, we’ll do it so that provides another option to support districts,” Goodfellow said.
Goodfellow says the service has been very well received. Currently Ichabod Crane, Germantown, and Wynantskill have purchased the service.
“We have been very pleased with the level of service provided by our Junior-Level IT Technician, Andrew White. He has been well received and much appreciated by our staff as he provides the necessary day-to-day support to keep them connected,” said Ichabod Crane Superintendent George Zini. “He is a valuable member of the ICC team and helps to ensure the continual use of technology, with minimal interruptions, throughout our district.”
For more information, contact Chad Goodfellow at (518) 477-8771 or Chad.Goodfellow@questar.org.
