Helping IT staff keep pace with fast-moving technology

The one thing that’s certain — as the saying goes — is change. Ramp up the pace of change to warp speed and you’re talking technology. UCLA’s information technology (IT) staff members know this well, responsible as they are for helping their departments’ keep current in an always-evolving universe of computer hardware, software and everything in between.

 

IT staff also have to keep current on the ever-morphing body of knowledge, skills and tools required to do their jobs.

 

Stepping up to assist is the campuswide Help Desk Consortium (HDC), which is offering scholarships, training classes, mentorship and other resources.

 

“The consortium is doing everything we can to make sure that our talented IT staff has opportunities to develop and be supported,” said its president, Stacey Rosborough, IT manager for the Office of Residential Life.

Sponsored by the Office of Information Technology (OIT), the consortium is an organization of IT staff and managers that promotes collaboration and professional development across UCLA’s 40 help desks and 30,000 computers.

Jackie Reynolds, OIT director of campus services, said, “We were fortunate to be able to scrape together a small fund to help ensure ongoing training opportunities when so many units have to cut training budgets.”

 

 

IT staff are encouraged to apply for professional development scholarships for up to $500 to take classes — including those at UCLA Extension and training and development classes offered by Campus Human Resources — or to attend professional conferences or pursue other training opportunities. Feb. 19 is the application deadline for the next set of awards, which will be announced in early April. Further information and the application are available online.

 

One past scholarship recipient, Jonathan Wilson, IT support technician for UCLA Library Computing Services, was able to achieve his certification after enrolling in an online training course and passing two challenging exams.

 

Wilson had been thinking for some time about training for certification as a Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician, but cost was an issue until he applied for and received a $350 HDC scholarship. That “pushed me to do something that I wouldn’t have done otherwise,” Wilson said. “I am glad I did it. And now I’m motivated to do more, to get further certifications.”

 

 

HDC also sponsors scholarships to access SkillSets IT Online, which offers more than 200 online classes in such high-tech topics as Cisco, Java, and network security, along with project management and other subjects useful to IT professionals. Each SkillSets training module takes about 40 hours to complete over a two-week period.

 

With his certification under his belt, Wilson hopes to take a SkillSets class in Advanced Microsoft Office, which he said would help him work with library colleagues to make better use of the myriad features the software offers.

 

While the application deadline has passed for this fiscal year’s set of SkillSets scholarships, more classes will be added soon, so keep an eye on the HDC Awards webpage for announcements.  

 

 

Visitors to HDC’s website will find a virtual training library via a link to Safari Books Online. UCLA has a paid subscription to more than 1,300 books on a wide range of IT topics, from web development to project management, every one of them available for instant reading online.

HDC is also in the process of creating a virtual career resource center, said OIT’s Reynolds.

 

“We're pulling together training, support, resources, project opportunities and mentors to help people with their IT growth and development goals,” she said.

 

IT staff, with the approval of their supervisors, will find cross-training opportunities, special projects they can involve themselves in to hone new skills, and mentors from around campus to guide them in their professional development.

 

“Studies have shown that one of the most important things to IT staff and their job satisfaction is the ability to constantly grow and learn within the ever-changing landscape,” said Rosborough, adding, “Employees who acquire new skills meet the future needs of UCLA.”