Thank you for your support

Today I was very busy.  Well...maybe I should be more accurate and tell you that several male members of our staff was very busy today.  That is because I had to unload a very large donation from my vehicle.  And as you can see by the picture to the right, it was not something I could have handled on my own.

My students and I are very fortunate to have received a large donation from Softrim Corporation a large technology company in the area.  Softrim supports networks of all sizes as well as providing for the telephony needs, Audio/Visual and theater installations, programming and help desk.  They sound busy don't they?

Trust me.  They are.

Softrim has been very generous to the program previously donating hard drives and a server.  But late last week, we won the Tech Center Lotto.  Softrim called me up to tell me they had a surprise for me.  I arrived at the office to find techs spilling out like ants.  "Hi Amy!  You got lots of stuff in there."  They greeted me enthusiastically before hurrying off to the next job. When I walked in, I found out why.  No one wanted to help carry that huge pile of equipment out to my car.

In all, I picked up 9 servers, 4 Cisco and HP switches, 4 Pix firewalls, a 16 port Raritan KVM and a really cool rackmount monitor/keyboard drawer.  (I know to most people this is boring, but my students and I are excited.)  This equipment will go perfectly in the server rack we just received from Mooring Park.


While I was in the office I took a couple pictures I would like to share with my students while they eagerly sit at home anticipating the start of school.  Here are pictures of:

•  The hardware bench:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
  

 

• The help desk area:
  

• Off-site storage:
  
  
  

Thanks again to my friends at Softrim for contributing so generously to the hands-on experience here at iTech.

Guest Lecture

iTech is the only Prometric testing site in our area.  The next closest is in Sarasota.  Therefore, we are the only nearby option for area companies to certify their technicians.  With that, we are honored to have a partnership with CoastalIT to certify their techs.

Last week, one of Coastal's technicians, Wiliam, came out to our campus upgrade his certification from Windows 7 to Windows 8.  I previously had the pleasure of getting to know him while he was a student at our sister school Lorenzo Walker Institute of Technology.  As I set up his test, I asked him if he was willing to take a moment after he passed (because I knew he would) to come upstairs and talk to my students.

So the title of this post is a bit deceiving, because, did not really lecture.  In fact, he was quite reluctant to come up at all.  But, he graciously took a moment to talk informally with my summer students and mentor them.

 It's funny because many of the things he shared with the class are the things that we have been talking about all year.  He stressed that perhaps the hardest part of his job was the people skills he needed.  When out in the field it is important to explain to your customer what you are doing and avoid jargon while giving this explanation.  That is much easier said than done.

William also described some of the on-line applications that they use to remotely support their clients so that they only need to go on site when absolutely necessary.  This allows them to give a faster response to and increase the value of their product.

Finally, they talked about on-going education.  William completed the Computer Systems Technology program only two years ago.  However, he took it upon himself to learn new technologies, obtain the corresponding certifications and has earned himself a shiny promotion or two.  Way to go!

And his advice for those who were apprehensive about what they will find out there in the workplace?  Just do it.  You will learn with the experience.

Amen.  Thank you William for sharing with us.  I know my students learned much and are inspired to see someone like yourself who has completed the same program do so well.