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Advice for the K12 Tech Guy?
small fish asks: "I am a newly dubbed 'Technology Coordinator' for a K-12 school district. Things here technology-wise are not well. People here are ignorant technology-wise--which is fine, as being tech-savvy is my job. However, they do not seem to trust my judgment on anything except changing printer cartridges. I'm being measured against a former teacher who filled the role for a while and was VERY comfortable with using Microsoft products. Are there any other Slashdot readers out there in similar straits? If so, what advice do you have for me?"
"For starters, there is no firewall, all IPs are exposed to the public, they are relying on Windows NT 4 boxes to sustain operations, and they seem to love their Exchange for doing email and address books, although I have only one user who migrates between two different computers. The Exchange server died due to a spam overload and will not restart, so I set up a BSD box for handling mail and DNS. To make things worse, there is no real disaster recovery here and virtually no backup power. As I type my carpets are still wet from last night's rains that poured through the machine room wall - and this happens every time it downpours I'm told.
My coworkers do not want anything to do with Macintosh computers, they have never heard of Firefox, and Unix was a strange foreign word I had to explain to some before I gave up entirely. What tips do you have for surviving (even thriving) in this type of environment?"
My coworkers do not want anything to do with Macintosh computers, they have never heard of Firefox, and Unix was a strange foreign word I had to explain to some before I gave up entirely. What tips do you have for surviving (even thriving) in this type of environment?"
Don't make another Kutztown 13. I'm serious. If there's a hole or flaw in one the system you coordinate, work with students and faculty, but don't try to get students thrown in jail for an error that's been made below you.
Kids are gonna push their technical limits, but don't be a nazi. They'll learn with time.
And get rid of the NT 4 boxes. Well, that's what I'd do, anyway.
- dshaw
The last guy was a friend of the staff and just filled in. No real policy or leadership there (my guess) before. Now a new guy has come in and wants to change things. You're not going to be liked initially.
As another poster suggested, Macs are great. I'd try to force a change to them, but good luck. If you stay, you will be servicing old Windows boxes forever, and trying to get Linux to cover everything the old NT boxes did without anyone noticing (because they'll complain you changed something "for no reason").
Run.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Are you "The Guy" or are you a pawn of someone bigger. If your say-so carrys weight, use what you know. Put it though some pilots first (if it's in your budget), then say, "This is how it's going to be."
(If Linux) When faced with budgeting concerns, show them how much you'll save by using, say, Debian w/firefox, openoffice.org, etc. Even better, use the NX client/Server and terminal serve everyone with Knoppix CD's.
Some people are like slinkys. They're useless, but it puts a smile on your face to push them down the stairs.
Disclaimer: I'm not in your situation, nor have I ever been, I'm still in high school. I do believe that these methods could work.
Try to show them visually. People can get confused if they are simply told about something. Also, maybe prepare a persentation and show why the new ways are better than the old, especially showing the benefits.
In fact, one of my teachers had no clue about Firefox. Trying to explain the extensions system among other things didn't seem to help. After showing him visually, he immediately looked into it.
If they liked the previous guy, don't try too hard to dissociate yourself from his policies. If they believed in him and considered his advice good, don't oppose his policies publicly. Work on winning people over first, then proceed to force your religious beliefs (Free Software) on them :)
In the end, you'll be just as highly considered as your predecessor was, and more-so with the money you save the district.
Get them a box with the best stuff you've got. You know, responsive, boots quickly and has the goodies they're interested in (Email, Internet and wordprocessing, spreadsheet etc.) but use your selections for the goodies, even cheat by ripping off icons, look-alike skins for the desktop and apps-- even each icon's position on the desktop is important.
Bend over backwards to keep the teacher you select happy with their new box. Even if it means undeleting a file from the hard drive that they fat-fingered or rearranging the desktop icons.
Once this teacher's satisfaction increases, word will get around and teachers will be approaching you to "fix" their computer just like you did for Teacher A.
Height: 38U, Weight: 0 Newtons, Eyes: #0000FF, OS: Gray Matter 1.0 (Alpha)
Exchange is very popular with users. What are you wanting to replace it with? Postfix? Good luck. You will quickly find out that only 5% of the users use the shared calendars, and that those 5% make up 95% of the complaining when you take them away...
the key thing is that as you upgrade equipment, add neat new features and reliabilty, they will start to respect you, and feel that you understand what you are doing. I know it sounds silly, but teachers hate to have to learn outside of their area. I have never figured this out, but a teacher gets very, very stuck in their ways. They have something that "works" and will almost never, ever change. So you need to move slowly at first, and make damn sure that they have only positive experiences. Make sure to point out the benefits, and most importantly, the time savings.
Oh, and congratulations.. this is one of those jobs that takes a lot of patience, but becomes very, very rewarding after time.
What are we going to do tonight Brain?
Build a firewall, Smoothwall is a great solution and it's free and you can use some old boxes.... if you migrate will they know?
Continue to improve the spam filtering for the mail, DO the filtering your own way inbetween the internet and the exchange server.
Find ways to build an foundation below everything they have so it remains ultimatly protected.
Assess the damage of the rain. Show them that the building can burn down due to sparks and shorts because of water seaping in.
Other then that if you want to change other things like purchases... then build a game plan for power, and backups solutions. Lay it on a table. Show that if this isn't done there is a chance the school will loose a lot of valueble information.
When i was in that same situation i did things that was invisable to users but covered my ass and protected the security of the job and data. I hope that helps :)
Andy
...before you can start thinking about replacing everything with BSD or Macs.
It sounds like there are lots of problems, and you aren't going to be able to fix them all at once. Try and point out, in as professional a way as possible, what the risks are. What exactly would be lost if machine X, for which there is no backup, failed?
From a functional standpoint in a teaching environment, there may well be very valid reasons to keep using Microsoft products. Like it or not, that's what people will probably end up using in the outside world, assuming that their job is a little more fulfilling then "do you want fries with that?
There are also very valid reasons for NOT using Microsoft servers as infrastructure (cost of sale being an obvious one) but you aren't going to be able to get close to influencing any decisions if you're just seen as some sort of zealot.
So be helpful, be "a team player" and try and change the world a bit at a time, not all at once.
Oh, and the very best of luck. With water coming through the wall it sounds like you might need it.
Explain your situation in as no-nonsense of a way possible: Your predecessor clearly got by in your role on a huntch and some stupid luck, and that luck happened to run out on your watch because of the lousy infrastructure he built. NT wasn't built to take the abuse a school will put it through: My school district learned that the brutal way around the time I took over at my school.
If your paid, you have a lot more time to work on this than I did: Imagine being the only guy doing that job, training your replacement, and still maintaining a full high school course load and getting decent grades, without pay. My life, 1998-2000...
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Once he's got that, then he can change things willy-nilly :)
A fine is a tax you pay for doing wrong and a tax is a fine you pay for doing all right.
Don't even think about trying to switch people to Macs or introduce folks to firefox. If you have any success at all, you'll only be increasing the entropy in the environment making it even harder to manage. If you don't have success, you'll probably just end up with a bunch of suspicious users.
If the office is comfortable with Microsoft products and the old IT guy was comfortable with Microsoft products then you better get comfortable with Microsoft products asap. I'm not just talking about IIS/Exchange/Active Directory/SQL Server, but Outlook, Access, Word, Excel and Windows... the kinds of programs people use every day. It's a lot easier to change yourself than it is to change everyone and everything else.
That said, use what you know when you can.
- Project 1: Create a reliable backup strategy for any systems that are not going to be completely rehauled in the next month. If you have funds, consider buying something like a buffalo terastation or scraping together a single system with massive storage and raid5.
- Project 2: Add a nix based firewall or whatever you are comfortable with. If for whatever reason you can't do this, turn the firewalls on in the clients (assuming xp).
- Project 3: Fix Email. If people use exchange features, use exchange but protect it from spam by running a nix based host with spam filters in front of it.
Focus on one thing at a time. Once you get these three things done, then start looking at the little things you can do to improve things. Do you have servers to monitor? Install nagios. Are there any trouble systems? Take care of them. Do you have problems pushing patches and auditing machines, solve it with SUS or other tools.Once all of the critical systems are under control, start looking for low hanging fruit, not for yourself, but for your clients. Is the grade reporting system a piece of crap that everyone hates? Find something better. Is there a teacher somewhere teaching intro programming using notepad as an editor, set them up with something better and free whether it's sharp develop or jedit or whatever. Change things to improve people's lives, things that no one is going to fight to prevent you from changing.
Once you have built a track record of success, once people trust your judgement, then you can start exploring whatever preference based changes you think are best. When you suggest using XYZ, they will listen. Do you think your office should make a strategic commitment to Macs? Propose a pilot program using a single computer lab or a group of willing participants. Do you think people will benefit from using firefox? Pitch it to people and let viral marketting due its work. Maybe the foreign language teachers will be impressed by the translation extensions. Maybe the english teachers will fall in love with a form spell check extension.
Lastly, learn to work within your constraints. Eg... Do you really need backup power or will a couple of UPS's do?
If you march in and tell them everything they know is wrong, of course they're not going to trust you. Trust is something you earn. And you don't earn it by belittling the knowledge and skills of the people you're working with.
Which is not to say that you shouldn't try to re-educate them. You're quite right to want to move away from Microsoft products. But you have to do it without screwing up their lives. That's a gradual process they they have to be active participants in.
As I type my carpets are still wet from last night's rains that poured through the machine room wall - and this happens every time it downpours I'm told.
Jeebus! Tell them to fix that immediately, and if they say no, ask the local fire marshall to take a look at it. That would probably motivate them to fix it.
In general, I'd say you're in for a class-A headache. As I learned in high school, most teachers know jack shit about technology. Even basic terminology is a problem. (I heard all about this from my AP Comp Sci teacher.)
"The newly born animals are then whisked off for a quick run through a giant baking oven." --heard on Food Network
What you do need to do is to prepare a list of issues, graded in order of system and network critical prioriy. Make up your own rating system 1 to 10 or A to F, and assign each item a rating, timeframe and resources required. This doesn't mean a quote for new equipment. For example, Linux or BSD firewall, internal, DMZ and external segments. Reconfigure IP addressing. Priority 2, need to repurpose a Pentium III and added NICs. This is a to do list that could span out 3 years or so. The budget cycle probably means you won't be able to just go out and buy what you need, although having this list will make it easier to jump on funds that come up for re-allocation. Don't try to do everything all at once. Set priorites and leave time for crisis control.
Go to town and prepare a power point or just write down your list, but sit down with who ever is "grading" your performance and work out what they think with your input. You need to have the job defined, do you make everybody happy and don't rock the boat or do you get the job done and set policy? Setting policy is best done by writing your draft and having it approved by someone in administration. Speaking of which you need to find out if any district and state guidelines apply. You could find addtional support and resources at the next level up.
Don't try to wing changes, if you're going to be effective you need backing. That means getting admin on board and having a defined role. If you don't get backing then you should set up a wireless access point and get a laptop for Slashdot and porn until things fall apart. If you're lucky you can point the finger at lack of administrative support and burn your boss. That's where documentation of issues comes in handy.
My manager says if I don't p*ss off at least one person each week he knows I'm skating. We're pretty relaxed but there are rules, including corporate guidlines that my little address space has to follow.
It sounds like the job is still very vague. This can be a curse or chance to write your own job description. Take advantage. Look at the pay scale descriptions and assign yourself the responsibilities to justify a raise and prompotion.
Having done BOTH, I strongly Disagree with point 5. Sysadmins can have a useful input into systems planing, even more so if the higher ups know nothing. Working at McDonalds the only input you have into designing burgers is the ones that you eat yourself in the break room!
What you need to do is to tactfuly suggest some small changes, to build up their confidence in your skills. Don't go at it like a bull in a china shop, trying to change everyting at once. This will get you nowhere fast. Go for the simple quick wins. Maybe you can replace a NT file server with a SAMBA Linux box. Maybe move some of the teachers to OpenOffice on Windows. Move slowly but confidantly, and be prepaired to show the benefits in advance, then show the benefits again when tings have been in for a while, just to remind people. Sometimes just checking up that a previous problem has been cleared up by what you have done can help.
I'm just here to regulate Funkyness
Take some time and examine your goals here. What are you personally looking to get out of this assignment?
The facts are:
#1. Any changes you make will be "wrong" compared to what the last guy did.
#2. Unless something is done about the water, your systems will eventually fail (and you will be blamed because the last guy never had that problem).
#3. You'll be spending a lot of time and effort on making friends just to accomplish your technical goals.
#4. No matter how great you are, there will always be someone on staff who talks to a friend who uses Windows and will tell everyone that no one else is having the problems you have with Windows.
If you're going to put yourself through all that stress, be sure you understand why you are doing that to yourself. And it is you doing it to yourself.
Too many times we tend to see the people who use the systems as the problem. Maybe they don't agree with your goals, but is that really a problem? Instead, examine your goals and see if you really want to fight that fight, under those conditions to achieve your goals.
And be realistic in your goals. They will not worship you for bringing them to the promised land of a firewalled sub-net. They don't even know anything is wrong. The best you can do is to be respected by a bunch of people who can't remember their own username/password's.
Sometimes not getting involved in a disaster is the best option.
Is not the hardware they are using it, but how they are using it. Patch the roof, get a decent hardware router, setup a proxy server and upgrade them.
Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...