INTEREST IN IT

Where did my interst for IT start and what skill do I have?

I first became interested in IT from my job at Ingenico. My role involves providing level 2 technical support for McDonalds(AU and NZ) and NAB EFTpos machines. 

When i started my job at Ingenico I was studying a bachelor of  Accounting but as I learnt more about IT and technical troubleshooting I decided that that IT  was what I wanted to study so i switched into a Bachelor of Business Information systems.

Before my Job at Ingenico I had almost no IT experience so at the beginning it was a challenge to grasp. However, once I got the hang of it I found it extremely rewarding providing solutions for customers in getting their systems back online. 

My IT knowledge at the moment is very limited to POS and EFTpos systems but as of late I have been trying to get into coding and analysis of IT systems. I have also used my knowledge of python to create mods for games such as the Sims4 and Fallout 4.

Why Did I Choose RMIT and what do i expect to learn?

I chose to come to RMIT as they had good pathways into bachelor Degrees, which was something i needed as i didn’t finish year 12 with the greatest ATAR. I also thought RMIT would be a good fit as they have great post grad opportunities for their graduates, as well as great post grad courses.

In my studies I expect to learn skills that can help further me in my IT career and move into a different department at my current workplace such as network engineering or business analysis. I also expect my course to give me a ton of insight of what it’s like to be a part of a team , whether it be good and teaches me how to delegate tasks among team members in order to accomplish the best result possible . Or whether it be bad and shows me how to get the work done even when all group members aren't contributing. I feel like my course will also give me an idea of what it’s like to work in the IT industry and how to approach finding my dream job in the field.

 IDEAL JOB

https://www.seek.com.au/job/56212248?type=standard#sol=5ae6bbd1e5aff55502aaa5b2a13dd00254810634

What is this job?

This Network Engineer role at Coles involves building and configuring Coles networks with a focus on WiFi and also providing L3 support and being the escalation point for network related issues.

Why is this job appealing?

What makes this position appealing to me is the opportunity to be a part of a team of experienced individuals in building a WiFi network.  The other appealing part of this role is being the escalation point for more complex issues that require thorough problem solving, which will always keep the job new and interesting, personally i find this crucial as i can get complacent if i’m always getting the same simple issues. I also find that from employee reviews coles seems to have a positive workplace culture that encourages women to work in IT, which i find very important as i am a women in a male dominated field.

This position requires …

• previous experience in Level 3 support across Cisco Wi-Fi technology.
• Building, maintaining, and securing Wi-Fi and associated environments required (including RF principles, and vendors and tools including but not limited to Cisco/Meraki, Cradlepoint, Cisco ISE, DNA/Prime, Cisco 9800/5508,7500 WLCs and related AP models.

• Delivering network tasks in projects.
• Working in an environment with a Network Operations Center.
• Communicating effectively within the team, and in cross team engagements.

What skills do I already have?

The skills I currently have are the ability to work in a team and  communicate effectively among team members. I also have 2 years of Level 2 network support experience; however it has mostly been in LAN and WANethernet networks (for EFTpos). I also have some experience in Cisco/Meraki switch configuration, again this is only for LAN and WAN ethernet networks(for EFTpos and POS).

What skills do I need?

I believe that before applying for a position like this one i would definitely need to expand on my IT knowledge given it is quite limited at the moment. As I have quite a bit of experience as a level 2 support operator, the move from level 2 support to level 3 support could be accomplished within a year or 2, however, what I would struggle with is the move from LAN and WAN Ethernet networks to WiFi networks. I could potentially gain some experience with Cisco wifi networks through the free courses available on the Cisco website, but still i do not think this is anywhere near enough but would be a good starting point. Ideally, before i move onto a career like this i would find a job that will provide me with a little bit more experience and work up from there. I also think that some of the skills needed for this job i will gain through a masters of IT degree i intend to begin next year (assuming i pass all classes this year).

PERSONAL PROFILE 

Myers-Briggs Test

Free personality test, type descriptions, relationship and career advice | 16Personalities

Learning Style Test

https://www.how-to-study.com/learning-style-assessment/ 

Big 5 Personality Test

https://www.truity.com/test-results/bigfive/17315/29200352

What do these test results mean to me?

The first test i completed was the myers briggs test, what surprised me with this test is that it indicated that my mind is extraverted meaning that i’m good in social situations and can bounce off other people's emotions. This surprised me as I usually find that I'm quite shy in social situations. The other thing that stood out to me in this test was that i am observant and judging, which i believe indicates, when i am decision making i like to plan out the steps it’ll take to reach my desired outcome and go with my gut rather than my head.

The second test  completed was the learning styles test. My result for this showed that i am a visual learner, which to me makes a lot of sense given I tend to remember things better if i can see them written down or can watch someone else complete the task. For me this means if i ever want to learn a new skill i will approach it in a way where i can visualize the information rather than have a discussion about it.

The last test I chose to complete was The Big 5 test. What stood out to me with this test is that it showed that I am a very worried person which I believe to be extremely accurate as I always try to think of every possible outcome before attempting something. With the Extraversion section on ths test, it contradicted the results of the Myers Briggs test and suggested that I am more introverted and struggle with social situations.

The Big 5 Test also indicated that i am very punctual and self -disciplined which i again this is accurate as i am always trying to complete everything before it’s due date.

How should i take this into consderation when forming a group

When it comes to for a team for this class I think i definitely need to take into consideration that i am introverted as this probably means i will struggle to familiarize myself with other group members, it also means i probably shouldn't be the group leader. 

Although the fact that i’m introverted might make it difficult, these tests also suggested that i am very punctual which is definitely important with group work as it means my group will have someone who’s aware of all the deadlines and group meetings.

The other thing i should take into consideration is that i am a visual learner, so I might benefit from working with people who aren’t also visual learners as that way we can take in as much information we can as a group and then share the information with one another in ways that each other understand.

Overall when forming a team i think that i will be looking to partner with people who have opposite test results as it’ll give different insights to work with when completing group activities, and ensure we can cover all bases.

Project Idea 

Overview

My idea for this project is a program that would be used in IT support call centres. The program would essentially be reading through the hardware and software logs on a computer and then providing a “basic” translation and summary on what the issue is/means. Then from there it would load up instructions on how to resolve this issue.

Motivation

I believe this project will be extremely useful in IT support call centres as operators that take inbound troubleshooting calls are usually level 1 operators. This means they might not have much experience or knowledge in IT. With this translator/ knowledge base/ remote access tool, we can bridge the knowledge gap between operations analysts and lower-level troubleshooting agents without having to go into the full specifics of understanding logs. This will be extremely beneficial as it will eliminate that back-and-forth between low level operators and their superiors for issues that can be easily understood with a quick explanation. Overall, I believe this project would not only make the IT help desks life easier but also the customers they are supporting as issues will be more easily determined without relying on the customer to relay all the information.

Description of the Product

My product will essentially be a mix of a translator/knowledge base/ remote tool software that will be installed on a customer's PC. There will be 2 versions of this software, the version being loaded onto the customers PC and the version installed on the operator/users PC.

The first part of this software will be the remote tool which can give the user access to the customer's PC, allowing them to access the application on the customer's PC, however remote access would only be limited to this software program, they would not actually be able to browse the customer's PC. Upon remoting into the customer's device, they will load onto a main screen where they are given a few basic troubleshooting functions such as “ping device”, restart device and view device manager. They would then also be given an option to “send ____ logs to _____”, the user will be given a drop-down list of what logs they wish to send to the users/operator’s pc and once they are received, they show up on the user’s screen along with a button to translate them.

The second part of this program is the translate section and what it will do is translate the hardware/software logs to a much simpler form that is less daunting and easy to understand for level 1 operators.  After the screen has displayed the “translate” section it will then prompt the user/operator to press a next button. The user will then be loaded onto a “summary screen” that’s been loaded up from a knowledge base and it will then display a small summary of the what the error means. They will then be prompted to press a “troubleshooting” button, and this will take the operator to another screen that will list all the troubleshooting that they can walk the customer through. With this translate portion of the program, it will only appear on the user/operator’s screen (version of the program) and the customer’s screen will stay on a simple GUI with a pop-up that says, “your issue is being investigated by a member of our team”.

If the translator couldn’t identify the exact error occurring, it would search for similar terms or phrases and direct the user to try troubleshooting for a similar issue. Then after the operator has finished troubleshooting the error (and logs) would be sent off to a level 2 or level 3 operator for further investigation and to be added to the knowledge base.

Ideally this program would also be linked to the user’s ticketing software as way to keep track of error frequency and alternative troubleshooting methods that may not have been previously recognised.

Tools and Technologies

To create the front-end, we would need to use programs such as Axure (to design the UI) and Atom For the back end we would need to use programs such as PyCharm, notepad ++ and Atom. With the remote tool, rather than creating it from scratch we could implement “ultra VNC”, which is already a highly regarded remote tool, into our program. As for the ticketing portion, as this will be optional, we would not create the ticketing software but rather integrate an already existing software into our application.

Skills Required

A team of front-end web developers to create the programs UI and knowledge base to make sure it’s as user friendly as possible.  We would also need back-end developers to make the identifier part of the translator portion, ensuring that it can accurately identify terms as well as find similar terms. I believe it would be relatively easy to find the skills needed for this as the main languages used would be HTML, Java, Python and CSS which are all common and easy to come by.

Outcome

If this project were to be successful, I believe it would greatly benefit the IT call centre industry as it will offer simplified solutions and troubleshooting steps but also along the way keep knowledge bases updated. It will not only benefit the company that wishes to use it but also their customers as it will result in more accurate troubleshooting without needing to go a million different steps to determine the issue and come up with a solution. This would be a extremely useful program and would benefit many different industries as most business’ nowadays have an IT support team so there would never not be a need for technology such as this program.

References 

W3Schools (2000). Introduction to HTML. [online] W3schools.com. Available at: https://www.w3schools.com/html/html_intro.asp.

‌MDN Web Docs. (2018). Introduction to HTML. [online] Available at: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML.

www.realvnc.com. (n.d.). Features | VNC® Connect. [online] Available at: https://www.realvnc.com/en/connect/features/.

‌Accenture (2020). unavailable. [online] Accenture.com. Available at: https://www.accenture.com/au-en/insights/technology/technology-trends-2022?c=acn_glb_technologyvisiogoogle_12887460&n=psgs_0322&gclid=CjwKCAjwloCSBhAeEiwA3hVo_SB9pSfCQvLSrJuE_byGLr6-_4T7Yz2EY7jTG86CuSWZaUyKinqozBoCrF0QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds [Accessed 27 Mar. 2022].

‌ProofHub. (2020). 24 Remote Work Tools for Happy and Productive Employees. [online] Available at: https://www.proofhub.com/articles/remote-work-tools-for-team.

‌W3schools (2019). CSS Introduction. [online] W3schools.com. Available at: https://www.w3schools.com/Css/css_intro.asp.