IS 480 Journal & Progress Report

This is my final blog post for the BAS-IS program—I'm about to graduate!  This week, I worked 40 hours, bringing my quarter total to 400 hours. I spent most of the week wiping down and resetting as many senior laptops as I could to ensure we have some clean, updated systems ready for next year. While this isn’t our top priority, staff laptops weren’t yet available, and no broken student devices had been turned in yet. Starting next week, I’ll begin collecting all student and staff devices. Once they’re collected, we’ll need to find space to store them, most of them will likely sit untouched over the summer. All I can say is next year is going to be a bit of a mess, especially with so many moving parts and deferred maintenance. I also repurposed four desktop computers that were originally used only for a four-week summer school program each year. For most of their lives, they just sat in boxes. I re-imaged them, updated them to Windows 11, applied all firmware and driver updates, an...

This week, I worked 36 hours and used 4 hours of personal leave to complete my new hire onboarding at the casino. This brings my quarter total to 360 hours. On Tuesday, we had our tech meeting and created a plan for wrapping up the school year. One of our main goals is to collect all staff laptops, perform a factory reset, and upgrade them to Windows 11. This will give us a clean baseline for next school year and hopefully help reduce issues—especially since some systems are still running Windows 10 21H1 from 2021. A major challenge we’re facing is that many staff devices across the district are old and technically don’t meet Windows 11 system requirements. Some of these models include Surface Pro 4s, Surface Laptop 2s and 3s, and older Dell desktops. For the Dell desktops, I discovered a workaround. Even though both Microsoft and Dell list the CPUs as unsupported, I was able to use Dell’s recovery image tool with the device’s service tag. After clicking "Advanced," it gave m...

This week was a little unusual due to Memorial Day on Monday, giving us a four-day work week. Even though I only worked 32 hours, I still got paid for the full 40. That brings my total hours for the quarter up to 320 . The week has felt a bit off—each day felt like it was one behind. Today is Friday, but it feels like Thursday, and not having class yesterday threw me off even more. Work-wise, it’s been fairly routine. I've mainly been resetting laptops to factory settings and reinstalling our standard software. State testing has officially wrapped up, so at least I won’t need to worry about supporting that anymore. With only about two weeks left on my current contract, I had been told I’d be returning in late August for the next school year. However, something unexpected happened this week—I got a call from the casino I had applied to earlier. I had originally applied for a Tech II position, but the hiring team felt I wasn’t quite ready. Instead of turning me down, they offered me...

     This week, I completed a full 40 hours, bringing my quarter total to 280 hours. Next Monday is Memorial Day, so both school and work will be closed in observance.      This week felt like it both dragged on and flew by. There were stretches where I didn’t have much to do, and others where I was extremely productive. As a tech department, we had several meetings to discuss how upcoming budget cuts and layoffs will impact technology across the district, and we outlined plans to adapt accordingly. We also created a list of projects to complete over the summer—tasks that aren’t feasible to do while teachers and students are present.      One major focus will be server migration. We’re still running some instances of Server 2008, 2012, and 2019, so we need to spin up and move services to newer servers. I’ve already created several VMs to temporarily host services and assist with the transition and backups. We’ve also migrated some services to...

 This week I worked another 40 hours bring this quarters total to 240 hours. As we get closer to June my contract is also getting closer to ending. I still don't know if the school is going to renew it or not. On the bright side I did have a in person interview at a Casino for a IT tech 2 position. I met with the interim IT director, the Network admin, the System admin, and a HR rep for note taking. Overall I think the meeting went well even if there was a few questions I couldn't answer as I did not have experience working with those particular systems.  This week I worked an a variety of projects and am having a hard time remembering what I did. I did my usual and fix laptops as they came in from students, and inventoried some more staff laptops in our software. We also had Dimensional come out and temporary re route all our AV system's to analogue as our band directory accidently reset the routing configurations in the Dante system. I could write about the whole complex ...

 This week I worked another full 40 hours bringing this quarters total to 200 and overall to 560. This week has been a long week. We decided to postpone the AD FS migration and role switch due to state testing as we didn't want to have any potential issues with the network. On top of that the School cabinet members decided to get rid of an Admin position to help with the budget shortfall for next school year. This admin happened to be my boss the director of IT, they cut the position entirely. How do you run a IT department without an IT head? IDK but I think its one of the stupidest things they decided to do. Our director of finance seems to think he can just pickup the reasonability of being a supervisor and delegate the other responsibilities to the IT team. They also said they are still making cuts so that they cant promise we wont lose another IT person.  Any who, I am looking at other employment at this time to be prepared to get let go.  State testing and Advanced ...

     This week I worked another full 40 hours bringing my quarter total to 160 and the two quarters together to 520 hours. This week I had mixed days of doing nothing then being busy. I finished installing language packs on another set of computers for testing starting this Monday. I had gotten an email asking to install on more computers but I never received the computers from the students or their teacher.  I also received a teachers Surface Laptop 3. They said its not working which was very vague but I discovered that it the computer won't boot all the way. It gets to the Windows logo for the Surface bios but then goes black immediately after. I tried all my tricks like holding down the power button for 30 seconds, holding the power button and the volume up for 15 to try to get into the firmware reset menu, took the type cover off, took out the RSSD to cut power from the battery and drain and residual power, all didn't work and does the same thing. I check to see ...

 This week I worked another full 40 hours bringing this quarter total to 120 and combined to 480 hours.  I need to start writing down what I did the day I did it as I already forgot some of the things I did this week. One thing that I do remember is that there was a ticket to install the spanish language pack for over 26 computers. Now this was challenging as the requester just assumed that I was able to do it no issues. One thing was I did not have any of the computers nor no who the students are so I had to work with the Libary tech and our MLL teacher to get all the studnets computers. Another weird thing was that they had a 'priority' list and a 'if time allows' list. So what does that mean? Do they need the language pack or dont they? You would thing if they are on the list they need it and not oh we may or may help them kind of deal.  Then came the pain of trying to get the language packs installed. You would think oh let me open powershell as admin and do 'in...

 This week I worked a full 40 hours. This brings this quarter total to 40 hours as last week we were on spring break.  Again since I wasn't working spring break, I didn't have any work expected to do and in general has been very slow for me. There is a lot of things that need to be done but most if it is things that I am not allowed to work on or has to be done by the system admin as I don't have access etc... I've mainly just been resetting computers as they come in and restarting the computers that show the security feed for both James Taylor and the high school.  I did have a side quest to find a 2.5 inch drive as the computer we use for engraving took a dump when we had a power serge and windows got corrupted. The laptop is over 10 years old and originally came with windows 7. As you may know we have a $0 budget so we have to reuse and source parts where we can. My co-worker asked my boss to get a new HDD but he said no we don't have any funds. I then suggested ...

Welcome back to a new quarter and the last quarter of my Bachelors degree!  This week, my work is on spring break so I will be working 0 hours this week and will start back up again next week. I left off working on a few student laptops and all but one was finished. I expect it should have finished updating to windows 11 by now and I will hopefully come back to not a lot of work to do. 

I worked 40 hours this week, bringing my total hours for the quarter to 360. This week was packed with tasks, and honestly, it’s hard to keep track of everything I did. There’s never really a set list of things to tackle — issues pop up randomly, and I handle whatever comes my way. I started the week with 28 more laptops that needed either the DRC testing software reinstalled, Windows updates, or a full reset. After that, I helped a teacher at the other high school who was having Wi-Fi issues. I suggested using a USB-to-Ethernet adapter to hardwire her computer for a more stable connection. She wasn’t a fan of that idea since she wanted to keep using her external keyboard and didn’t want to be "tethered." I explained that it was either this or continue dealing with Wi-Fi drops until we could figure out what’s going on in that room. Later, I teamed up with our tech specialist to troubleshoot a middle school projector that wasn’t displaying anything. Aside from the rack being c...

 As I reflect on my internship experience, one key area I would strive to improve upon is expanding my technical skill set, particularly in networking and server management. While I have gained a solid foundation in troubleshooting hardware and software issues, I feel that my exposure to more advanced IT tasks, such as network configuration, server administration, and cybersecurity, has been limited. One of my biggest frustrations during this internship was that I wasn’t allowed to work on servers, networking, or administrative tasks, even though my job title suggested that I would be involved in those areas. Higher-ups preferred to keep those responsibilities restricted to employees with more senior job titles, which left me feeling somewhat stagnant in terms of skill development. To improve upon this, I plan to seek out more opportunities to gain hands-on experience with networking equipment, cloud services, and enterprise-level IT infrastructure—whether through personal projects...

During my time in this internship, I have gained valuable hands-on IT experience that has strengthened my technical skills and problem-solving abilities. At the beginning, I was concerned that I wouldn’t know how to handle certain tasks, but I quickly realized that I already had the knowledge needed to complete most of the work that came up. Despite this, one of the biggest challenges was the complete lack of structured training. The hiring process itself was disorganized, with poor communication from the start. I didn’t even know what time I was supposed to begin on my first day. When I asked, they simply told me to show up whenever I thought was right, so I decided to start at 8:00 AM based on my previous job’s schedule. From the beginning, there was little to no guidance. I was given my staff laptop, login credentials (both standard user and admin), and a charger. After logging in, they briefly introduced me to ClassLink, the main program they use, and then sent me to the high schoo...

This week I worked a full 40 hours bringing my quarter total to 320 hours. This week I expected to get computers in to repair as WEDA testing is still going on. Only the first three days this week they tested and the rest of the days had no testing. This was nice as there wasn't as many laptops to come in that needed updates or to be reset. A nice addition for Wednesday and Thursday was the System Admin let me configure our server to host Virtual Machines.  The host server had windows server 2025, our newest server OS (or other ones are running server 2012 and 2019). We are slowly trying to shift the server roles to the newer servers and update them to server2025 as the older versions are no longer going to be supported. So on the host machine I configured Hyper-V and restarted it to enable the feature, I was remoted in so I had to wait a few min for it to restart so I could re-connect to it. I then set up a VM and passed in our Volume License key so the VM was activated. This is g...

Two weeks ago, I outlined a professional networking strategy focused on workplace connections, online networking, and industry events. Since then, I have made significant progress in strengthening my professional presence and expanding my network. Workplace Connections: While I continue to engage with colleagues and supervisors, I’ve also started leveraging personal connections outside of work. A former classmates father, who works at Lumen and is in the same jazz band as me has been providing valuable career advice and even shared potential job leads, which could help me transition into a more advanced IT role. Online Networking: I have been actively improving my LinkedIn profile by adding past supervisors and new connections to expand my reach. This has helped me get my name out in the IT field and stay updated on potential job opportunities. Additionally, I’ve started working on updating my portfolio website to better showcase my skills and projects, ensuring that my online presence...

 This week I worked my full 40 hours, bringing the quarter total to 280 hours. This week I did not know what to expect as I had just come back from our mid-winter break. I did expect to get more laptops back as students are doing WEDA testing and I was right. I got about 18 computers that need to be either reset or updated so that the testing software could run.  This week has been a mix of slow and busy days. It feels like its been 2 weeks since I was on break but its only finally Friday. There has been a mix of things that I have worked on like resetting and updating student computers, setting up a new staff laptop and customizing his settings to be like his old computer / downloading software for his curriculum next year. I also fixed other miscellaneous issues such as frozen computers, monitors not working, preforming inventory control (tagging tech and adding it to our inventory software) etc... Next week I expect to do more laptop repairs and not a lot else as they ...

Although I didn’t work this week due to the school’s mid-winter break, I’m reflecting on my previous week to address this journal prompt. Easiest Accomplishment: One of the more straightforward tasks was handling two teacher laptops before the break. The first involved a Surface laptop infected with ransomware. After disabling the teacher’s accounts and notifying the system admin, I performed a fresh Windows installation and reinstalled all necessary drivers. The process went smoothly since I’ve done similar resets before. The second laptop was outdated, running Windows 10 21H1, which prevented system updates and Outlook from working properly. I manually upgraded it to Windows 10 22H2 and then to Windows 11. Although the install took time, the process itself was routine. Hardest Accomplishment: The most challenging task was dealing with a middle school student misusing the school’s network. Investigating their actions revealed they were sending malicious scripts through SharePoint, all...

This weeks report is going to be a relatively short one. This week the school is on "Mid Winter Break" so that means I don't work this week as its not in my contract to work. This brings this weeks hours worked to 0, leaving the total hours the same. Before I left on Friday, a few teacher had issues with their surface laptops and one has ransomware on it. We disabled all her accounts and let the system admin take the accounts from there while I reset the Laptop with a fresh install of windows and reinstalled all the drivers. Another teacher had Windows 10 v 21h1 and was so outdated they couldn't update or use outlook. I had to manually install Windows 10 22h2 then I was able to install Windows 11 after that. When I left it was still installing so I hope it finished.  I expect to hand back those two laptops as soon I get back on Monday then deal with any weird issues that seam to come up whenever there is a break. 

Building a strong professional network is essential for career growth, especially in the IT field. My networking strategy focuses on three key areas: workplace connections, online networking, and industry events. First, I am working on building relationships within my current workplace. As a Technology Technician, I regularly interact with IT staff, administrators, and occasionally vendors. By demonstrating my technical skills and problem-solving abilities on the job, I am establishing credibility and creating opportunities for future growth. I also make an effort to engage with my supervisors and colleagues, seeking advice on career development. Second, I am utilizing online platforms like LinkedIn to connect with IT professionals and stay informed about job opportunities. While I have started following industry leaders and sharing insights from my work experience, I recognize the need to be more active in these spaces. Additionally, I plan to join online communities focused on networ...

This week I will have worked a full 40 hours, bringing my quarter total to 240 hours. This week started slow and slowly had things come up here and there. I worked a little bit on some server rostering stuff, contacting our Class-Link rep to help remove duplicate students and make sure the rostering is correct so students can sign into their portal to have SSO for all their curriculums programs like McGraw hill and Project Lead the Way.  Before winter break, we had a middle school student being malicious with the school network and computers, therefor his technology privileges were taken away and it became an admin problem. It was a whole thing I was assigned to work on and discover what he was doing, how he was doing it etc.. Most recently he was given his technology privileges back and they are again up to no good.  This time taking things a bit further  by using his share point to send bat and other script files to students and teachers, letting them gain remote access...