In my two days at Butler, I spent time in two different departments. Server Administration and Info Commons.
The time in server Admin, was with Jesus. He is responsible for the upkeep and overview of the servers. He monitors a program that gives him a quick overview of the bounty of servers and databases at Butler. If there is a problem he can quickly disable the server and put it into maintenance mode until the problem can be solved. Today there were 3 servers that were in maintenance mode for upgrades. When a server is in maintenance mode no network traffic is traveling through it. Of course when putting a server into maintenance, he had to make sure no users were using it, which wasn’t much of an issue with the small amount of students on campus.
A trip to the server room was in order to physically disable the servers to prepare them for removal. When disconnecting the server we had to be very precise and constantly check to make sure we were disconnecting the right one. Accidently disconnecting the wrong one would lead to MAJOR issues.
My last day on Campus was in Info Commons. Info Commons is essentially the student version of CAT. They spend half their time in the library and half in the CAT.
In the library they serve as references for students who may need help finding certain research materials on and offline. They may guide you to the correct websites to use or even allow you to use the database of research papers the library has on file for examples and references. They will even help you with a project if you’re stuck. Not necessarily DO the work but they will gladly guide you. Of course the job has its downsides; they’re required to manage the printers, both upkeep and diagnosis. In a library with dozens of printers it can become overwhelming. I guess you could say they’re like tech savvy librarians.
In CAT they serve as references for students helping them incorporate technology into their projects and lives. A student may need help learning how to use Photoshop for a photo restoration project or use iMovie for a presentation. They are required to stay current with technology with many training sessions to ensure they are at the top of their games. And if a student comes to them with something they don’t know they take the initiative to learn it themselves and follow up with the student when they have it figured out. Pretty cool I say.