Looking for work (in 2021)
As mentioned before, I have been looking for work since December 2020. The end of any year (let's set aside COVID right now) is tough with many people and companies being out for the holidays and vacations. I spent a month or so catching up with friends and peers, and reflecting on what I wanted to do next.
Early in 2021, I focused on LinkedIn and other job sites, updated my profiles and resume, and worked to attract people to my credentials. I was very encouraged in January with two companies I have a strong appreciation and passion for taking me through weeks of meetings and interviews. The process was long and taxing and in the end, they did not pan out but did give me an opportunity to stretch my legs in various interviews and meetings.
As the emails quieted down, I redirected my energy and focus to completing some certifications to reignite interest in me and my credentials. I completed two Coursera certifications focused on AWS and Google IT Support. LinkedIn showed a 4x increase in the number of profile views following my adding these certifications to my resume.
As we enter spring, the need for technical support specialists continues at an unprecedented pace. Organizations need to support a diverse and distributed workforce and this has only added to this demand. Device support, repair, and replacement, as well as inventory, are critical for companies to know what devices are in the hands of their employees.
Through the summer months of 2020, Zendesk (for ITSM), Oomnitza (inventory), Google (collaboration and email), Slack (communication), Asana (project management and scheduling), and Zoom (face-to-face) were used daily to orchestrate support for faculty, staff, students, and families.
With tools from Apple (School Manager) and JAMF (to manage 2000+ iOS and macOS devices), we continued to support all of the community's technical needs from troubleshooting to application deployment. These tools were critical to seamlessly engage our users without the need for frequent (and in many cases zero) need to interact with the users.
We all have learned a lot over this year. If there are questions or needs for your organization, let me know. I hope my experiences may limit the need to reinvent the wheel.
