I was reviewing a code for a web site I created in 1997 which led me to think about what it was like at the time. The website, the campus-wide calendar of events (http://events.sa.ucsb.edu/), was one of the very first campus-wide web application at UCSB. In reviewing the code, it came to me that codes are artifacts in themselves, revealing not only how the application was developed as well as developers’ environment and abilities. With further investigation, codes do lead to some revelations about the politics, the technologies, the state of the organization at that time as well. In a way, the code in itself has a culture behind it.
Student Affairs
Getting Involved on Campus – a Techie Perspective
As a technologist in student affairs who does not interact with students in my formal position, I envy my colleagues who deal with students everyday. I enjoy my interactions with students and staff discussing about student development, leadership and social issues and so I look for opportunities to be able to be involved with the student affairs community outside my formal technical role.
In my position as an IT administrator in a central department that serves all of student affairs, I get exposed to the business processes of all the departments when implementing or developing web applications and vendor systems. In the course of the projects, the discussions with directors/programmers revolve around business requirements, timelines, funding and resources. On the other side with my technical colleagues, discussions revolve around server/network infrastructures, security, development standards. Unfortunately, discussions about student afairs and student lives in general rarely get discussed. Throughout my career, I have identified opportunities around the campus to see where I could get involved as a non-techie.
Here are some activities I’ve participated in the last few years:
* Serve as organizational advisor for the Filipino-American interest organization and Latino fraternity
* Participate as staff representative for a student led fee committee (http://www.sa.ucsb.edu/sfac)
* Serve as staff representative to student staff divisional meeting
* Review freshman applications for the Admissions department
* Serve as facilitator for summer transition program dedicated towards first generation students (http://www.sa.ucsb.edu/eop/step)
* Serve as member of student resource team (http://www.sa.ucsb.edu/srt)
* Serve as a mentor through a mentorship program
* Provide letter of recommendations and references for graduate schools/jobs
* Participant as a panelist for career development course
My involvement with the programs above are for two reasons: 1) I personally enjoy the experience and 2) I feel the experience provide me with reminders of why I do my job and provides me with a sense of purpose.
Based on your experience, what other opportunities can you recommend?
Hiring for Aptitude and Attitude
I believe a key factor in hiring the right person for the job is to have the proper mix of interviewers to be able to assess an applicant from different perspectives . Just recently, our department (technology service provider for Student Affairs) went through a hiring process for a database developer. We were looking to fill a position to provide support for our developers in setting up and managing databases. In my role as the head of the unit consisting of developers, I was assessing the applicant from the customers’ perspective. Joining me in the interview committee were other co-workers who were more technical in nature (server admin, database manager). To be consistent with all applicants, we have a set of questions we ask each candidates. These questions consist of technical and behavioral questions.
New Job Title: “Social Media Lifeguard”?
A colleague of mine tells me “You’re like a lifeguard, you tell us how far to go in the ocean and where to go, and you call us back if we go too far but you don’t stop us from going into the water.”
To put what he said into context, a group of us, some folks from our student life office and some technical staff from my office which is the central technology department for the Division of Student Affairs, had just seen a demo of a product to manage student organizations. The authentication used by the vendor product uses facebook connect. While the vendor product was really beyond what we could ever build and everyone watching the demo, including me were very impressed with the product, I unfortunately had to dampen the enthusiasm of those present. I had to mention that using facebook connect may not be an idea that will be readily accepted as an option by security administrators on campus. Using a third party like facebook for authentication for an official campus system is a new concept on my campus. In my role as the Associate Director of Information Systems and Software Development, I unfortunately have to play the role of “bad guy” sometimes. Many times, some of these concerns I share are not even necessarily mine, but I do have to share them anyways. I think in general, I am more flexible in how far to push boundaries when using new technologies, relative to some of my technical colleagues. However, I still do need to represent their perspectives. Fortunately, I’ve built up my reputation with the departments I have served throughout the years that I’m not a “nay-sayer” and I’m a strong advocate for their programs and innovative technologies. My reputation allows me to be frank with my concerns as someone charged with protecting student academic and health information and enforcing security and electronic policies.
How well do you know your co-workers?
How well do you know your immediate co-workers? Do you know them beyond their job titles and responsibilities? Do you feel like you belong to a community at work?
One of the many reasons why I love my job is because of the people I work with. I love that we have a sense of camaraderie and that we consider ourselves as friends to one another and we just don’t see each other as co-workers. In my previous position (same organization) when I was managing a team of 8 staff members, I made the effort to promote an environment where my staff can freely share their personal lives to the extent they are willing to share. I have always believed that part of being a happy employee is to feel like you belong to a team, that you are not just co-workers given tasks to complete. We spend more time at work with our co-workers than our families that I made it a point to cultivate an environment that fosters personal interaction and friendships, basically, a community.