Training for IT Support
Last week was probably one of the strangest weeks of my life. For five days (Monday to Friday) I worked a typical average work schedule (9 AM to 5 PM) to train with the IT department at my new job to become a night-shift support person. As I may have mentioned in my last entry from last Tuesday, I'll be the first line of support for simple computer issues once I return to my normal night shift later this week. Simple computer issues include swapping out computers and computer components as well as diagnosing minor problems with software. That's about it in a nutshell.
The problem is I'm terrified it'll be daunting, complicated work. I'm stressing out worrying about what unknown situation I'll be called in for as soon as Thursday night. Not only will I have to cover my typical duties at this place running the most complicated machines in the production fab, but now I'll be called out to help people with real issues that I'm not sure after five days of training that I'll be able to fix. If that happens, I am allowed to call people in, but I'm reluctant to wake people up if it's an issue I should already have known how to fix. That's my biggest fear. Everyone spent all last week reassuring me up and down that it's their jobs to be on call and no one is expecting us to be experts after five days of half-assed "training", but I know that all the reassuring anyone can give me isn't going to make the dread of the first day go away any better than actually arriving and having things happen.
I feel just like I did 16 weeks ago when I first arrived at this new job. The same fear, the same overwhelmed caution, the same thoughts of, "This is so much responsibility! Are they this sure about me?" Except this time, they really are giving me so much insane trust that I'm surprised more people aren't questioning it. I'm still temp-to-hire but being an IT support person means I have a world of liberty. I have free-roam of the ENTIRE building including the fab and all the off-limits catwalks. I have my own cubicle. I have my own pager. I have an admin account on the computer networks. I have a purchase account with the on-site shopping mall-like warehouse where you walk in and buy things like a store. I'm on a first-name basis with the VP of the site. I was called out by name during a shift-wide meeting on Friday as being someone who's stepping up and being more than a simple operator. As I waved at everyone I felt like some kind of selfish teacher's pet leap-frogging my way ahead of everyone else to secure a position that could get me out of the fab and I've only been there for sixteen weeks. All of this and I've only ever seen the inside of the building for four months.
It's all just so scary and stressful and overwhelming to have all at once all this responsibility and power thrust upon me. I had a dream last night that I needed to make a record of the relocation of a computer in the fab but I couldn't find the document on the network where that data was kept. I kept waking up and in my waking haze I'd continue believing I was deadly concerned with marking that information. Upon waking and showering for the day, I still wondered to myself if my dream was telling me not to forget something I'd truly have to do for real come Thursday or if it was just stress. Even now, I'm not completely sure which it was but I'm leaning towards stress. I pray I get some relaxing in while this weekend of mine lasts.
The training itself was rather aloof and speedy. More or less, most of the time I was there, my co-training partner and I were tasked with simple busy work all week. Whether it was taking an exhaustive inventory of every computer in the entire fab (400+ computers) or installing new machines for special scanning racks, it was less about getting us ready for being support staff and more about doing things the real IT employees didn't have time for. My co-trainee who will be IT support for the night shifts on the front-half of the weeks (I'm back-half) was an energetic 50-something workaholic. He loves his job. Been with the company for 15 years. Survived three layoffs and two "exoduses" which he defined as periods where other local high tech firms fleeced the company for workers, offering them better pay and benefits to leave with them. He's quite loyal and was all around a great guy. The only problem was he loved working a long schedule. Instead of the 9-to-5 I was expecting, he wanted to be in at 7 AM and stay until 6 PM. Not wanting to be the stick-in-the-mud who appeared less than excited about the opportunity to be IT support, I agreed to the same schedule. It was a challenging week. I hope I'll be ready for the main event.
One of the evenings, I think it was Thursday the 3rd, I was finally released just before 6 PM and was in the process of fleeing in my car. On my way out, people from my normal night shift were on their way in. I thought it was kind of ironic that for this one week of daytime training I would be leaving right when I'd typically arrive. As I was slowly driving out, I passed by the guy who leads the machine section I normally work in. He recognized me and gave me a wave. As I smiled and waved back, I realized how much I missed my normal shift as well as the people. It then struck me like a ton of bricks how strange it is that I felt any longing for the normalcy of my regular shift after sixteen weeks of being stressed out and overwhelmed by the job. The part of me that misses my regular shift is looking forward to being back there Thursday night. It also wears a smile and shouts to me from a distance that everything is going to be just fine. I like to listen to that part of myself. He/she/it is quite wise and calming.
I'll be okay. One day at a time.
The problem is I'm terrified it'll be daunting, complicated work. I'm stressing out worrying about what unknown situation I'll be called in for as soon as Thursday night. Not only will I have to cover my typical duties at this place running the most complicated machines in the production fab, but now I'll be called out to help people with real issues that I'm not sure after five days of training that I'll be able to fix. If that happens, I am allowed to call people in, but I'm reluctant to wake people up if it's an issue I should already have known how to fix. That's my biggest fear. Everyone spent all last week reassuring me up and down that it's their jobs to be on call and no one is expecting us to be experts after five days of half-assed "training", but I know that all the reassuring anyone can give me isn't going to make the dread of the first day go away any better than actually arriving and having things happen.
I feel just like I did 16 weeks ago when I first arrived at this new job. The same fear, the same overwhelmed caution, the same thoughts of, "This is so much responsibility! Are they this sure about me?" Except this time, they really are giving me so much insane trust that I'm surprised more people aren't questioning it. I'm still temp-to-hire but being an IT support person means I have a world of liberty. I have free-roam of the ENTIRE building including the fab and all the off-limits catwalks. I have my own cubicle. I have my own pager. I have an admin account on the computer networks. I have a purchase account with the on-site shopping mall-like warehouse where you walk in and buy things like a store. I'm on a first-name basis with the VP of the site. I was called out by name during a shift-wide meeting on Friday as being someone who's stepping up and being more than a simple operator. As I waved at everyone I felt like some kind of selfish teacher's pet leap-frogging my way ahead of everyone else to secure a position that could get me out of the fab and I've only been there for sixteen weeks. All of this and I've only ever seen the inside of the building for four months.
It's all just so scary and stressful and overwhelming to have all at once all this responsibility and power thrust upon me. I had a dream last night that I needed to make a record of the relocation of a computer in the fab but I couldn't find the document on the network where that data was kept. I kept waking up and in my waking haze I'd continue believing I was deadly concerned with marking that information. Upon waking and showering for the day, I still wondered to myself if my dream was telling me not to forget something I'd truly have to do for real come Thursday or if it was just stress. Even now, I'm not completely sure which it was but I'm leaning towards stress. I pray I get some relaxing in while this weekend of mine lasts.
The training itself was rather aloof and speedy. More or less, most of the time I was there, my co-training partner and I were tasked with simple busy work all week. Whether it was taking an exhaustive inventory of every computer in the entire fab (400+ computers) or installing new machines for special scanning racks, it was less about getting us ready for being support staff and more about doing things the real IT employees didn't have time for. My co-trainee who will be IT support for the night shifts on the front-half of the weeks (I'm back-half) was an energetic 50-something workaholic. He loves his job. Been with the company for 15 years. Survived three layoffs and two "exoduses" which he defined as periods where other local high tech firms fleeced the company for workers, offering them better pay and benefits to leave with them. He's quite loyal and was all around a great guy. The only problem was he loved working a long schedule. Instead of the 9-to-5 I was expecting, he wanted to be in at 7 AM and stay until 6 PM. Not wanting to be the stick-in-the-mud who appeared less than excited about the opportunity to be IT support, I agreed to the same schedule. It was a challenging week. I hope I'll be ready for the main event.
One of the evenings, I think it was Thursday the 3rd, I was finally released just before 6 PM and was in the process of fleeing in my car. On my way out, people from my normal night shift were on their way in. I thought it was kind of ironic that for this one week of daytime training I would be leaving right when I'd typically arrive. As I was slowly driving out, I passed by the guy who leads the machine section I normally work in. He recognized me and gave me a wave. As I smiled and waved back, I realized how much I missed my normal shift as well as the people. It then struck me like a ton of bricks how strange it is that I felt any longing for the normalcy of my regular shift after sixteen weeks of being stressed out and overwhelmed by the job. The part of me that misses my regular shift is looking forward to being back there Thursday night. It also wears a smile and shouts to me from a distance that everything is going to be just fine. I like to listen to that part of myself. He/she/it is quite wise and calming.
I'll be okay. One day at a time.