Friday, July 11, 2008

Work, Work, Work!

For those of you who don't know, I work at the IT Help Desk at Blue Ridge Community College. I'm very proud to work there. I am also a 2002 graduate. What makes BRCC such a great place to work is the people. I am fairly sure I would not be celebrating my five year tenure if not for the caring, intelligent people that make up BRCC.

Like all work places, some days are so stressful that I just have to rant. Any workplace is going to have its fair share of politics, lunacy and general BS. Right? The past year seems to have been more than overflowing of all three! There have been big changes: reaccreditation, a new President (with her proactive-y goodness), two new buildings (one of which is centered around technology), lots of comings and goings (I've been on two hiring committees since March '07) and about a billion PC deployments. Well, a billion is probably exaggerated... but it sure feels like it! This is on top of our daily duties, requests, phone calls and general cries for help. :)

I did have a warm fuzzy experience on Tuesday: I toured the Help Desk office in the new building. I have seen it twice before, only now it has furniture. It feels good because there's lots more storage and centralized PC management (more so than before). Plus, it's just a fresh start! Not to mention the new furniture looks fantastic!

I get a great sense of accomplishment from the job ~ one that's unparalleled. I truly enjoy helping people. If I were to psychoanalyze myself, that probably stems from neurotic tendency to make everything OK. Ha! The reward is that the results are tangible... I can look around me and see the impact I am having. My co-workers are very thoughtful in letting me know, too, that I have a positive impact on their work experiences.

The saying goes, "Do what what you love and you'll never work a day in your Life." I'm not sure about love, but my job is very satisfying. One day I imagine myself on an archaeological dig somewhere in Egypt or Europe. Or perhaps I will be writing my memoirs of world travels that helped me study familiar cultures. For now, I am content carving out a niche at a small community college. There's something to be said for being a big fish in a small sea: everyone knows your name!

Cheers,
J.

P.S.~ I know this post has a lot of parenthetical inserts (and I apologize for that!).

2 comments:

Edward said...

I'm sure you really do make a big difference at your job (with 350,000 PC rollouts) and those people (with their cries for help) are very lucky to have you helping them!

Jaime said...

Aw! Give yourself a pat on the back as well... you're right there in trenches as well. You've taught me well, Obi Wan. :D

How did you get the 350,000 number? I don't doubt it!

J.