My time these last two weeks with ODU’s ITS Administration team has been a great look into the average day on an IT team in a position like mine. Although it has been on the slower side in the office, I’ve essentially performed most (if not all) of my job functions. First off, I’ll reflect on the hierarchy of the office. Ordinarily, it would be Supervisor > Full-time > Hourly > Student-Worker. Since we don’t have any student workers, us hourlies are responsible for all lower-priority work in the office. This will typically consist of things like preparing devices for disposal and lower-priority tickets around campus. Tickets within our ticketing system will fall between 1-4 on the priority scale. Typically, our Full-Time employees will take on all of these and focus any 1’s and 2’s in our ticket queue. It is my responsibility to focus 3’s and 4’s but isn’t unheard of that I take on a 1 or 2 every so often. That’ll only really happen if we’re short staffed or it gets busy though.
These last two weeks, I’ve been dealing with a VIP client (priority 1), and a priority 2 ticket. These both have been given to me abnormally as my supervisor just felt like these were tickets that I could handle. What I’m realizing is that these higher priority tickets are all generally more difficult to take care of, as there is a process before they make it to our queue that should remove the easier and more manageable tickets from our workload. I’d originally thought it was just those with the higher positions (ex. departmental supervisor, Associate Vice Presidents, etc.) who’d have high priority tickets. I now realize that it is a mix of that and the impact that a particular issue has on the user. The experiences I’ve had with these higher priority incidents have taught me the importance of prioritizing our queue and gives me a higher appreciation for the system in place to make sure we aren’t overloaded. We are the 3rd step for most tickets that make it to our department, and without the Helpdesk and our Remote team, I’d imagine we’d have a much more stressful time dealing with our workload.
This week, we’re to have our first team meeting since the start of the semester. I’m looking forward to going over what we’ve accomplished prior, and what is next for us in the coming weeks.
Applying Course Knowledge
- What have you learned in coursework which relates to the world of work?
- A lot of what I’ve learned through school that relates to this experience isn’t so much the technical work, but more so how to work. Similarly to how school operates, the job came with deadlines, responsibilities to complete, projects to work on, and a limited amount of time to complete the tasks I’ve been delegated. I’ve been choosing courses in my major that closely align with Penetration testing, so naturally there isn’t much overlap being on the defensive side of managing IT systems. I do however notice certain things that would make for perfect targets of a penetration test in my role. I’ve witnessed unlocked doors that need to be locked, employees being polite to a fault in letting me tailgate them when they’ve never seen me a day in their lives, users storing passwords in an unprotected spreadsheet on their computer, giving me their password to make the fix easier when they request support, the weakness of the aforementioned passwords, etc. Considering this is just a stepping stone for me to get to the career I’d really like to go for, seeing the security faults on the defensive side rather than theorizing about the possible weak links on the offensive is very eye-opening. When hearing about them in textbooks and lectures, they seem like impossibly minuscule concerns. I think to myself, “surely no one actually does these things.” And unfortunately, I’m proved wrong every other day.
- How are the concepts you have read about in course texts applied in practice?
- In my position at this internship, I had a relationship with the Security team. I’d been able to shadow them a couple days at a time, seeing the back-end of the security operations. With this, I’ve been able to observe the tools that we cover in classes: Firewalls, SIEMs, Ticketing Systems, documentation demonstrations, Vulnerability scanners, and more. I was able to see the importance of the aforementioned documentation, and what detailed but concise notes look like. I observed the human interaction behind a red-flagged packet or IP address.
- What theories, ideas, or concepts might be applied in your career area?
- All of the tools and experiences I’ve gathered in my time with this internship are all insights into what a sophisticated and professional defense has in store for a penetration tester. They’ve taught me things to consider when attacking systems and networks (for good of course).
Skill Development
- What new skills did you learn during the internship?
- Technical Proficiency: Gained hands-on experience with various office and computer equipment, enhancing my technical skills.
- Multitasking: Managed multiple tasks simultaneously, improving my ability to prioritize and remain organized in a fast-paced environment.
- Data Analysis: Worked on organizing and analyzing data, which strengthened my analytical capabilities.
- Teamwork and Communication: Collaborated effectively with team members, enhancing my teamwork and communication skills through various projects.
- Share examples of work you produced that demonstrates these on this page.
Personal Development
- How did you benefit personally from the internship experience?
- During your internship, make a special effort to observe the personal style of supervisors and colleagues. Identify clear examples of leadership styles that either promote good working relationships or hinder a productive work environment. Note how to deal with pressure, tension, and praise in work relationships. It is important to understand how to communicate knowledge to strangers, supervisors, and peers. Try to obtain knowledge of job opportunities available in this field. Become familiar with occupational literature and professional organizations.
- The work environment at this internship was one that made me dread having to find another job. Both my supervisor and my co-workers were people that I found to be extremely enjoyable to be around. My supervisor was a man who was very hands-off. He had the confidence that the people he hired were able to essentially run the operation even in his absence. He’d even been gone for an extended period of time on medical leave and came back to an office that’d been doing exactly that. This style of supervising left me to my own devices, allowing me to respond to pressure in a way that felt good for me. I felt comfortable answering those we supported to the best of my ability, and directing people to my supervisor once that hadn’t been enough of a response (knowing that his response would more than likely be a reaffirmation of my professional opinion). It is this confidence that he’d had in our team that allowed me to have confidence in myself.
- My peers carried much of the same aura, giving me the confidence to operate at my full capacity knowing that I had a supportive team behind me for every task that I’d come across. It was the reassurance from each co-worker I’d come across that “If you need help with anything, let us know” that would get me through tough situations. Having a cohesive team of TSPs and technicians in different departments who could answer most (if not all) of my questions made difficult experiences much easier to manage.
- During your internship, make a special effort to observe the personal style of supervisors and colleagues. Identify clear examples of leadership styles that either promote good working relationships or hinder a productive work environment. Note how to deal with pressure, tension, and praise in work relationships. It is important to understand how to communicate knowledge to strangers, supervisors, and peers. Try to obtain knowledge of job opportunities available in this field. Become familiar with occupational literature and professional organizations.