Taumarunui-based Community Technician, Paul Northwood, is also exploring his options post July 2006. However, unlike his colleague Clint Deckard, Paul says the possibility of him building a self-sustaining business is unlikely at this stage.
“I’d quite like to build my own business but it would have to be a secondary source of income,” says Paul, whose current hours working in schools averages just over one day a week.
Getting the foot in the door at some of his schools has been difficult with only four of the nine schools in the cluster using Paul’s service.
Paul thinks a mixture of loyalty to incumbent IT technicians, resistance to change, lack of understanding of his role and the perennial chestnut of cost, has hamstrung him in his role as a Community Technician.
“All these schools opted into the Community Technicians cluster but they’re using other people. I don’t think they understand that I know what I’m doing.”
Ideally, Paul says if he could persuade schools to have their networks undergo a fortnightly maintenance check he would have the bones of a viable business. But with the low priority given to network maintenance, he doubts schools would be willing to pay for the service. Until they are, Paul sees the technician’s role largely remaining curative instead of preventative.
Another impediment to Paul starting his won business is competition. Two other technicians are working in schools around the area and two businesses in town offer IT services. However, one advantage Paul will soon have is qualifications. With the Ministry of Education aiming to ensure the highest quality of support for school networks, Paul knows that his Community Technician qualification (DipICT Applied) will eventually give him a competitive advantage over the opposition.
But in the meantime Paul is contemplating a move back into primary teaching, where with the security of an income he can plan his next move.
Paul has no regrets about participating in the Community Technicians’ project and thinks it’s a good concept, and he would happily commit to being a Community Technician if he could guarantee there would be fulltime hours.
