Interviewer: Ben Hoffman
User name: Joel Aron
Background / Skill level: Technical Director, Industrial Light & Magic; high proficiency with technology
Q: What are a few examples of your most regular tech problems?
A: Network slowness, needing laptop assigned and quickly set up for use from remote locations (on stage from client), getting 3rd party apps installed and appropriate licenses worked out.
Q: What is your first step when you come across a need for help? How long before you escalate the issue to the next step?
A: See if I can troubleshoot it myself since I can usually fix most problems on my own. . If not, call or mail the on-site Help Desk and get them involved.
Q: Does your company have an intranet site that offers FAQs or other technical help? If so, how often to they resolve your issue?
A: No, but I wish we did. When we get new people in the office we could point them to the intranet for help with common issues.
Q: Do you struggle to properly convey the nature of the problem to IT staff?
A: Because often it is not easy to tell if the problem is an IT one or one with the related proprietary software making up the artist pipeline, it often makes it difficult to figure out where to start troubleshooting the problem. Our IT staff is pretty great, though and they take the time to understand what we are having problems with. I have to give them credit for never looking down on users and being sincerely helpful.
Q: Typically how long before problem introduction to problem resolution?
A: Often a few hours, but sometimes will take up to several months or even never, if the problem wasn't deemed a show-stopper. We have issues still ongoing from years ago but we've learned to work around them. Our infrastructure has been added on to so many times that it really is just a huge mess and sometimes it's easier to ignore the problem if it doesn't prevent us from getting work done.
Q: Does your IT staff have remote access to your system? If so, do you find this method useful? If not, do you think this would be helpful in your situation?
A: Yes. It's helpful because time is tight on most projects and it let's us focus on other things.