IT support, what do i do

Rannoch

Rannoch

Rannoch

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So I look after 2 servers and 30 odd workstations at a school, I'm self-employed, they pay me a monthly fee for a certain amount of hours per month etc, if I go over the contract hours I then bill per hour as an extra, I've bent over backwards for them, but they pay late, beat me to death on prices and secretly moan about my invoices which to be honest are not that much compared to other non essential services they have, they seem to have 1000's to spend on other things without question.

There's a new teacher starting next week who's supposed to have an excellent IT background, so, they want me in next month to show this guy the ropes, so he can get a handle on things, then I imagine they will cut my hours right back and have me as the replacement dummy should he need a holiday or be off sick.

In the contact we have a 30 days cancellation period, I'm fed up with their late payments etc, just want to vent.

Any ideas.
 
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I would not care about them secretly moaning about the costs, let’s face it, who does n't moan about bills after all!

The late payments would annoy me but again, seems to be the norm in business these days, everyone holding off payment till the last minute.

I would not be happy about showing someone else how to do the job, can't you refuse, maybe state you are not being paid to teach someone else how to do the work, if you can't really refuse then just show them the bare basics and hold back on what you can, it is a job for you after all and you are not contracted to teach them how to do it just to end up putting yourself out of the job.
 
Thanks for the replies guys, never thought about the training issue.

Maybe i should ask for a years contract paid up front in advance :D

I know people who do this.
 
Set up a script that is time activated that downloads a lot of kiddie porn when the new guy is logged in, then set it to email it to pupils with inappropriate messages.

Then when this guy does replace you, set it off, ruin his life and get your job back!

That or hold the school computing system hostage with some 85 character long passwords, and a bomb.
 
Another thing they just dropped this new teacher into the conversation today, they start in a fortnight, cheeky bstrds
 
Would depend on a number of things if I were in that position.


  • How much I could afford to loose the contract
  • How likely I felt I would be to loose the contract after providing training
  • If I had a minimum hours clause in the contract in order to keep the contract valid.
If I could afford to loose the contract then charge through the nose for training.
If I felt I would loose the contract after the training then charge through the nose for the training.
If I didn't have a minimum weekly / monthly hours clause in the contract then I would charge them through the nose for training.

I would then use the extra cash from the training to try and develop some new leads that may turn in to viable future contracts and move on.

The fact is that if you do anything to cause them an issue (disrupt their systems etc after you go) then you could be liable (hope you have Professional Indemnity insurance). The fact is that you would have very little to gain from doing something like that.

The fact that they are spending piles of cash on other things and negotiating hard with you is due to their belief that they are in the position of power and that you are likely to accept rather than loose the contract. If you are studying and doing this part time then it puts them in a pretty strong position. If on the other hand you are an established business and you are offering good rates then you also have a strong position and it comes down to whether you are willing to (or can afford to) walk away.

RB
 
meade16 said:
So I look after 2 servers and 30 odd workstations at a school, I'm self-employed, they pay me a monthly fee for a certain amount of hours per month etc, if I go over the contract hours I then bill per hour as an extra, I've bent over backwards for them, but they pay late, beat me to death on prices and secretly moan about my invoices which to be honest are not that much compared to other non essential services they have, they seem to have 1000's to spend on other things without question.

There's a new teacher starting next week who's supposed to have an excellent IT background, so, they want me in next month to show this guy the ropes, so he can get a handle on things, then I imagine they will cut my hours right back and have me as the replacement dummy should he need a holiday or be off sick.

In the contact we have a 30 days cancellation period, I'm fed up with their late payments etc, just want to vent.

Any ideas.
Click to expand...

This "replacement" is going to teach AND manage an entire school network? That doesn't sound very likely to me. That's a lot of work.

I would ask them what they intend to have this teacher do with the knowledge and politely point out to them that this guy isn't going to have the time to do both jobs.

If they persist then as above say training isn't part of the contract etc etc

If they pay you to train him then do it and show him all the essential stuff but none of the "nice" stuff that you do that just makes things a bit easier on everyone - the stuff that they don't realise you do if you know what I mean?

Then when it all falls apart and the come running back to you then put your rates up a bit. After a period of massive disruption they will pay it because they will want to get back to a nicely working system asap :D
 
bignev72 said:
This "replacement" is going to teach AND manage an entire school network? That doesn't sound very likely to me. That's a lot of work.
Click to expand...

Chances are he's not a full time teacher, supporting 2 servers and 30 workstations isn't a full time job by any means.

In the schools I use to cover there were teachers who had about 4 hours a week for "IT" related things, usually they're try to do basic first line checks on printers and PCs etc, install the odd bit of software and create users on the servers when required or do password resets, very basic work.

It could be similar to that, if it's more though I'd expect to be losing the contract, most likely until there's a hardware fault or some serious OS/software fault - then they'll come running back to you, at which point you mention a yearly contract paid up front or a high call our charge.

OP really is in a stick situation, IT is rarely given the level of importance it deserves in any organisation and certainly not in education. He either plays ball or not, but either way that contract could be going. If you play along though you could get future work out of them, if you don't then you've no chance.
 
pingwing said:
Set up a script that is time activated that downloads a lot of kiddie porn when the new guy is logged in, then set it to email it to pupils with inappropriate messages.

Then when this guy does replace you, set it off, ruin his life and get your job back!

That or hold the school computing system hostage with some 85 character long passwords, and a bomb.
Click to expand...

Everybody wave at the police officer who is tasked with looking at this thread now pingwing has set off every keyword.
 
Just 2 servers and 30 workstations and someone external employed to look after them? I'm glad to see the school doing something about this to be honest.
 
Em3bbs said:
Just 2 servers and 30 workstations and someone full time to look after them?
Click to expand...

6608599_std.jpg
 
Your not an actual employee of the school so they can do whatever they feel is better and in their interests. That's the cut throat world of IT contractors.

I spent 5 years as an IT contractor and was based on one contract for almost 4 of those years and to cut a long story short, one day a guy turns up in the company reception and asks for me and says 'i'm here for you to train me up so I can replace you'.

Now i'm an employee and don't miss the higher wages, get paid sickness and paid holiday (just took 2 weeks off for the first time in 5 years).
 
Update :

Thanks for all the replies but I need not have worried.

I asked for an up front payment for a block of hours, they agreed, I get a call to say the new IT man is here and his IT skilled CV is as long as your arm, new guy starts, we all have a big meeting, he has lots of fresh ideas, all sounds good.

So I have a new contract in place and a much higher hourly rate which includes training, I show him the servers, the Cisco router, back-up hard disks etc etc.

He looks a little lost, he orders a laptop, then he asks me to create him a user account, I do, I give him the admin password so he can set his new laptop up on the domain, he calls and asks me to do it, I notice lots of print outs about joining a Windows Domain, I look at the new laptop, Windows 7 Home Premium.

I upgrade it to Pro, as were talking he admits he knows little about Windows, especially Windows Server.

Funny old world.
 
I swear i was going to say this reading through the thread, i have had three guys start at a place i look after, all had talked pure bull to get the job.

one was a 'computer science' student from India, who couldnt even set out a basic network, with permissions.

who is the guy we have running it all now after three leaving and lots of tears and excuses?

a 19 year old kid, who started as an admin officer, and 'helped out' one day, we were stuck, turns out this young guy is fantastic, all of it self taught.

and hes a great guy into the bargain,

good luck with everything matey, as Batman said,

'It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me'
 
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