OIT works to make campus computer-friendly

Jen Whiting had an unlikely start to her career at the Office of Information Technology (OIT).

In the early 1990s, Whiting hung off walls at Cornell University, where she managed the climbing facility.

Then she designed a computer program to keep track of rentals at the facility — which ultimately led her to a job today as OIT manager of customer support.

"I started messing around with computers and figured out a database rental program," she said. "Then I started doing all the computer support for the athletic department. Then I got [to Princeton] and got involved with the Help Desk."

The lesson in Whiting's story is vaguely similar to those of the 100 undergraduates and 150 full time workers who are employed by OIT — you don't need to major in computer science or be a computer wizard to be an effective consultant.

In fact, most of the undergraduates have career interests outside the world of computers.

"I would like to go into marketing and advertising, I think," said Roshan Varma '06, who works at the OIT Solutions Center in Frist Campus Center with one other undergraduate student and two full-time staff members.

"Of course, it changes every week. Next week it might be race-car driving," she said.

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It is this flexibility that encourages undergraduates to apply as computer consultants.

Though most have some knowledge about computers, others lack any technical working experience.

"Sometimes the folks who are history majors or in politics or Woody Woo [make the best consultants because] they bend toward analytical thinking," Whiting said. "I think that's really what's key. And it happens that good researchers make good consultants," she added.

Along with Whiting, Leila Shahbender, manager of student computing services, and Steven Sather, associate director of support services, are responsible for hiring applicants.

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During the spring, OIT sets up a booth in Frist encouraging undergraduates to apply to be computer consultants.

Once hired in the spring, undergraduates go through an intensive training period that requires them to attend three days of classes.

Residential computer consultants, help desk members and solutions center staff meet late in August to go over the basics of the Princeton network. After being primed with classes and quizzes, OIT staff members then stage mock scenarios of computer problems and ask, "O.K., what's wrong with the computer? How are you going to fix it?"

Upon completion of the course, the undergraduate consultants can work in various OIT positions both on and off campus.

Some undergraduate consultants opt for the telecommunications center, while others respond to phone inquiries about computer problems.

There is also work available in the residential computing consultant program, helping students with problems in their dorms and in the solutions center working alongside full time workers.

Others work in the New Media Center on 87 Prospect Ave., helping students and faculty with graphic designs.

"We know that we have a variety of jobs for the students," Sather said. "We'll ask them, 'Do you know what you want to do specifically?' Then we'll make the best match."

Once the school year starts, undergraduate consultants are prepared to respond to the deluge of computer problems that arise over the course of the year — network configuration problems, viruses and hardware or software damage.

"By the time you're a senior, you've got a bank of knowledge," Whiting said. "Students who are still working into their senior year are some of our best consultants."

"[The undergraduates] keep our support ranks young and fresh," she added. "[They] keep us in touch with the 5,000 students on campus and teach us the spontaneity of communication."