I work for a Unionized plant. Several years ago a pleaded for some help (1 man shop – on a corporate network(WAN), over 100 Desktops, Several Local Database aplications mostly proprietary and some home-grown, Over 150+ users (now about 300+ users), Telephoney Admin as well.
The company gave in finally but on the condition that I make the position out of a union position (non technical position). The Person I recieved had very little knowledge of computers but was able (over the 3 years or so) instruct them enough to become a decent desktop support person for all but the toughest issues.
Well as of a few months ago she was outbid for the position through the union processes with a new person who hardly knows where to plug the PC in. I been able to instruct the person again to the point of at least knowing how to connect systems and with step by step instructions can install a disk image. As for debugging or configuring anything still useless.
At this point I have not been able to convince that I need to at least have a Tech Level Union person (one that I can pre-test for a basic skill level) nor any other type of assistant.
What I need help with is some suggestions on courses/books/or other training materials usefull to get someone with little/no computer experience up to speed in thier general configurations and debugging skills. How do you instruct a person to troubleshoot? I dont want to do my job and thiers for the next 3 years until they can be brought up to speed. To make things worse this person has mentioned a possible retirement in about 1 year so I will get to start all over again.
