Professionalism Blog

I received my diploma in Computer Support from the College of the North Atlantic back in 1998. In February 1999, I was offered a job with ATCO Frontec in Ottawa, which I gladly accepted. I was hired on as a Microsoft Application Support trainee (a fancy title which meant I was tech support for people who didn't know how to use MS Excel or Access). Due to my brief training in website design, I was approached to work on a test project: to create an Intranet site for the Ottawa office. This involved gathering information from each department which would be hosted on a single server, thus making it easily accessible for all other departments. Once a month I had to host meetings with representatives from each department and discuss design ideas for the site, gather data to be centralized and hear any comments/concerns that any of the departments may have regarding this project. Some departments were excited about the project, and gladly lent their time and resources. Some departments (and some individuals more than others) did not like the idea of having certain information on the site. Their thinking was that "if people can now just go online and get what they used to have to come and see me about, I'll eventually have less to do". This made for some uncomfortable meetings, but I had to remain professional; I was tasked with a job to do and I did my best to perform it. I was 21 and some of the people I was trying to convince had been with the company close to 20 years.

I have worked many jobs since finishing College. Over the years the work I have been getting has been further away from what I would like to be doing. The past couple of years I have worked in the mining industry. I have always wanted to get a comfortable office job, but have been forced to take what I can get. That is why I decided to attend University. I hope to eventually get my Business degree and find a job that is rewarding and that I enjoy doing.