Exercise 8. Complete these definitions with jobs from the box.

software engineer computer security specialist blog administrator help desk technician DTP operator hardware engineer network administrator webmaster

1. A ______________ designs and develops IT devices.

2. A ______________ writes computer programs.

3. A ______________ edits and deletes posts made by contributors to a blog.

4. A ______________ uses page layout software to prepare electronic files for publication.

5. A ______________ manages the hardware and software that comprise a network.

6. A ______________ designs and maintains websites.

7. A ______________ works with companies to build secure computer systems.

8. A ______________ helps end-users with their computer problems in person, by email or over the phone.

Exercise 9. Work in groups. Rank the things you want from a job: 1 = most important, 10 = least important.

· a high salary

· flexible working hours

· responsibility

· interest or enjoyment

· a nice office

· telecommuting

· long holidays

· working with people

· security

· excitement/risk

· good benefits, e.g. a company car, gym membership

Exercise 10. Write a paragraph to say what kind of job you would like, and why.

Exercise 11. Read the interview with a Systems Manager.

interviewer: What sort of company do you work for?

bill: I work for the largest brewer in the UK.

interviewer: And how long have you worked for them?

bill: I've been there for almost twenty-five years.

interviewer: And what's your post there? What's your job title?

bill: I'm a Systems Manager.

interviewer: And what are your duties?

bill: Basically, I look after the systems for the Technical Services division. Technical Services make sure that the beer gets into the glass in good condition.

interviewer: OK, so what are your specific duties?

bill: I'm responsible for existing systems and their running, maintenance, and general order. I'm responsible for the systems infrastructure we use – networks, PCs, and other devices – and I'm responsible for new systems development.

interviewer: Can you give me an example of a system?

bill: Yes, here's an example of an operational system. We have 2,600 pubs and 350 service engineers. If the beer dispenser stops working in a pub, that's a serious matter for the publican. He or she rings in with the fault. That's logged on the system. We telephone an engineer who goes to the pub, investigates the fault and fixes it, and records details of what he's done on a handheld device he carries with him. The details of all the work he's done that day are downloaded to a PC at the end of the day, and then sent up in the middle of the night to our mainframe system and processed there. The activity is recorded, and the parts used, and how long it took. Our stock database is adjusted, and new parts ordered to make up stock where necessary. Everything is handled by one system.

interviewer: You're also responsible for developing new systems.

bill: Nowadays we tend to buy packages or have packages modified to our requirements.

interviewer: Why do you buy in systems and not produce them in- -house?

bill: It's now standard procedure to buy in. When I started, we would always write our own. But there's so much available now and people expect a high standard of sophistication from a system. In-house development would take too long and be enormously expensive.

interviewer: How do you choose a system?

bill: If you're looking for a system, you see what the market has to offer and you make up a shortlist. You get the shortlisted companies in to make presentations. In addition to a system that meets your needs, you're looking for a company which is financially sound and has a good track-record, and can take you to sites with satisfied customers. You're looking really for a business partner. It's a long-term relationship. The fact that you spend fifty to sixty thousand pounds on the software is almost immaterial compared with the investments you're going to put into your own company, in getting the system commissioned and configured, and working and documented, and everything else.

interviewer: How many systems do you have running?

bill: In the whole Beer Division there are many hundreds of systems.

interviewer: It must be enormously complicated, because you'll have programs of all sorts of ages.

bill: Yes, we have some systems twenty years old. One problem I have is to ensure that old and new systems can interface.

interviewer: How do you protect your systems?

bill: Everything is on the mainframe and it's all backed up. It's all protected. You can't just go along and change something. It's a protected environment. There are passwords. You need several signatures to change anything. The databases are backed up on cartridges and taken off site to a fireproof store. There are contingency plans and disaster plans so that even if there was a nuclear strike we could be back in business in a couple of weeks.

interviewer: What about the future? Do developments on the hardware side make any difference to your systems?

bill: Well, you can hold more information online than you could before. You can have much more history, bigger files, but what is making much more difference to our company is faster communications. We have our own internal email system and there are links from there into the Internet.

interviewer: So the future for you is faster information flow.

bill: Yes, which means you don't need to have so many bits of paper.

interviewer: So a paper-free office?

bill: There's no such thing and there never will be.

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