Jennifer Spencer
Service Desk Analyst
Tell us a bit about your role
My role as a Service Desk Analyst is to help Department members with their IT. This includes everything from equipment purchasing, set up and disposal, installing or trouble-shooting software, activating and managing accounts, and sorting out missing or troublesome network connections. This is my first full-time IT role: I did IT as part of my previous role in a research group in the Department of Zoology using my self-taught skills. The Department kindly supported me in studying and I got a CompTIA+ IT service qualification. As MSD-IT associates we have a mixed role in supporting and developing our own internal IT needs, while being able to provide assistance in the wider division and for those departments and groups located in the South Parks Science Area. Essentially, I view my role as one of support and problem-solving.
What is the most meaningful aspect of your work?
The most meaningful aspect of my work to me is solving problems for people. Technology has come so far so fast it understandably can leave them very flummoxed, especially when something that used to just work no longer does. Helping people get back up and running to be able to carry on doing what they want to do is the best thing for me.
Can you tell us about something you've done or contributed to that you're most proud of?
I’ve only been with the Department for just over a year, but I am very proud of the IT team, and happy to be a part of it. Both Sean and Simon have welcomed me as a team member, are both excellent at their respective roles, and I feel we provide a great service to the Department and its users in their IT. I think from my background and working style preferences I bring a stronger organisation and process-minded aspect to the team. I like open communication, and systems with clear boundaries and instructions. I have worked to implement these more into our team day-to-day working via compiling our own OneNote Knowledge Base, writing up more user guides and email templates, organising and sorting out storage areas, and investigating greater use of the new workflow management and communication hub functions built into the new Sharepoint Online functionality which is being rolled out across the University.
What changes would you most like to see in the medical sciences in the next 100 years?
I would love to see more women in STEM and IT roles, as well as BAME and LGBTQIA+, not just in Medical Sciences, but throughout the University. I suppose being IT, for MSD specifically, I would love to see us keep up strong IT infrastructure investment, so we have the best equipment to support the crucial research we do going forward.