ICT Network Professionals
Analyse and recommend strategies for network architecture and development, implement, manage, maintain and configure network hardware and software, monitor and optimise network performance, and troubleshoot and provide user support.
Exam week and a dropped connection
You are a network engineer for a group of schools, on call during the busiest week of the year. It is 8:15am on the first morning of exams. Two campuses have lost their connection to the main data centre. About nine hundred students are due to start online tests at nine.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
Our connection has gone completely. The exam starts at nine and I have three hundred Year 12 students. I need to know right now if you can fix this or if I should cancel the exams.
Tell her you will have it back by nine, to keep her calm while the students line up outside
You were optimistic, and nine o'clock arrives without a connection. The school's plan B was never started, and three hundred students sit waiting. Never promise a time you cannot control.
Tell her what you know, when you will update her next, and ask her to start a backup plan
She hears the truth and starts her plan B at once. When the connection returns at 9:20, the school is ready either way. Planning for the worst helps even if it does not happen.
Tell her it is too early to say anything and that you will ring her as soon as you know more
It is honest, but she is left with nothing to act on, and she rings you three more times. Even an unfinished picture can help.
We have checked and everything is fine on our side. Whatever it is, it has to be your equipment. I can't help any more, so I'll close the ticket.
Lose your temper and demand to speak to his manager, since he is clearly not listening to you
He escalates, but he also becomes defensive, and the next hour is lost in argument. Anger rarely finds the fault faster.
Accept his answer and begin searching only your own equipment, room by room
You find nothing and lose precious time. The problem is further along the line, and Grant's confident answer cost you half an hour.
Send him your test results, ask him to check one section and keep the ticket open
Faced with data instead of a general complaint, Grant finds a faulty link in his own network. It is fixed within forty minutes. Evidence moves people faster than frustration does.
The connection is back but running slowly. I have two hundred students about to log in at once. The system might fall over again. Can you tell me whether it's safe to start?
Suggest starting in groups, staggered by a few minutes, and watch the load as you go
The load stays comfortable and every student logs in. You tell Ms Anand you will stay on the line while the test runs. Easing back to full load is a safe step after a failure.
Advise postponing the exams until you are sure the line is stable
It is a cautious choice, but a postponement affects nine hundred students and their families. A staged restart may have been enough.
Tell her it is fine to start everyone at once because the line is back
The system buckles under the load and drops half the students mid-test. Being back up and being able to carry the full load are different things.
How it went
The exams ran, a fault in somebody else's network was found, and you stayed on the line. Network professionals find problems in things nobody can see, and then explain them to people who are anxious. It asks for patience and clear talk. Would you enjoy being the calm voice during the crisis?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The wi-fi that died every morning at ten
A fictional case set in the network team of a fictional school group that runs many campuses over shared connections.
The situation
Marguerite worked on the network team for a group of schools. A campus at the edge of the district kept reporting that the wi-fi slowed to a crawl every morning at about ten, just when the senior classes started online assessments. The school suspected the network team. The team's own tools showed nothing wrong. There were a dozen other tickets waiting, and the school's principal was getting impatient.
What they did
Marguerite drove out and watched the network at ten o'clock instead of reading logs afterward. She saw that the traffic jumped when the school's new video system updated itself, at the same time every day, using most of the shared connection. She showed the school's staff the graph, explained in plain words what was happening and suggested moving the update to the early hours. She also made a note for the team about checking for scheduled jobs earlier.
How it turned out
The school's technician changed the timing and the slowdowns stopped. The principal sent a message thanking the team for coming out. Marguerite spent the rest of the day catching up on the tickets that had waited, and added a line to the team's checklist.
What would you do?
- Why was it better to watch the problem happen than to read about it afterward?
- How would you explain a complicated cause to someone who is frustrated?
- What do you think it feels like to be blamed for a problem that is not yours?