Website = Problems

Hey bloggers!

I hope everyone is enjoying their placements and well done to those wrapping them up!

I have two weeks to go, and I am enjoying my final weeks and trying to get everything finished off.

One project in particular is taking a little longer than I had hoped - the website.

I have never had smooth sailing with websites.

From initial design to regular updates, the recurring theme for me has been patience. You need a lot of it.

The biggest lesson I have learnt is no matter what, be nice to the IT guy. I don’t know their language or their world, and even if I think they are lazy or not doing their job, I really have no choice but to trust them – they are the almighty gatekeeper to the brave world of cyber space.

The Community Investment team I am working with has an internet (.com) site and a mirroring intranet (.org) site that hasn’t been updated for a few months. My project was to update the stories that are waiting to be uploaded, and then write new articles for more recent events like the Great Bike Ride and Movember.

After the first day, I (somehow??) deleted the file off the CMS I had been working on and lost everything. Not the best way to impress colleagues in your first week…

After we got this fixed, the problems haven’t stopped.

I upload to the internet, the changes are visible. The next day the changes have been mirrored to the intranet, but have dropped off the internet. Every time we fix one problem, another one jumps up!

The good news is the intranet is looking fantastic.

The bad news is even the IT guys are scratching their heads.

Today we found out the guy we have been working with internally has been retrenched – I am not sure whether to sigh in despair or relief. Either the process starts over, or the fresh start could be the quick fix we need???

So, the first project I wanted to get done quickly has become the on going project that plagues my work days!!

But, what it has taught me is these problems are not specific to smaller business or not-for-profit organisations. No matter where you are working, or how big the budget, IT issues happen everywhere.

I would love to hear about any IT issues at other placements?

Take care!

Amanda