The purpose of the Orientation Mentoring track is to bring new employees up to speed on the IT ecosystem at the university, make sure they have the tools and understanding to succeed, and make sure they are comfortable with the aspects of their job. To that end we’ve put together the following list of topics that mentees can use to guide their learning and discussions during their meetings with orientation mentors.
Surviving and thriving
Topics
- Understanding and getting comfortable with your work environment and what is expected of you
- Accessibility, accommodations, support resources
- Understanding and configuring your personal info and benefits, etc.
Resources
- Faculty and Staff Assistance Services (FSAS)
- Disability Resources and Educational Services
- Health Resource Centers
- LGBTRC and Ally resources
- Women in Technology (WIT)
- UIHR
IT at the College of Engineering
Topics
- Reaching out to colleagues across the org
- Learning the org’s divisions, teams, and virtual teams, and their members
- Understanding the purposes, functions, and services of the divisions and teams
- Knowing how to identify subject matter experts, and who best to ask
- Knowing our offices, buildings, and other locations across the Engineering campus
- Knowing the different Engineering units (departments), their buildings and locations
- Understanding how our services are consumed by different units
- Knowing org-level tools, and when, how and why to use them
- Knowing how to finding info and documentation
- Learning acronyms
Things you can do
- Visit various EngrIT office locations and meet members of other divisions and teams
- Attend (or present at) org-level meetings, such as lightning talks, CCRT round table meetings, and all-hands meetings, etc.
- Visit, connect with, or join virtual teams
- Work out shadowing opportunities with your manager
- Peek at work/tickets performed by various teams
Resources
- my.engr.illinois.edu portal apps
- Add “EngrIT Tools” widget
- Lightning talks
- EngrIT website
- Org chart
- Team directory
- Services and contacts
- Getting Started Guide for new Engineering staff and faculty
- Documentation sources
- Communication channels
- Java Jim
- EngrIT AMA
- Slack (various teams and virtual teams channels)
- Various team email lists (e.g. engrit-usa, engrit-nsg, etc.)
IT at the university
Topics
- Understanding relationships between IT orgs at system vs. campus vs. college vs. unit/group levels
- Being familiar with other major IT players such as Tech Services, AITS, ATLAS, FAA, etc
- Having a rough understanding of campus geography and locations
- Knowing which services and resources Tech Services is responsible for
- Familiarizing yourself with campus resources and IT Pro tools that are commonly relevant to your work
- Knowing how to find documentation and how to contact subject matter experts related to campus services
Things you can do
- Attend a Caffeine Break
- Attend IT Pro Forum or other conferences
- Visit websites of other colleges and IT orgs
- Poke around in various tools and read documentation
- Watch videos on Campus IT Pro Videos Media Space channel
Resources
- Mentoring orientation slides (for campus hierarchy, reporting, governance, etc.)
- List of IT orgs
- Tech Services
- Overall answers.uillinois.edu KB system
- Media Space
- Campus IT Pro Videos channel
- IT Pro tools
- EPS: SCCM, Workspace One, Munki
- Networking: Iris, Lens (IT Pro tab), IPAM
- AD, Cerebro/AD Tools/Box Team Folder Creation
- Communication channels
- IT End User Services Microsoft Teams channel
- CCSP and other IT Pro email lists on lists.illinois
Engineering IT culture
Topics
- Expectations of personal effectiveness and autonomy
- Being comfortable with ambiguity
- Ownership
- Integrating professional etiquette and general career maturity
- Exploring and settling into EngrIT culture
- Introducing yourself, contributing and speaking in teams and meetings
- Understanding and working with CRMs and facilitation methods
- Awareness of and proficiency with IT Pro tools and resources
- Asking the right questions, contextualizing, learning, and internalizing
- How to succeed as a mentee or mentor
- Petting the hedgehog
Things you can do
- Develop techniques for managing time, priorities, calendaring, and email
- Make use of face-time and develop relationships with peers
- Have short and long term learning and accomplishment goals/roadmaps
Resources
- Official EngrIT values (need link)
- Documentation/learning resources for facilitation styles (need link)
- Resources for mentees
- Acronym cheat sheet