what-its-like-to-work-as-an-it-support-technician-working-student
Engineering
Feb 19, 2019

What it's Like to Work as an IT Support Technician Working Student

GetYourGuide
Careers Team

In today’s post, Luis Orta Hernández shares his experience as an IT Support Technician Working Student and how his work helped prepare him for his thesis.

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Introduction

I joined GetYourGuide as an IT Support Technician Working Student in February 2017. At that time, I had also just started my Master’s degree in Information Systems Management.  I really enjoyed learning about the new technologies and services we use at GetYourGuide and helping others.

I was surprised by how quickly the team welcomed me in and the trust I received when taking on new responsibilities and resolving day-to-day issues.

At the start, my tasks were simple: I supported the on-boarding of new employees, prepared their computers, and managed tickets in our helpdesk. But after I learned more about how the company works, I was able to start making suggestions on how we could improve as a team. I also had the opportunity to put in place new security policies for some of our applications, develop new automation processes on our G Suite and SSO platform, and find quick solutions to specific problems.

Preparing for GDPR

Later on, in 2017, our company started preparing for the big shift in data compliance that was happening in Europe, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Preparing for GDPR was a huge task that involved the collaboration of many people across various teams in the organization.  

In this role, I worked closely with our Engineers and our Legal counsel as part of a project team, researching and writing the policies that would make us compliant and reporting back to the IT team on what was needed to comply with these policies.

Following my work on the GDPR project, I had the opportunity to take on new, more challenging tasks. For example, I’ve recently been working on a project focused on standardizing and securing our G Suite applications, automating new processes, and ensuring our information is aligned with our security standards.

While this increased responsibility can bring with it some additional stress, I’m happy to be trusted with tasks that allow me to make a valuable contribution to the team.

The Thesis

Towards the end of 2018, I started focusing on my thesis, the topic of which I chose because of my work at GetYourGuide, “An Extensible Framework for Portability of Personal Data.”  With all of the knowledge I acquired working on the GDPR project, I was able to effectively discuss the thesis topic with my thesis supervisor. The fact that I understand the technical components, as well as the legal and business-side implications of the GDPR, gives me an edge as I start writing.

Conclusion

While I continue working on my thesis, I’m also thinking about my future at GetYourGuide. I will finish my studies soon and hope to continue working at GetYourGuide in a full-time position.  Though this isn’t a guarantee for all Working Students, I shared my goal with my manager and we’ve been working on a plan to make it happen. From my experience, if you show you want to be a part of the company full-time and are committed to the work, the team does its best to ensure there is a path for you. My manager and my colleagues have supported me for the past two years and will continue to support me as I wrap up my studies and prepare to join the team full-time.

Thank you, Luis, for sharing your experience as an IT Working Student.  Interested in joining our IT team? Check out our open positions.

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