I have been at MIT for almost four months now and have really settled into my role. Don't get me wrong, I still have a lot to learn about our applications and support of our home grown applications, however I am comfortable with both the technology and process and thats a nice feeling. Also, from a team perspective, the awkwardness is gone and the team is relaxed and doing well, and that really helps.
There are a number of things that are different about MIT, that I have never experienced anywhere else.
The first is choice. For each individual user, there is more choice at MIT than I have ever experienced. You can choose your username (Kerberos id) and do not have to follow some standard, just as long as your choice is not already in use. You can choose which operating system you want, you can have a MAC, Windows or any flavor of LINUX that works for you. Another choice is your email package. You can choose what you are most comfortable with. This certainly makes collaboration and calendaring a chore as most calendar products do not work well together. But, all this choice gives you freedom to do your job and get the job done in a manner that is most conducive to you.
The second is the thought or premise that we can change the world.
Wow, I know that changing the world is a lot to ask, but that is the premise that is out there. For me, all I do is support a bunch of Student Systems that keep the Institute moving forward, however MIT's President Susan Hockfield is an advocate of this premise, and it carries all the way down to my boss, myself and the folks that work with me. I know that there is a lot of MIT new research going on (in Energy, and Medical Biology), but the part that I am most impressed with is the fact that my boss and his boss and her boss are all open to hearing about how we can improve our processes and better support our Systems. So, if we improve our process and systems, is that going to change the world ? The thought is that we help the Students, Faculty, Staff and researchers with the business side of running the Institute, and helps them gain access to grants and endowments that allow the learning and research to flourish and continue. So indirectly, we are changing the world by supporting the efforts of Students, Faculty, Staff and researchers.
Why is this so different. Because, when working for a Business (as opposed to Higher Education), the Business priorities always overruled the Technology or System priorities, especially when cost was a factor, and therefore, our priorities were often ignored or reviewed and rejected each year at budget time. And, that is not to say that some of this is not happening at MIT, however the talk here is about being a catalyst for change and that is the first step toward improving what we do, which indirectly helps others to Change and Improve our World.
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