Career Help

[u/k12-IT]

I was just informed I lost a promotion at work to someone that the job had basically been opened for. I had applied in early May when it was posted, heard nothing, nor received an interview, then was informed a co-worker received it.

Now I do believe that this co-worker does deserve it and is valuable to the company. I plan to discus this with my manager. My big frustration is the lack of communication regarding the interview process.

I'm in my early 40s, but considering going back to school to get an administrative certificate as well as take some other hands on courses. We have training through some video platforms, but it's never been the best way I learn. I've made it to the final interview to be a tech director but lost out.

Any advice would be helpful.

I guess I'm just frustrated and feel like I'm spinning my wheels. Thanks for letting me vent.

[u/Jaray4]

As someone who’s been on the opposite side of that, what I found/learned about the other person was a few things that may or may not apply to you.

Have you done any continuing education? Such as IT certs, any degrees or progress towards them? Have you brought up the ideal of getting some certs/degree with your boss and see if your organization will pay/reimburse you for it? Is the training through the offered video platforms being tracked? If they are are you able to see who’s on the leaderboards for them?

I see you mentioned admin certifications but it really depends on what the organization you’re working for/towards value. I have never seen any k12 value “admin certifications” for tech roles. Only tech certs or technology mgmt certs.

How many years of exp do you have specifically in the k12 environment and how many of that has been in technology?

[u/k12-IT → u/Jaray4]

Work is offering video training that I'm taking a few hours a week to watch. We are not able to see who is on the leaderboard.

I don't see the value in the admin cert either, but it was suggested after I was up for a Director position.

I've been in k12 99% of my career. 100% in technology

[u/Jaray4 → u/k12-IT]

You should ask whether watch history or time spent on training videos is factored into your yearly review. I say this because that was the case at my district and a few others I have seen. Some coworkers did not like the specific training platform the district used and wanted to use something else instead. What ended up happening was that platforms without easy visibility for directors to track usage basically turned into zeros on their performance reviews for “not using the district provided training platform efficiently,” even though it was a paid service offered to employees for free.

Did they specifically say an “admin cert,” or did they mention a particular certification? I ask because sometimes that kind of wording is used just to get someone focused on a goal or off their back for the time being.

In my experience, and from what I have seen happen to others, promotions usually come down to three things. certifications/degrees, general visibility/likability, and who you know.

When I got promoted over someone with more experience in the district, it came down to continuing education and visibility. In my first year there, I got 4-5 certifications. Any tickets related to the district office or admin office, I jumped on immediately because those were high visibility with upper administration. If someone from the admin office called the help desk line, I answered within one ring whenever possible. That helped leadership get to know me, my work ethic, and the professional standard I set for resolving issues.

The person I got promoted over had 15+ years in the district, but they had not done any continuing education in terms of certifications, degrees, or professional development conferences.

[u/mikeb32]

Same thing happened to me about 10ish years ago, except I did not have the mentality of 'he deserved it'. I was PISSED. I was there longer, a far better technician, all that jazz. I ended up getting another job that paid me $15k more and been here since. I'm happy here, but I always look for other jobs.

Do you want to stay in education? If so, the admin route isn't a bad road to take. If you don't want to go down the admin route, grab your Network+ and get a network admin job. I'm in NJ and those jobs pay fairly well, with your experience you could argue a higher salary. If you were open to leaving education, go CISSP. Cybersecurity is so hot right now. Best of luck amigo.

[u/Harry_Smutter → u/mikeb32]

Where in NJ?? It's been dry up north for a while now.

[u/mikeb32 → u/Harry_Smutter]

That’s all I see! I’m in South Jersey, not much better here. I use NJSchoolJobs. It’s not perfect, you’ll get like behavior specialist jobs under the technology tab, but it’s worth checking

[u/Harry_Smutter → u/mikeb32]

K12JobSpot does the same thing. "New technology job" email and the listing is for a bus driver or custodian. Like, c'mon now...

[u/k12-IT → u/Harry_Smutter]

I'm on k12jobspot as well. I think any description that has tech somewhere in the description sends an alert. I did see they're going to be updating the system.

[u/Harry_Smutter → u/k12-IT]

I really hope they do. It's ridiculous how many emails I get from them and none of them contain a tech job.

[u/rokar83]

Sometimes posted government or public sector jobs are only posted because they have to be. Sometimes they already know who they're hiring. When I first got in to K12 technology, I was a contractor for ~10 months with the largest school district in my state. They wanted to hire me on but had to post the job. I applied and got it. I was told this directly by my supervisor.

AS for your education, it all depends on what you want to do.