Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon Portland Community College

Computer Specialist

  • Title: Computer Specialist
  • Class: Classified
  • Exempt Status:Non-exempt
  • Grade: 19

Nature and Scope of Work

Under the direction of department management, coordinates technical support for the student help desk. Works with the Information Technology Services staff, other department staff, faculty, students and vendors. Incumbent employs excellent communication skills to convey complex and technical information, including training others who are unfamiliar with various computer platforms, related components applications and software.

Principal Accountabilities

  1. Provides problem solving and technical assistance. Responds to telephone, electronic mail, voice mail, verbal and written service requests to provide on-call assistance. Assistance is provided either in person, by telephone, electronic mail, voice mail or help desk concept.
  2. Monitors and guides the work of student help, work-study and casual employees to include hiring, training, scheduling and performance. Tracks casual employee budget and documents and maintains employee records for payroll purposes.
  3. Works with department  to evaluate and implement new technology and helps research needs to upgrade systems.
  4. Troubleshoots and resolves hardware and software problems within the department as well as network problems, which may involve coordination with ITS network staff. Works with Information Technology Services to ensure effective interfaces with college information systems.
  5. Assists college students, staff and faculty with access and use of distance learning applications such as learning management system, streaming media platform, VOIP phones, email, calendaring, ePortfolio, document sharing, etc.
  6. Provides technical documentation and provides user training and basic recovery procedures for those systems. Serves as resource for creating documentation and training materials in response to student, faculty and staff inquiries for technical support.
  7. Attends and participates in campus-wide and departmental meetings and committees to discuss computer-related issues, as well as contribute to ITS projects as a team member. Works with stakeholder groups to be informed of changes to policies and procedures at the college that affects students.
  8. Maintains content of Student Help Desk website and other Distance Learning web resources.
  9. Performs other related duties as assigned.

Work Environment

Coordinating a variety of activities and/or responding to peak work load periods can result in periods of high pressure. Incumbent is generally able to regulate own schedule, work flow, etc. Regular exposure to video screens, electrical and electronic equipment. Responds to emergency service calls and district-wide situations in a constantly changing environment. Exposure to video display terminals and computer related noise levels, as well as dust and equipment cleaning materials, occurs on a regular basis.

Physical Requirements

Learned physical skill required to perform keyboarding functions. Regular lifting of equipment/materials for installations, troubleshooting, repairs, etc.

Minimum Qualifications

High school diploma or equivalent. Associate’s degree or two years of college-level course work or training in a computer-related discipline. Experience performing the duties of the job may substitute for the post-secondary education or training on a year-for-year basis.

Two years of experience which demonstrates a good working knowledge of computers is required. Must have knowledge of personal computer and server technologies, networks; proficiency in a variety of applications software (e.g., Word Perfect, Word, Access, Power Point, Excel, communications software, PageMaker, etc.). Must have knowledge of relational databases, client-server architecture and operating systems, the Internet, web based applications, TCP/IP protocol, Ethernet and wireless networking.

Excellent verbal and written communication, and time management/multi-tasking skills. Strong analytical and problem solving ability. Good understanding of computers for troubleshooting and diagnosing problems. Familiarity with use of Internet-based services such as electronic mail, WWW, News, web browsers, web applications, browser pluggins and other LAN and data communications hardware and software.

Reviewed: 12/18

  • New: 01/27/99
  • Revised: 10/18/18