Hi there, it’s resident Tech Ambassador blogger Brandon here! After a restful winter break before my last semester here at Pitt, I’m back and writing to you all about my experience as a Tech Ambassador and sharing some tips to “spring” into the new Year at Pitt (lol).

Reflections as a Senior Tech Ambassador

After three years of being a Pitt IT Tech Ambassador, I have seen the program evolve from its inception into a thriving, student-run organization.

As a Tech Ambassador, I’ve been able to serve as a liaison between students, Pitt IT, departments and schools, and University governance. Our team does a little bit of everything, including hosting workshops, offering one-on-one help sessions, promoting tech resources on social media, and even organizing large community events, like the Tech Fest. (We’re even hosting Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato on March 19, so save the date!)

Since joining the team, I have developed my communication, strategy, leadership, and tech expertise. A highlight of my tech ambassadorship was that I was able to lead the team as the Lead Tech Ambassador for a semester, before heading off to study abroad in Spain. In fact, this was a transformational period in my professional career, as it was my first time being able to lead a team of my own outside of the classroom.

I highly recommend that all students look for a long-term internship, job, or club leadership opportunity that will really challenge you and expose you to experiences and skills that will jumpstart your career. Keep an eye on Pitt IT’s student job postings at pi.tt/itjobs. When the Tech Ambassador position is hiring, apply! You don’t need to be a technical person or have a technical major! All backgrounds are welcome. You just need to be a fan of using tech to get things done!

Spring Semester Tips: Organization, Efficiency, and Planning

After being with the team for so long, I was able to pick up a few skills along the way. One essential area I’ve focused on is organization, which is key when managing complex courses and academic goals.

Peoplesoft/HighPoint CX’s Degree Planner is a tech resource that I utilized many times for planning my degree path here at Pitt. This functionality within the Peoplesoft/HighPoint CX suite is incredibly helpful at navigating all the degree and school requirements that you need to graduate. Whether you’re double-checking prerequisites, planning your course load, or exploring the "What-If" tool for changing majors or adding minors, Degree Planner makes it easy to visualize your academic journey.

Outside of the world of course scheduling, the tools included your Microsoft 365 subscription (free through Pitt) can help you if your New Year’s resolution was to be more productive. Here’s some tools that I use to stay organized and prepared for a busy semester.

• OneDrive – Pitt accounts include 5 terabytes of cloud storage, which should be more than enough to store all of your University-related files. I like to make nested folders for each year, then by semester, then finally each class. This helps me stay organized and be able to refer to old notes when I’m studying. I like OneDrive because my files are always safe and secure and I can access them from any device, even when I’m not by my laptop. As I get ready to graduate, I’ll need to move the files I want to keep to another drive or cloud service. But it’s been nice not having to pay for an upgraded Google account over the past 4 years.
• Teams – Great for group projects! It combines chat, file sharing, video calls, and shared tasks all in one place. I don’t need to hand out my cell number to keep in contact with team members. I use the Teams mobile app so I can IM and do online meetings from anywhere. It was also the go-to platform for all of our Tech Ambassador work for Pitt IT.
• OneNote – A lifesaver for digital notetaking. You can sync notes across devices and even record lectures​. I created a notebook for each semester, with sections for each class and pages for each lecture. It makes it so easy to stay organized. I can search a whole notebook for a particular term so I can find things immediately.

Using these tools will effectively streamline your workflow and keep you prepared for any last-minute study sessions. They will also be the daily tools you use in your professional life that you will need to be up-to-speed on from day one. So be sure to favorite Microsoft 365 in myPitt!

Make Technology Work for You

As a senior Tech Ambassador, I’ve seen firsthand how much technology can enhance your academic and professional journey at Pitt. So take advantage of the tools at your disposal, stay organized, and — most importantly — enjoy the ride.

Wishing you all a successful and productive spring semester! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions — I’m always happy to help. See you around campus!

— Brandon Bowman, Pitt IT Student Tech Ambassador