Turning hobby into career

May 2, 2019

Bachelor of Computing Systems graduate Tyson Kingi keeping an eye on the Chrome operating system at the H.B.Williams Memorial Library

Turning your number one passion into a career is the ultimate and Tyson Kingi has been able to do just that after completing a degree in computer systems at EIT.

Tyson has been engrossed with computers ever since he was given his first one, aged about six or seven, and was soon playing with his favourite Microsoft programmes. It wasn’t long before he was creating power point displays for his church group and from there he progressed to creating animations.

He did really well with computing at school, where one of the highlights was getting into the digital classroom at Gisborne Intermediate School. He progressed further at Lytton High School where he discovered the CISCO system involving integrated routing, switching, internetworking and telecommunications functions.

But the most challenging content was yet to come. He initially planned to continue his computer studies at Victoria University, but at the last moment decided to complete his degree studies at EIT, a decision he says turned out to be the best one.

“I don’t think I would have coped with the teaching style of the larger institutions. What I really enjoyed at EIT were the smaller classes and getting one-on-one time with the lecturers when the going got tough.”

“The programme did ask a lot of you – there were a lot of late nights of study and the biggest issue for me was having technology issues.”

In his career as a Client Services Librarian: Outreach and Promotions at the H. B. Williams Memorial Library he is still constantly finding new issues.

“They say in IT you have to refresh your knowledge every three years but I believe that should be every 1½ years – it’s a field that is constantly evolving and the rate of change is rapid.”

At the library, he has had to get to grips with the new Chrome OS public computing system which came with virtually no instructions, presenting an engrossing new challenge.

He first came to the library as a second year student, getting his work-based learning experience for his final assessment.

“My project was digitising the retrospective information files.”

This progressed to holiday work and after he graduated last year he was given a part-time job there processing the books. This role soon expanded to include the library’s social media presence and managing the room bookings.

“I help with anything technical – sometimes the technology is not computing but I can usually work it out because I know where to go looking.”

These jobs usually have to be done fairly quickly, especially when they involve passing cruise ship passengers looking for help with things like phones.
Tyson thrives on challenges of the technical variety. So his job keeps him fully engrossed.

“It’s covered just about every aspect of the library,” he said.