Progress 2011: Call him Mr. Fix It

Published 2:00 am Friday, March 4, 2011

Hero: Mark Jensen

Secret identity: computer technician

Base of operations: Albert Lea School District

By Michelle Haacke michelle.haacke@albertleatribune.com

Superpowers: He is responsible for all computers in four school buildings

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Kryptonite: He keeps up with new technology in an ever-changing industry

Affiliations: wife, Sheila, and three children

Origin: Jensen got into computers about 15 years ago, working most recently at BusinessWare Solutions in Owatonna before joining the Albert Lea school district in 2002.

650 Computers Jensen takes care of throughout four Albert Lea school buildings: Southwest Middle School, Halverson Elementary School, Lakeview Elementary School and Sibley Elementary School. He credits the school staff members he works with for making his job so enjoyable day in and day out.

250 Computers in Southwest alone that Jensen oversees in five student computer labs and staff computers. These computers run off of two servers located in a room within the administration office at the school. Jensen said each school he oversees has two servers, and each cord running out of the server goes to a computer.

10 to 30
Range of computer problems he fixes on an average day. Jensen finds out about computer problems on a log, which he tracks on his Motorola android phone. Whenever school staff members have a problem with a computer in the lab or the classroom, they submit their location and the problem. Each problem is a separate job that Jensen tends to on a priority basis.

1 Times per year Jensen has to be recertified by HP and Dell. He has received continued education on information technology during his 15 years in the industry. He and two other techs, who cover the other schools in the Albert Lea School District, do everything from fixing hardware issues to replacing computer parts.