State of Maryland

A HCD Telecommunications Technician I is the entry level of work performing maintenance and repairs for telecommunication equipment and services for the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).  Employees in this classification provide timely, and creative solutions to end-user computer and networking problems of a complex nature to ensure end-user productivity.  HCD, as a housing finance agency, offers a broad range of financial services that include bond finance, mortgage lending, municipal and small business lending, cashflow loans, tax credit programs and loan servicing, as well as housing voucher and grant administration for community revitalization.  HCD’s commercial partnerships and stakeholders include community and investment banks, sub-services, trustees and bond holders.  HCD's lending and financing programs are inherently time critical, and there are extensive dependencies on personally identifiable information (PII), as well as other sensitive and non-public information.  Employees in this classification have extensive interactions with network professionals, and all levels of program (line-of-business) staff.  Employees in this classification do not supervise other positions.

Employees in this classification receive close supervision.

Positions in this classification are evaluated by using by the classification job evaluation methodology.  The use of this method involves comparing the assigned duties and responsibilities of a position to the job criteria found in the Nature of Work and Examples of Work sections of the classification specification.

The HCD Telecommunications Technician I, HCD Telecommunications Technician II are differentiated on the basis of the degree of supervision exercised by the supervisor over these employees and the autonomy and complexity of assignments.  The HCD Telecommunications Technician I performs the work under close supervision.  The HCD Telecommunications Technician II performs the full range of duties and responsibilities under general supervision.

Enables and/or diagnoses telephone handsets to telephone switching system;

Assigns telephone numbers to telephone handsets;

Creates and administers voicemail boxes and their accounts;

Creates and administers hunt groups;

Creates and administers extensions used as destinations for toll-free numbers;

Acts as liaison with telephone carrier for routine or emergency service, and for new services or upgrades;

Acts as liaison with long distance carriers;

Monitors usage and error state of trunk lines;

Monitors usage on outgoing calls, including usage of long distance, international, directory assistance and 911 calls;

Monitors usage of incoming calls, including toll-free and calls to voicemail;

Administers a call tree, including main outgoing message;

Maintains configuration backups of telephone switch;

Performs other related duties.

Knowledge of networking fundamentals, including VLANs and subnetworks;

Knowledge of telephone carrier and long distance services, including LATA boundaries, and types of data links and trunk lines;

Knowledge of DID number blocks;

Skill in administering telephone extension assignments and voicemail systems;

Skill in diagnosing outbound dialing issues;

Skill in adding conference phone devices for use in meeting rooms;

Skill in deployment of analog lines, such as for fax machines or public address systems;

Ability to collaborate with program staff to determine their needs for new hunt groups or toll-free numbers;

Ability to diagnose inbound calls through call tree.

Education:   Graduation from an accredited high school or possession of a high school equivalency certificate.

Experience: Minimal experience (less than one year) of administering and  diagnosing premises-based voice services in an organization with extensive level of program integration and reliance on technology.

Class specifications are broad descriptions covering groups of positions used by various State departments and agencies. Position descriptions maintained by the using department or agency specifically address the essential job functions of each  position.

This is a Skilled Service classification in the State Personnel Management System.  All positions in this classification are Skilled Service positions.  Some positions in Skilled Service classifications may be designated Special Appointment in accordance with the State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 6-405, Annotated Code of Maryland.

This classification is assigned to Bargaining Unit G, Engineering, Scientific and Administrative Professionals classes.  As provided by State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 3-102, special appointment, temporary, contractual, supervisory, managerial and confidential employees are excluded from collective bargaining.  Additionally, certain executive branch agencies are exempt from collective bargaining and all positions in those agencies are excluded from collective bargaining.

This classification is one level in a Non-Competitive Promotion (NCP) series.  NCP promotions are promotions by which employees may advance in grade and class level from trainee to full performance levels in a classification series.  In order to be non-competitively promoted to the next level in a NCP series, an employee must: 1) perform the main purpose of the class as defined in the Nature of Work section of the class specification; 2) receive the type of supervision defined in the class specification, and 3) meet the minimum qualifications of the classification.

Director, Division of Classification and Salary