Several of my SO's colleagues have moved over to contact tracing. I think they had 500 but ramping up. SO went to vax hub instead. Close to home.
Good training provided.
I'm fairly sure the on site thing is NSW health data security.
Pretty sure it is - my mum got moved into contact tracing, had to get a higher level security clearance, and there's definitely a whole lot of stuff she can't tell me about it. Which is totally fair, when they're dealing with peoples health and whatnot.
Yes, the last thing we need is a data breach scandal where someone's home computer get stolen or hacked because of no firewall, lax email security or the like.
Key skills required
Formal professionally recognised qualifications in Nursing, Allied Health, Social Work or Psychology, and APRHA registration where required.
A demonstrated high level of clinical skills in the assessment and data collection.
All seem to be FT(I'm guessing?) working on site.
If they had more Part shift options, eg. 7:30am-12:30am/5-10pm; Weekends only etc. might be more people able to apply, especially people already in industries who can't leave for a temporary job.
Yeah. Guess there’d be some onboarding but surely they’ve been able to sort out PT work.
Not sure how many people who are suitably qualified would leave what they’ve got—likely continuing as is as FT WFH, but there’s probs a portion of those now PT.
It seems like these jobs require you to be on site.
No wonder they are struggling to fill them.
Couldn’t close contact tracers, data analysts and surveillance officers work from the safety of their home?
Seems like government red tape to me
I guess there is a lot of confidential information, hence they want to keep it on site?
But still, they can do it by having a few smaller office to reduce the risks, in theory.
It's actually very common, but usually involves vetting and clearances, which can be slow to get. But I assume these vacancies are urgent, so on-site work might help minimise some of the usual onboarding processes.
there are defence contractors who've been working full time from home since covid started
you just need the right systems (and enough trust) in place for security
They do and can provide secure VPN’s, and remote work set ups for health and other people from trusted agenciesof course, have been remote working for years!, and since then, there’s been many many more. But there has to be the will to allow it, I am not sure contact tracers are viewed in same way, in terms of political risk.
My local government uses VPNs for staff working from home. When it’s not connected to the VPN there’s no data on the device since it’s all on a server so it’s pretty secure.
So how do the supermarkets get updated and closed for a deep clean while people that shopped there only get days/weeks after? eg Coles Manly Corso and Macquarie Centre... I thought that the QR codes only store a random ID not your whole "health record" as some are saying. If they need a security clearance then geotagging photos should not be a thing? What has tracing where you have visited checked into having to do need a "medical" background
> Seems like government red tape to me
Nah, it would come down to privacy. People are handling sensitive information and should not be allowed to do it unsupervised on personal devices, on private access points. Its part of the governments duty to protect the information they have, part of that includes having their own network of equipment to do the jobs required.
Nah it’s not to do with sensitivity of information. I have a family member that works there. It’s because they use a single excel sheet or something like that and only one person can work on it at a time otherwise it will get too messy so it’s easier to co ordinate with that person in-person rather than a flurry of messages at different times etc. so that’s why they have the whole team in -person.
It’s literally just technological incompetence lol.
Wanna hear more?
NSW health’s contact tracing QR code system apparently creates that excel sheet and people are not automatically notified. It’s all manually done, one by one. No wonder they haven’t been able to keep up with contact tracing since week 3 of the outbreak.
Is this a fucking joke?
My god even a fucking Squarespace site would have given better architecture.
A Postgres/MySQL/MSSQL database and the most *basic* web api could have done a better job than this.
Nope not a joke. Just government department incompetence which they tried to sweep under the carpet.
I’ve lost hope in NSW health senior management, tech and their marketing departments. Absolutely useless.
If you want to read more on their incompetence, check out the Ruby Princess special inquiry report: https://www.rubyprincessinquiry.nsw.gov.au/report
In summary, a NSW health official made multiple inexcusable errors which led to the Ruby Princess being classified as a ‘low risk’ vessel, despite countless warnings and indications that there was a flu related outbreak on board. These mistakes were not picked up by a specialist panel of experts. Oh and the best bit? That official is still employed in the public health unit of NSW health
Yeah, I know someone fairly senior in NSW health so I asked them if there was any truth in the rumours about a certain Federal Government Minister putting in a request due to his in laws being on the ship. He denied it (though I suppose he probably would), and said it genuinely appeared to have been a mistake. Though given the number of warnings and panel you alluded, you'd think something or someone may have influenced the mistake
Exactly what I thought. Daughter is looking for work, sweet, this might be good. Oh, onsite only, seems ridiculous, especially in current times and over 18 months into this stuff.
I would love to apply for this as I'm in to help out but sadly it all looks to be just full time work. Im in allied health and half my job is spent on the phone so contact tracing wouldve been a good fit for me. Sadly I'm not keen to leave my secure clinic jobs for a temporary/contract role.
Same here. I did the COVID-19 vaccination training back when they wanted speech pathologists to help out with the role out. But full time is not something I can commit to if I have yearly minimum hour requirements to stay certified.
I'm really thinking about applying for this and I have a health background but haven't practiced in 3 years. I always look at position descriptions and feel like I don't really tick the boxes.
Fuck the boxes! You don’t need to tick them. Apply, go for an interview. But interview them. Is this job right for you, can you adapt your skillset to suit. You never know, it may just be an awesome fit for you both. Or it may not. Which is not a bad thing. You have done an interview and applied for a specific role that you can either pursue or move away from. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Go contact trace ‘‘em tiger!!!
Thanks for the update!
Well done, am proud of you stranger.
Did you follow up with a call?
Do not be disheartened, this was not the specific role for you. Do not read into this in a specific way ie it was me, my skillset or similar. There are an infinite number of reasons there was no contact. I’m thinking with the current state of play, by the government, that they stopped hiring before you even submitted your application.
Take care, be kind and stay safe!
I don’t get why a contact tracer would require health qualifications. Hire some news chasers or private investigators, their job is literally to track people down
I think it may be because of the health data involved. A lot of healthcare workers get hired in these roles because we have extensive experience in health confidentiality.
That’s a high rate for a contact tracer. They deserve it but I was no expecting it to be so high. Seems harder than I thought as well, keeping contacts calm and all. Hadn’t even thought of it. Interesting how it’s on-site and not WFM
Yet people who work at banks, insurance companies, Google, Atlassian etc can all work from home just fine.
This is just the gov not being able to handle cyber-stuff properly.
The amount of health data I've had from life insurance applications on my personal computer since all this is crazy and full access to thousands more. Also access currently to full bank history of over 200k people also via VPN at home but at least that's a heavily restricted work laptop
> Also access currently to full bank history of over 200k people also via VPN at home but at least that's a heavily restricted work laptop
Yeah I work for a large corporation and that's how it works - everything is fully controlled through the work laptop. Actually there's no functional difference for IT in terms of how they surveil me in the office or at home, I'm still connected into all the same networks.
Several of my SO's colleagues have moved over to contact tracing. I think they had 500 but ramping up. SO went to vax hub instead. Close to home. Good training provided. I'm fairly sure the on site thing is NSW health data security.
Pretty sure it is - my mum got moved into contact tracing, had to get a higher level security clearance, and there's definitely a whole lot of stuff she can't tell me about it. Which is totally fair, when they're dealing with peoples health and whatnot.
Yes, the last thing we need is a data breach scandal where someone's home computer get stolen or hacked because of no firewall, lax email security or the like.
Yeah, they can have those same security breaches at work just as well at home.
All require health qualifications
I wanted to help and went "oh, I guess nevermind."
Not sure they all do, some say previous experience, at least one other says it would be preferred, that does not mean required.
Misinformation.
You didn't read key skills eh?
Key skills required Formal professionally recognised qualifications in Nursing, Allied Health, Social Work or Psychology, and APRHA registration where required. A demonstrated high level of clinical skills in the assessment and data collection.
None of that under data analyst.
"haven't caught the vid, ever" Can put that under achievements i suppose, lol aww
All seem to be FT(I'm guessing?) working on site. If they had more Part shift options, eg. 7:30am-12:30am/5-10pm; Weekends only etc. might be more people able to apply, especially people already in industries who can't leave for a temporary job.
I’m looking for a job exactly like this, I already work eight till three but I can easily work night times.
Yeah. Guess there’d be some onboarding but surely they’ve been able to sort out PT work. Not sure how many people who are suitably qualified would leave what they’ve got—likely continuing as is as FT WFH, but there’s probs a portion of those now PT.
It seems like these jobs require you to be on site. No wonder they are struggling to fill them. Couldn’t close contact tracers, data analysts and surveillance officers work from the safety of their home? Seems like government red tape to me
I guess there is a lot of confidential information, hence they want to keep it on site? But still, they can do it by having a few smaller office to reduce the risks, in theory.
It'd absolutely involve confidential information, and the chances of the government trusting VPNs and external devices would be pretty slim.
It's actually very common, but usually involves vetting and clearances, which can be slow to get. But I assume these vacancies are urgent, so on-site work might help minimise some of the usual onboarding processes.
there are defence contractors who've been working full time from home since covid started you just need the right systems (and enough trust) in place for security
Guess we trust the gov as much as the gov trusts us.
They do and can provide secure VPN’s, and remote work set ups for health and other people from trusted agenciesof course, have been remote working for years!, and since then, there’s been many many more. But there has to be the will to allow it, I am not sure contact tracers are viewed in same way, in terms of political risk.
My local government uses VPNs for staff working from home. When it’s not connected to the VPN there’s no data on the device since it’s all on a server so it’s pretty secure.
If the ATO can set up WFH then I’m sure other agencies of the government can.
So how do the supermarkets get updated and closed for a deep clean while people that shopped there only get days/weeks after? eg Coles Manly Corso and Macquarie Centre... I thought that the QR codes only store a random ID not your whole "health record" as some are saying. If they need a security clearance then geotagging photos should not be a thing? What has tracing where you have visited checked into having to do need a "medical" background
Yes, it would be catastrophic if one of the contact tracers got the virus and spread it to others at the workplace.
at least they'd probably be pretty good at tracing it
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> Seems like government red tape to me Nah, it would come down to privacy. People are handling sensitive information and should not be allowed to do it unsupervised on personal devices, on private access points. Its part of the governments duty to protect the information they have, part of that includes having their own network of equipment to do the jobs required.
Yeah, imagine if one of the contact tracers happened to live in the same house as an sms scammer.
Nah it’s not to do with sensitivity of information. I have a family member that works there. It’s because they use a single excel sheet or something like that and only one person can work on it at a time otherwise it will get too messy so it’s easier to co ordinate with that person in-person rather than a flurry of messages at different times etc. so that’s why they have the whole team in -person. It’s literally just technological incompetence lol.
That's a big oooph
Wanna hear more? NSW health’s contact tracing QR code system apparently creates that excel sheet and people are not automatically notified. It’s all manually done, one by one. No wonder they haven’t been able to keep up with contact tracing since week 3 of the outbreak.
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Yep it’s a disgrace. Cover up culture and incompetence. This time, this stupidity is actually costing lives
Is this a fucking joke? My god even a fucking Squarespace site would have given better architecture. A Postgres/MySQL/MSSQL database and the most *basic* web api could have done a better job than this.
Nope not a joke. Just government department incompetence which they tried to sweep under the carpet. I’ve lost hope in NSW health senior management, tech and their marketing departments. Absolutely useless. If you want to read more on their incompetence, check out the Ruby Princess special inquiry report: https://www.rubyprincessinquiry.nsw.gov.au/report In summary, a NSW health official made multiple inexcusable errors which led to the Ruby Princess being classified as a ‘low risk’ vessel, despite countless warnings and indications that there was a flu related outbreak on board. These mistakes were not picked up by a specialist panel of experts. Oh and the best bit? That official is still employed in the public health unit of NSW health
Yeah, I know someone fairly senior in NSW health so I asked them if there was any truth in the rumours about a certain Federal Government Minister putting in a request due to his in laws being on the ship. He denied it (though I suppose he probably would), and said it genuinely appeared to have been a mistake. Though given the number of warnings and panel you alluded, you'd think something or someone may have influenced the mistake
Far out. Sharepoint or a database would fix that. No wonder it's taking so long.
NSW health is an extremely bureaucratic organisation.
The UK used Excel for contact tracing and the whole thing collapsed because they reached the max amount of lines. It’s gonna be the same here
Do you have a source for this? Very curious...
Exactly what I thought. Daughter is looking for work, sweet, this might be good. Oh, onsite only, seems ridiculous, especially in current times and over 18 months into this stuff.
I would love to apply for this as I'm in to help out but sadly it all looks to be just full time work. Im in allied health and half my job is spent on the phone so contact tracing wouldve been a good fit for me. Sadly I'm not keen to leave my secure clinic jobs for a temporary/contract role.
Same here. I did the COVID-19 vaccination training back when they wanted speech pathologists to help out with the role out. But full time is not something I can commit to if I have yearly minimum hour requirements to stay certified.
Sounds like you’re required to have better public health knowledge, and communication skills than Brad Hazzard, the minister of health?!
I'm really thinking about applying for this and I have a health background but haven't practiced in 3 years. I always look at position descriptions and feel like I don't really tick the boxes.
Go for it. What’s the worst that could happen.
Fuck the boxes! You don’t need to tick them. Apply, go for an interview. But interview them. Is this job right for you, can you adapt your skillset to suit. You never know, it may just be an awesome fit for you both. Or it may not. Which is not a bad thing. You have done an interview and applied for a specific role that you can either pursue or move away from. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Go contact trace ‘‘em tiger!!!
Going to apply! Will let you guys know what happens. Thanks for all the support.
Just an update for people I spent a couple days doing the application as I wanted to take my time. Never heard anything back.
Thanks for the update! Well done, am proud of you stranger. Did you follow up with a call? Do not be disheartened, this was not the specific role for you. Do not read into this in a specific way ie it was me, my skillset or similar. There are an infinite number of reasons there was no contact. I’m thinking with the current state of play, by the government, that they stopped hiring before you even submitted your application. Take care, be kind and stay safe!
May as well apply & go from there!
I don’t get why a contact tracer would require health qualifications. Hire some news chasers or private investigators, their job is literally to track people down
I think it may be because of the health data involved. A lot of healthcare workers get hired in these roles because we have extensive experience in health confidentiality.
OMG the money is great!!
That’s a high rate for a contact tracer. They deserve it but I was no expecting it to be so high. Seems harder than I thought as well, keeping contacts calm and all. Hadn’t even thought of it. Interesting how it’s on-site and not WFM
You'll get a good redundancy in a few months.
The company i work for requires NV1 clearance and also we have customers that are part of NSW Health so WFH shouldn't be issue
The salaries are decent, but strangely they don't offer WFH option.
I think because they’re dealing with a lot of private personal data they can’t risk cyber security weaknesses that WFH brings.
Yet people who work at banks, insurance companies, Google, Atlassian etc can all work from home just fine. This is just the gov not being able to handle cyber-stuff properly.
The amount of health data I've had from life insurance applications on my personal computer since all this is crazy and full access to thousands more. Also access currently to full bank history of over 200k people also via VPN at home but at least that's a heavily restricted work laptop
> Also access currently to full bank history of over 200k people also via VPN at home but at least that's a heavily restricted work laptop Yeah I work for a large corporation and that's how it works - everything is fully controlled through the work laptop. Actually there's no functional difference for IT in terms of how they surveil me in the office or at home, I'm still connected into all the same networks.
Good point
govt VPN does not support so many people working remotely
Unsurprisingly. It’s a government institution so nothing can get done without $1 billion and a 5 year ‘transition period’
And they couldn't have upgraded it in the last 18 months? My company increased its VPN capacity in the last week of March, 2020.
The office is on fttn
Looks interesting