As I get set to embark on a new journey, I thought it would be good to look back at the job description that attracted me to my last job and compare it to the one advertised for my replacement. Here’s the first one:

Senior Support Engineer — Open Position Description

$COMPANY, a startup software company in Research Triangle Park recognized as a “Cool Vendor” by Gartner, is seeking talented individuals to help grow its expanding Engineering team.

$COMPANY‘s award-winning application management product — $PRODUCT — delivers transaction—based application discovery,
dependency mapping, and performance monitoring & analysis for complex, distributed applications in some of the world‘s largest data centers.

As a growing software business, $COMPANY is expanding our enterprise support team.

Responsibilities

– Quickly understand the dynamics of the $PRODUCT and maintain an extensive knowledge of any revisions and updates to the software
– Coordinate new customer implementations and provide effective and timely training to maximize use of the software by the customer
– Provide end-user application support via phone and email during support hours and on occasion during off hours when warranted
– Troubleshoot issues reported by customers and provide solutions in a timely, accurate, and professional manner
– Facilitate problem-solving between end user and $COMPANY development staff and make verbal and/or written recommendations for change and improvement
– Develop working relationship with $COMPANY sales team members and provide insight to sales reps regarding any current or future product needs as indicated by the customer
– Provide administrative support for the support portal and work flows associated with support tickets
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