Dispatches from the field

  by Phil Mayes | 20 Apr 2007 | Permalink | Everything Else, Teamwork, User Experience

Hi and welcome to my blog. My name is Phillip Mayes (though I prefer Phil) and I’m a Technical Consultant for Tideway Systems. I’m writing what I hope will be the first of many entries sharing my experiences about what I do for Tideway, the challenges I face and the fun I have along the way.

So what is Tideway all about? Well, you can skip to the marketing section for the full answer, but my take on it is that we help our clients to improve the running of their IT server infrastructure. As a Tecnical Consultant, I’m on the forefront of making that happen. Our role is to enable the client to get the most out of our product. This involves everything from configuration of Tideway Foundation through to reporting results and making it all happen seemlessly.

A poetic colleague called us TC’s the “sharpened edge of the Tideway blade”. To put it less dramatically, we are often the public face of Tideway in the corporate jungle. For better or worse our actions reflect on the company as a whole and help to shape the client’s expectations and faith in the Tideway dream. This can range from meeting clearly defined objectives (and the problems associated with) to trying to deliver on what we believe the client wants – even if this isn’t so clear. All of this has to be done in very short timescales, creating solutions on the go and all the while trying to maintain quality delivery and high standards. To do this we have to be able to work well as a team to leverage our strengths and be able to work well with the rest of the company to help us. Overall, its an enjoyable and challenging experience.

If you’d asked me this two years ago then I wouldn’t have been able to answer. But since that time I’ve come to really enjoy the client facing aspect of the job, being on the spot to determine and deliver on client’s requirements. Although it does feel like being an exhile sometimes and its easy to forget what our company office looks like (or even where it is!) I have to say that its been a great experience so far and I’m looking forward to sharing this.