Andrii Bosak, Technical Support Specialist: “I am proud to work at Innovecs”

— How do you assess the cohesion of your team? How does this affect the result and quality of the task performed?

— Cohesion affects dealing with team’s problems and helps to make everyone happy: customers, partners, and colleagues. It is very important to support each other. If someone is busy, you can either give advice or create a ticket. Brainstorming works 100% if the team feels as a whole.

In September, the Israeli company had holidays, there were just seven working days in a month. My colleague and I “watched their backs”, we were always in touch and sometimes worked when we were not supposed to. At the end of the holidays, the company sent us gifts and a thank-you card from their team — it was very nice. This is one of the cohesion indicators. Although we are in different countries, we sense our unity.

— What trends in your field, in your opinion, are the most relevant?

— My profession is becoming more popular. There are two areas: Customer Success and Technical Support. In the latter, you have to be an engineer who can communicate with customers; there are quite a few such people. This requires communication skills, the ability to solve problems, see problems, understand them and at the same time know the product. As the face of the company, this way you show how things are going in business as a whole.

For example, during my career, I worked as a tester for some time and eventually went back to technical support. Some think it is less prestigious and is a professional demotion. In fact, I have many more different tools that I use here. This in turn requires more knowledge and skills.

My profession will always be relevant, artificial intelligence will not be able to replace it. The client developer prefers live communication when solving an issue or communicating their product requirements. For example, AI will not always be able to understand why the numbers do not converge in the profit statistics of the developer’s application, why an error occurs in compile build when connecting our solutions to an application. That is, this profession will be needed in the future.

— In your opinion, how will technology change your profession in the future?

— The profession itself will not change in any way, unlike tools and technologies. I am 95% sure that the approach itself — the algorithm for solving the problem, the soft skills — will remain unchanged. In addition to the technology itself, you hone negotiation skills, deepen your understanding of business, which is also essential. One needs to know what company earns, what values ​in business strategies are crucial in order to build communication properly. These skills will remain unshakable; the technologies you work with will change.

— How does one start learning your profession? What resources/courses /books can you recommend?

— Never heard of technical support courses. I think one should start with learning English. If we are talking about Customer Success, one needs to speak other languages, depending on the market. As for technical support, English is more than enough.

It’s very important to have a technical mindset and understand technology. For example, I am currently working in the Xcode development environment for iOS development, Android Studio for Android. I understand these environments, I know their interface, how to compile. Although I do not develop myself, I can read the code and see what the client did wrong when integrating our solution into their application.

Regarding network troubleshooting, there may be a problem with data transmission. You need to have an understanding of the transmission processes, how packets travel through the network, what errors are possible. If this is the technical support of an application, you need to know the operating system it runs on. Knowledge of writing database queries, testing skills to find a problem solution or transfer a bug to an R&D team are also required. That is, there is no specific road map, all products are different.

This is the advantage of this profession: you have a basic stack of skills, which you further expand as you work with different technologies. I learned programming at university, and then realized it wasn’t my thing. However, today I apply the acquired knowledge in my daily work.

— How do you hone your English?

— A good way to start, in my opinion, is to learn from movies. But you can’t do without grammar, therefore, you have to master it as a necessary base. One of the best ways to advance English is to try an internship or Erasmus exchange. The main thing is to have the desire. You need to try an exchange in order to delve into a language environment. This method ensures good results. In terms of when to start — the sooner, the better.

— How about pronunciation and the accent — do they matter?

— If you do not work in sales, pronunciation is not critical. The ability to communicate the context clearly so that communication is plain and concise matters a lot. I have a list of examples where a bad pronunciation coupled with a clear and understandable statement did not prevent people from moving to the top positions.

— What tools help you to be effective?

— Google Calendar, Todoist, Google Sheets ー I try to digitize everything I can, even in my own life. At the time being, I’m in the midst of renovation and everything is calculated to the last detail. Now I see I’m short of money, but I see the channel to take it from.

In general, Google Calendar is enough for me. A smartwatch is also a good helper. If I have a planned event, it will pop up on my watch and on my phone. What I realized is that you don’t need to memorize everything, there are many tools for this purpose. Otherwise, your mind focuses on remembering, not the task. Even if an idea comes up during a conversation, I immediately write it down in my notes to remember later.

— Do you have new hobbies?

— I participate in the running community. I used to run, but I didn’t have a goal, and today I have one. The company constantly holds challenges, group races, where we periodically run together, such as the recent DOBRO Run. That is, running has always been in my life, and now it is more meaningful and more interesting. Plus, there are more like-minded people by my side.

We also have an investment community — an appealing topic for me that appeared at the right time in my life.

— Are you in the running community for the sake of participation, or results and winning?

— For me, participation in the community is communication with colleagues and additional motivation. I rather compete with myself. I am interested in the process of competition, I see it as training. Competition demands doing the job either well or not doing it at all. The desire to be better requires a lot of time, resources, and health.

— Is there a work/life balance and clear boundaries between work and life outside it?

— Balance is definitely very important, for me, it is one of my priorities. I like to spend time with family, friends and at the same time, I like to work. I am now satisfied with this balance. I have two different Google accounts: personal and private. Everything pops up altogether on the phone, and it is very convenient for me. I used to work for a Danish company, where balance is also an extremely important thing. Probably I gained these values from there, and I will not change.

— And what do you think is more correct: to draw a clear line or to find agreement with yourself?

— Depends on what you want. If the goal is to build a career, then of course you need to work hard with all your strength and dedication. There are times when you have to move the work/life balance if you see that it makes sense. Otherwise, more flexible people will outrun you.

— Where do you look for inspiration?

— In the family — I have a wonderful wife, a beloved cat. Also, traveling inspires me: I love to travel with a bunch of people. I have a best friend with whom my wife and I often ride bicycles. We regularly go cycling once or twice a season. We have all the ammunition: tents, bicycle bags. Recently we rode our bicycles to the Carpathians, climbed a mountain, where we were blown away by the wind and covered with snow. Those are unforgettable moments you want to recall over and over again.

This is one of the things that inspire me and what I work for. I will manage everything in a way so that I have enough time, money, and health for travel and tackling new challenges. Soon we have team building, we chose motocross for it. We will race off-road.

— Why are you studying today, and why would you like to study in the future?

— There are more technical plans — to advance in the tools I work with. There are many Development paths: you can take up People Management, Delivery Management, building relationships with the customer. If you go to the more liberal area, you can become a Relationships Manager. You can also choose testing or development. In my case, I have to be versed in the basic syntax of languages.

— Do you think that your work requires knowledge of psychology? After all, you work a lot with people.

— I think that psychology matters, but I’m not into it very deeply. It is important to understand the needs of your clients and solve their problems. You also need to read between the lines as to what exactly the client means. Suppose, there’s a situation when the scanner does not work. This can mean several cases: the device is simply unplugged, or does not receive files from the computer, or is jammed. You need to be able to ask the right questions based on the available information.

It is often necessary to ping the right people who are responsible for a product, or some part of it. At the same time, in any case, there shouldn’t be any pressure. The right approach to people is something that you acquire over time.

— You have been in the company for half a year. What motivates you to stay in Innovecs?

— Innovecs lives by understanding that work/life balance is valuable. Here we have comfortable working conditions, from the workplace to the temperature on the floor. The company employs good people. Our communities are well-structured, it’s easy to have all set. You can try yourself in anything at any time, and find a hobby. If you already have it, you can get better at it and interact with other employees. You can share thoughts about the trends of the field while playing tennis. And if they are your teammates, then this is free team building for you.

The CEO of Innovecs is very open, he is constantly in touch with the company. You are always up-to-date with the latest news, you know about clients. I always follow everything that happens. The atmosphere is open and transparent, and I am happy to be a part of it. I say out loud that I work at Innovecs because I’m proud of it.