►
Description
The goal of this meeting was to answer questions about becoming and being a Senior Support Engineer
Details: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/support/support-team-meta/-/issues/3886
Facilitator: Bo Carbonell
Seniors answering questions:
* Ben Prescott EMEA
* Katrin Leinweber EMEA
* Harish Ramachandran AMER
* Katrin Leinweber EMEA
* Ronald van Zon EMEA
A
We
are
in
the
this
meeting
for
it's
an
aua,
ask
us
anything
regarding
being
and
or
becoming
a
senior
support
engineer,
and
we
have
more
than
a
couple
that
have
joined
with
us
and
I
just
want
to
say
first
of
all
to
ronald
and
harish
and
ben
and
katrine,
and
if
I'm
missing
any
other
senior
support
engineers
that
have
come
in.
Thank
you
very
much.
We
really
do
appreciate
you
being
gracious
with
your
time
and
answering
our
questions.
We
have
several,
so
we
are
going
to
jump
right
into
it.
A
A
B
A
B
It's
it's.
We
talked
about
this
morning,
something
similar,
but
you
sort
of
get
used
to
being
a
senior
before
you
are
a
senior.
So
at
some
point
you'll
start
thinking
about
you
know.
How
can
I
prove
the
team?
You
know
if
I
encounter
a
ticket
with
this,
you
know
issue
be
widespread.
You
know,
will
multiple
customers
get
affected
for
what
are
the
next
step
for
me
to
take
the
sort
of
mindset
that
you're
going
into
and
once
you're
in
that
mindset,
you're,
essentially
a
senior?
B
D
Yeah,
absolutely
the
so
impostor
syndrome
is
very
real
for
me
and
the
reason
I
say
that
is
because
before
this
job
I
was
a
developer
and
I
was
only
a
developer
for
10
months
and
that's
it.
That's
all
my
experience.
As
you
know,
the
tech
field
was
so
coming
in.
I
had
to
learn
a
whole
lot
to
even
learn
the
basics
of
gitlab,
so.
A
D
A
E
E
That
is
to
not
do
so
much
computer
work
in
my
free
time,
so
just
to
have
something
where
I
I
don't
know
see
the
progress
with
my
hands,
for
example,
some
kind
of
crafts
stuff,
because
before
like
last
year
before
I
became
a
senior,
I
would
often
still
like
try
to
learn
programming
on
the
weekends
and
so
on,
and
then
some
weekends.
I
was
just
pissed
off
at
myself
because
I
couldn't
do
something
and
then
that's
a
good,
not
a
good
start
into
the
week.
E
A
E
Wow
then,
I
just
need
to
scroll
up.
We
discussed
this
earlier
today,
but
I
think
yeah.
I
think
the
general
consensus
was
that
it
doesn't
really
change
a
lot
because
also,
as
ron
said
before,
by
the
time
this
formality
of
the
promotion
occurs,
you
will
most
likely
have
already
worked
in
that
capacity
in
your
day-to-day
tasks
already
for
several
months.
So
no
didn't
change
a
lot.
E
The
the
only
thing
that
I
changed
intentionally,
as
I
mentioned,
like
more
non-computer
hobbies,
but
also
taking
more
time
for
learning
and
reading
during
the
week
so
before
it
was
a
bit
hodge
podge,
just
sometime
here,
sometime
there,
but
afterwards
I
felt
confident
that
I
should
take
a
full
day
or
several
half
days
out
of
the
daily
routine
intentionally,
but
you
can
do
that
first
or
right
away,
of
course
as
well.
So
that's
that's
not
a
thing
that
has
to
be
connected
to
seniorship.
A
So
I
want
to
interject
here
and
say
that
a
lot
of
you
all
the
senior
support
engineers
that
are
here
today,
I'm
kind
of
a
fan-
I've
been
I've,
been
admiring
you
all
from
the
from
the
background
I'll
read
through
some
old
tickets
and
read
your
notes,
and
it's
like.
Oh,
my
goodness.
These
folks
are
just
like
so
good
at
taking
notes
or
not
taking
notes,
but
parsing
out
information.
A
C
Sure
I'll
vocalize
mine,
so
I
would
you
know
I
I
I
I
got
the
promotion
to
senior
because
fundamentally
I
could
evidence
that
I
was
already
acting
out
that
level
and
that's
the
way
it
works.
You
don't
get
promoted
first
and
then
get
told
right.
This
is
all
the
new
stuff
you
do.
So
it's
not
that
different
from
a
normal
sport
engineer.
C
C
C
You
you
would,
you
would
already
need
to
be
demonstrating
that
you're
doing
things
which
add
value
to
the
wider
team,
rather
than
just
you
know,
for
example,
rather
than
getting
a
ticket
about
a
problem,
you
know
raising
an
issue
trying
to
find
a
general
solution
to
it,
making
sure
people
know
about
that.
That
sort
of
thing,
so
it's
it's
thinking
beyond
just
the
ticket
you've
got
got
in
front
of
you.
A
That's
a
good
one.
I
like
that.
I
wanted
to
also
mention
harish
in
the
notes
answered
this
question
with
same
as
above
referring
to
you
ben
additionally
working
on
projects
and
hiring,
but
that
irish
says
that
also
did
that
as
a
support
engineer
more
pairing
sessions,
though
that
actually
sounds
like
a
lot
of
fun
to
me,
I
enjoy
the
pairing
sessions
I
have
with
folks.
I
just
can't
wait
to
be
on
the
giving
end
of
that,
rather
than
the
receiving
I
benefit
from
others
more
than
others
benefit
from
me.
D
So
that's
just
a
the
parent
sessions
are
very
helpful
for
me
and
I
try
to
be
as
helpful
to
others
in
as
often
as
I
can,
and
that's
just
that's
the
one
bigger
thing
that's
different
and
also,
I
think
I
think
ben
also
said.
Let's
start,
the
focus
shifts
a
little
bit
more
to
from
being
an
individual
contributor
to
helping
the
team
as
a
whole
or
customers
as
a
whole
or
the
company
as
a
whole.
Just
thinking
more
in
terms
of
larger
picture.
A
All
right,
so
our
next
question-
I
I
I
don't
mean
to
rush
this
or
anything,
I'm
just
trying
to
be
aware
of
the
time
we're
a
little
less
than
halfway
through
here.
I
think
we're
making
excellent
time
so
if
nobody
else
has
anything
to
add
to
that
one
we'll
move
on
to
the
next
one.
The
next
question
is:
if
you
could
only
share
one
piece
of
advice
for
me
or
any
other
support
engineer
on
becoming
or
if
we're
just
thinking
about
becoming
a
support,
a
senior
support
engineer.
B
B
A
B
C
Yeah
yeah,
so
your
imposter
syndrome
is
going
to
be
positively
on
fire.
If
you
look
around
the
team
around
you
and
think
I
don't
know
any
of
this
stuff,
the
reality
is
that
everybody
around
you
doesn't
know
all
of
that
stuff.
It's
in
the
handbook.
We
can't
all
know
everything,
so
I
would
say:
focus
focus
on
the
on
deepening
knowledge
in
areas
that
you're
interested
and
have
an
aptitude
for,
because
the
team
needs
people
with
depth
in
areas.
C
C
You
know
scary
as
heck,
but
you
know
I
I
was
able
to
draw
on
the
experience
I
did
have
with
postgresql
to
to
figure
it
out
and
get
those
customers
fixed
and-
and
you
know,
there's
plenty
of
other
parts
of
the
product
that
need
people
that
know
it
well,
so
that
we
can
fix,
fix
issues
for
customers
and
and
yeah.
It
doesn't
matter
whether
you're
an
intermediate
or
a
senior
you'll
need
some
depth
in
some
areas.
A
Yeah,
that's
a
good
thing
to.
I
guess,
that's
kind
of
something
you
want
to
keep
on
the
shelf,
but
next
to
you
at
all
times
to
remind
yourself
there's
something
that
I
need
to
sharpen
a
little
bit.
You
know
so
I
suppose
yeah.
I
guess
that's
a
good!
That's
a
good
piece
of
advice
for
anybody
working
as
an
engineer
and
especially
at
gitlab,
there's
so
much
technology
surrounding
the
entire
thing.
My
favorite
part
of
it
is
that
you
don't
stop
learning.
You
know
it's
one
of
my
favorite
things
to
do
so.
B
Regarding
your
learning
that
will
never
change,
even
if
you're
a
senior
we'll
still
be
learning
stuff
and
to
highlight
sort
of
the
fear
of
not
knowing
and
a
piece
of
the
advice.
Often
you
get
the
question
during
interviews.
You
know,
if
you're
applying
for
jobs
like
are
you
a
good
developer?
If
you're
looking
for
developer,
you
know
it's.
Are
you
good?
B
I
always
found
it
a
very
difficult
question,
because
when
I
measure
myself,
I
don't
measure
myself
to
people
that
are
at
the
same
level.
I
measure
myself
to
people
who
are
better
than
me,
so
my
answer
would
always
be
like.
I
know
people
are
better
and
I'm
trying
to
achieve.
You
know
to
get
to
that
level,
and
once
I
reach
that
level,
I'm
looking
for
the
next
person
who's
better
than
yeah.
B
So
you
know,
if
you
look
at
seniors
and
like
oh,
they
are
amazing.
They
know
a
ton
sure
we've
been
around
for
a
while.
You
know
we
have
all
our
areas
of
focus
that
we
specialize
in
or
that
we
are
very
familiar
with.
If
you
drop
something
else
on
our
lap,
it
doesn't
mean
we
don't
know
or
that
we
can't
handle
it,
but
I'll
just
have
to
google.
It
save,
as
you.
A
A
C
C
A
Being
aware
that,
I
suppose
is
a
a
skill,
a
learned
skill,
you
know
being
aware
of
what
what's
beneficial
and,
what's
not,
I
skipped
over
a
question
which
was:
how
is
your
transition?
What
was
the
transition?
Like
I
mean
from
what
I'm
gathering
it's
like
in
the
beginning
of
the
session.
I
believe
it
was
who
was
it
that
said
talking
about
how
if
you've
already,
you
were
already
being
a
senior
support
engineer
before
you
were
actually
a
senior
support
engineer.
Does
everybody
kind
of
agree
with
that
blanket
statement?
A
B
It's
it's.
I
I
brought
it
up
and
it's
something
that
sort
of
happens.
There
are
sort
of
two
paths
that
you
can
go
or
how
you
can
be
senior
and
it's
either
you're
performing
on
the
senior
level
your
manager
tells
you
here's
your
document
start
filling
it
out
because
you're
ready
for
this.
You
know
you
deserve
this
promotion.
B
The
other
part
would
be
you
go
to
your
manager
and
say
hey.
I
want
to
be
promoted.
How
do
I
do
this
I'll?
Give
you
the
document
same
steps,
go
apply
at
some
point:
you're
working
at
a
senior
level
if
you're
not
go
product,
will
never
get
passed
so
by
the
time
you're
becoming
a
senior
on
paper.
Officially,
you've
been
doing
this
for
four
months.
A
B
Nope,
it's
it's
eases
you
into
it.
If
you
start
working
on
your
promodac,
you
realize
you
know
I'm
very
focused
on
my
tickets,
but
not
in
helping
others
at
that
point.
You'll
make
a
decision
I'll
do
more
pairing
sessions
because
I
can
help
others
with
it.
Gotcha
you're
used
to
doing
more
pairing
sessions
by
the
time
you're
a
senior
you're
still
doing
that.
B
B
Other
companies,
one
of
my
previous
companies,
was
like
you've
been
working
two
years
for
the
company
now
you're
a
senior
right
essentially
could
be
I've
been
delivering
horrible
codes,
essentially
not
living
up
to
the
test,
but
I
was
worked
there
for
two
years.
I
became
a
senior
we
don't
do
this
at
gitlab,
which
is
for
me
personally,
is
the
best
choice.
We
have.
B
A
E
A
E
D
Absolutely
my
piece
is
kind
of
similar
to
that,
which
is
there's
much
less
time
to
focus
on
individual
tasks,
because
you
get
a
kind
of
tap
for
different
problems
or
just
from
things
that
you
know,
people
need
help
with
which
I
enjoy
doing.
But
at
the
same
time
you
don't
have
less
time
to
focus
because
of
it.
A
B
A
A
C
F
A
D
Yes,
I
can
go.
My
favorite
areas
are
probably
off
if
you're
talking
about
tickets,
it's
probably
off
in
general.
I
think
I
prefer
I
like
pairing
on
whether
it's
tickets
or
code
contributions
or
doc
contributions.
Things
like
that.
That's
that's
probably
my
favorite
thing
to
do
in
gitlab
is
pairing
on
that
kind
of.
A
A
B
E
A
B
I
think
it's
sort
of
if
you're
a
sport
engineer
I
didn't
that's
long
ago
and
it
essentially
came
out.
I
enjoy
helping
people
yeah.
I
think,
if
you're
a
support,
engineer,
that's
something
you'll
have
in
common.
You
know
you'll
enjoy
helping
people,
whether
it
is
your
customer,
whether
it's
a
colleague
it's
something
general
that
you
you
know
you
get
sort
of
happy
when
someone
comes
back
like
oh.
Thank
you,
you
helped
me
a
lot
that
essentially
makes
your
day
yeah
and
I
wouldn't
stop.
A
Why
you
do
what
you
do
yeah,
I
feel
so
I
enjoy
being
useful.
It's
it's
a
great
feeling
and
it's
not
like
there's
a
whole
philosophical
discussion
about
whether
or
not
these
emotions
are
selfish
or
not,
but
from
from
my
perspective,
it's
it
excites
me
because
it
it's
something
I
believe
in
and
it
works
when
it
works.
It
makes
you
feel
great.
A
D
I
have
a
couple
different
ways
of
creating
to-do
lists.
One
is
during
my
one
I
wanted
one
is
on
monday
every
week,
so
that's
a
good
way
to
like
set
my
goals
for
the
week
with
my
manager,
or
usually
I
started
to
tell
them
what
I
will
plan
to
do,
and
then
I
do
that
during
the
week
and
then
every
morning
I
have
post-its
that
I
create
with
today's
tasks
and
the
things
I
want
to
accomplish
by
the
end
of
the
day
and
to
me
that's
helpful.
A
G
B
Bought
a
remarkable
which,
because
it
feels
like
you're
riding
on
paper
and
when
I
used
to
travel
a
lot
in
buses-
and
you
know
that
sort
of
thing-
I
always
had
a
small
pocket
block
inside
my
jacket,
and
I
was
every
time
I
sat
down
somewhere.
I
just
grabbed
it
grab
a
pen
and
start
writing
my
ideas,
and
once
I
started
I
just
keep
going
by
the
time
I
had
to
get
out
of
the
bus.
B
B
I
could
do
this
as
well,
and
this
by
the
time
you're
finished
with
writing.
That
down
weeks
have
passed.
You've
done,
none
of
it
because
you
all
have
it
on
paper
and
it's
like
20
pages
long,
and
then
you
can
start
scraping
things
that
you
like.
It's
not
that
important
and
just
pick
something
that
you
enjoy
and
essentially
everything
you
write
down
at.
That
point
will
be
something
you
just
want
to
do
so.
For
me,
motivation
has
never
been
an
issue.
A
Yeah
that
I
think,
probably
personally
from
my
personal
experience,
my
I
think
the
biggest
thing
that
kills
motivation
is
it
depends
on
the
time
of
day
and
in
the
mornings.
I
usually
don't
have
any
problems
focusing,
but
there
are
times
in
the
day
when
it's
just
like
really
difficult
to
get
to
the
rabbit
hole
to
start
going
down
it
in
terms
of
focus,
and
I
think
that
that's
the
area,
that's
the
thing
that
I
have
to
combat
and
say.
Well
what
do
I
do?
What?
A
C
Yeah
I
mean
we're
pushing
to
shove,
just
just
find
something
easy
to
do.
If
you
can't
motivate
yourself
to
go
down
the
rabbit
hole
and
I've
got
a
queue
full
of
rabbit
holes,
some
of
them
very
old.
You
know,
they've
been
there
long
enough
another
day,
just
fixing
stuff
straight
out
the
first
response
queue.
A
E
A
Nice,
well,
unfortunately,
we
are
at
time.
I
want
to
say
real
quick
that
I
really
appreciate
all
of
our
senior
support
engineers
joining
and
taking
this
time
to.
It's
been
very
helpful
to
me
and
I'm
sure,
with
other
engineers
here
thank
everybody
else
for
coming.
I
want
to
give
a
very
big
special
thank
you
for
brie
who's
been
taking
notes
this
entire
time
and
helping
out
she's
been
incredible.