Editor’s note:
Longtime readers may recall our “New Faces” series, in which we would introduce the new faces of Bamboo Nation. Here’s our latest crop of new hires that we are excited to acquaint you with! Without further ado let us introduce you to Devin Bartos!
When did you join the Bamboo Solutions team, and what is your role?
I joined the team on 6/30/2014 as a Pre-Sales Support Engineer.
What are your personal goals regarding your position for the next year?
My personal goals: number one is obvious, learn how to support 70 diverse products and components. The second goal of mine is to help consolidate engineering knowledge among the presales and support teams. I would love to help create a library of public-facing technical media (printed, video, audio, whatever it takes) so that sales, pre-sales, and support have an additional way to get answers to customers.
What’s your professional background?
I worked in Industrial Gas and Welding with networked computer numerical control machines, for a company called Praxair, and ended up writing two programs for them. I later became a Sales Rep at AvePoint Public Sector, then switched to become a TSP (Their equivalent of a pre-sales engineer) and did that for a year before coming to Bamboo.
What prompted you to join the Bamboo team?
I wanted to get a different perspective on Microsoft technologies from a different sort of MS partner. AvePoint and Bamboo are both OEM software manufacturers, but they do two very different things and use completely different technical approaches. My ultimate goal is to either work in Product Management or become an Administrator for SharePoint networks.
What were some of your first impressions of working at Bamboo?
We have a bright, diverse, and organic team supporting a vast array of different customers, with different needs, in different fields. My software experience has traditionally been in either the Industrial or Public Sector field and while the tools are implemented in similar ways, the use cases and approaches can be drastically different.
With over 70 products to learn, do you feel overwhelmed? What’s your strategy for getting up to speed?
Load them all onto my virtual machine, and go down the list in order of priority. I think that’s about the only way I can think of. Also, try to find the common technologies behind them, what are the common roots that can be potentially problematic. Even as a technical person, I have no issues admitting it can be challenging.
Other than your deep and abiding love of extending SharePoint, what interests or hobbies do you enjoy outside of work?
I have cats, enjoy outdoor activities, and am not a terrible shot with a rifle (I don’t hunt but I like to shoot at ranges). I never miss a TED talk or an episode of NOVA. I like gardening in general and have raised a bonsai or two in my time.
