Image source: User pasukaru76 on flickr.

Using DNN at Work and Play

You can say I live two lives. In my first life, I’m a Sales Engineer. I support our Sales Team by providing product demonstrations to clients and prospects. In my second life, I run an outdoor enthusiast community, WeHuntSC.com, which happens to be powered by the same DNN products that I demonstrate during the work day: our content management system (Evoq Content) and our online community solution (Evoq Social)

As you can see, my two lives intersect!

Enhanced Product Knowledge

Photo source: User blmurch on flickr.

From using our products both at work and as a hobby, I’ve learned a great deal about the features and functionality of our software. The hands-on experience I gain helps me be me more effective in demos, trainings and technical calls.

As a Sales Engineer, I sit right between Sales and Product. I need to speak not just in HTML and Javascript, but also in business (Sales) and technical (Product).

On any given day, I may field questions about front-end design and CSS to site architecture, module development, site administration, “skinning”, upgrades and back-ups (phew, that was a mouthful!).

The variety of questions we can field spans a wide range. I need to be able to quickly explain functionality to the business contact and then turn around and get in the technical weeds with the person from IT. I also need to be able to communicate with both of these individuals confidently and swiftly.

Hands-On Product Use to the Rescue

This scenario can be stressful because you never know which questions you will have to field. Over time, you become accustomed to that stress and start to enjoy the challenge of handling the unknown. How can one best prepare for this?

USE THE PRODUCT A LOT!

I run a few sites using our software. I do the design, administration and upgrades and that’s helped me become intimately familiar with our solutions. I don’t know it all, but I learn something new every day.

Our solutions are so extensible and configurable that I think it’s impossible to know everything, but if you frequently use the software over time, you will come to know a lot. Many times, I’ll answer a demo question based on an activity I was working on the evening before.

So yes, running a hobby site has been beneficial for me, but in some cases it is also beneficial to my career growth.

Testing in Production

Whenever we have a major release, we add a lot of new features. The developers, engineers, and QA teams put our software through numerous tests to check for any potential issues; with the flexibility and extensibility of DNN, however, it’s simply impossible for our teams to account for every potential configuration that exists.

Whenever we have an upgrade, I always upgrade my environment as soon as the engineers have the package available. Since my site is not a “mission critical” site, it serves as a good site on which to test new upgrades. In these instances, my sites double as a testing environment. If any issues or concerns arise, I can easily reach out to our engineering and development teams to investigate.

A Win-Win Scenario

Using our software during the day job and as a hobby helps me be more informed about our products. Being an “early bird” upgrader helps me get familiar with our latest features as soon as they come out and it also gives us a site from which we can give feedback to the development and engineering teams when necessary.

Using our software has helped me become a more effective Sales Engineer. It’s not a bad thing to have your hobby and your job cross paths!