That Feeling of Belonging

I recently hit the 5 year mark at SmartBear, and as I sit here thinking back about the last 15+ years and what it took to get here, I am proud of the path I have paved, and appreciative to all those who have helped me on that journey along with those who have joined me on the same road.

The first job out of college was with a local medical technology company, as an application specialist. This was part of a large group hire at various salaries in different areas of the organization. However, with all the technical training being provided there seemed to be some gaps in what the expectation of the role really was. I wanted to excel, but I felt the training provided wasn't enough, or that the job wasn't enough. This is when I started to realize what I wanted from a manager moving forward. I was not looking to be micro-managed, but rather looking for more direction. It was my understanding that managers are supposed to support their employees in any way possible.

Managers are supposed to help people grow, both personally and professionally, if needed. They are also supposed to be approachable and inviting, making walk up conversations easy. This is not at all what I was experiencing. More specifically, this manager always seemed too busy, too angry, or too flustered to offer any direction or suggestions beyond being reprimanded in front of the team. With an open floor concept, this is not great for the team to see, and even worse to be part of it. Needless to say, this role didn't last much longer, but thanks to a college friend and coworker, I was told about a possible role and given an opportunity to interview for a Sales Engineer in the software tech space.

During this next interview, with one of the Sales Managers, he made me feel like the Sales Engineer role was meant for me! This made me feel like I belonged here! I got ramped up fairly quickly and started providing value to the team. I felt like this was the right role for me! Afterall, I enjoyed talking technology and this tech was very interesting for the time. However, I was unaware at the expectation of this role only being a path to a support role. I took this as a chance to find my next role. Knowing that I enjoy the Sales Engineer role, I started to focus my searches for this specific type of role. After some time, I landed a role with a network performance company, who loved my background and how easily I picked up the role. Once again, I felt like I belonged! I was happy in this role for a long time, learned so much, and built some great relationships! I was in this role for quite a while until sadly I was laid off during a big round of layoffs.

At this point, I was starting to feel like a failure, and really started to second guess my decision to go into the sales space, as well as whether or not I wanted to stay in that space due to how quickly things can change. I decided to keep looking in the space and came across a role that seemed like a great fit. I applied and received an automated response, but when I saw the same role posted a few weeks later I applied and received another automated response. Keeping in mind that this role looked perfect based on my background, but I got another automated response, and I felt that I deserved a more personalized response. I reached out to some of my old coworkers who happened to be working at this new company. Requesting them to connect me with the hiring manager for this position. Luckily the relationships that I built in my previous roles had given me the connection that I needed to get this much needed introduction.

With the introduction, I was able to schedule some time to meet with the hiring manager. He gave me an explanation about the automated responses and how there could be an open role in the near future if things "go to plan." We chatted for quite a while and I felt like he would make a great manager. I left that call without a job, but with a plan for a future conversation. It was my persistence that got me this opportunity, along with the feeling that I deserve more! A few weeks later I got the call that they were indeed hiring for that position, and I felt like I was in a good place, given the great conversation I had with the hiring manager. I came in to interview in-person and I already felt like I belonged!

The interview process was fun and conversational. It also included some games, which at the time I thought was strange, but I still consider that the reason I wanted the job so badly after the interview. I was offered and accepted, to no surprise! In this role I was able to grow personally and professionally. I was not looking to manage at first, but with how I fit into this role and how I took it upon myself to help new hires, a management role opened up, and it was offered to me. I jumped at the chance to manage, because I had so much, I wanted to share from many of my experiences in previous roles and more specifically, with previous managers. I shared this information as a way to level set the expectation with everyone involved and to make sure we are all working toward the same goal.

Fast forward 5 year, our team has grown by 200% since I joined. I've grown both personally and professionally in this organization and have been promoted a couple of times since. This has given me the opportunity to share skills with the people on my team, to make sure they don't hit the same hurdles I did earlier in my career. This is a great example of how persistence helps open some doors, but you must walk through that door, and be a better version of yourself in order to really succeed. That feeling of belonging makes people want to be here and want to succeed. I was given a chance by SmartBear and I succeeded...for that I am forever thankful!

If you would like a chance to write your own success story, take a look at our job postings at https://grnh.se/c0b4aa0c3us

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