Q3 2022 Core Values Award Winner: Michael Fellows

Each quarter, Skilljar’s Executive team recognizes one Skillet who has gone above and beyond in demonstrating one of our core values. And it doesn’t take very long to do that with the caliber of talent Skilljar hires! We’re thrilled to spotlight Q3’s Core Value Award winner, Michael Fellows, for demonstrating “Get Stuff Done” – in only four months on the job! Congratulations, Michael!

We took a few minutes to sit down with Michael for a quick Q&A to learn more about how he made an impact in such a short time at Skilljar, what he loves about his role as a Services & Support Engineer (SSE), and a few fun facts! (See all of our Core Values Award winner blog posts here.)

Q: You’ve been with Skilljar for only four months – congrats on making an impact out of the gate! What drew you to Skilljar initially?

I’ve always wanted to be a Software Development Engineer, but never had any formal training. I was looking for an opportunity that would allow me to learn while being able to use the skills I acquired in previous positions in Customer Service. Services & Support Engineering sounded like the perfect fit!

I was excited to jump right in and learn. Meeting my team and everyone else at Skilljar has been a treat as well. Only positive experiences!

Q: Your managers and teammates have commended you for being proactive and always staying focused on customer needs. What’s been one of your most satisfying moments as a Services & Support Engineer?

The most satisfying moment has been being able to see the impact I’ve made already during my short time at Skilljar. Coming from a customer service background, I know how important seemingly small changes can be to a customer.

I identify with our Customer Success team that works to help and determine key areas we can improve on. It’s super satisfying when I am able to actually help out or tackle those projects for and with my teammates.

Q: You’re part of the Engineering organization. What does a Service & Support Engineer (SSE) do at Skilljar?

The SSE team really does it all! We’re the bridge that helps Customer Success and the greater Development team meet specific customer needs.

For example, when a customer contacts either their Customer Success Manager (CSM) or a Product Services & Support (PSS) team member, they will help fulfill that customer’s request . Sometimes it’s more technical, at which point the CSM or PSS will reach out to the SSE team, either through our dedicated Slack channel or by submitting a ticket in Jira (our issue tracking software).

The SSE team meets twice a day to go over and assign any new tickets we receive. We get many different types of tickets, from importing/updating data, to setting up a custom export, to investigating certain product behaviors and potentially finding bugs. We also help out with setting up custom front-end code snippets for customers.

Q: Almost two years ago, Skilljar went fully remote. What’s your favorite thing about working for a remote-first company?

I love how much extra time I have in the day since there is no commuting time!

Q: Given that Skilljar is a learning platform, it’s no surprise that a lot of Skillets enjoy learning new things too! If you could become an expert in something overnight, what would it be?

I would love to be able to speak a wide range of languages to communicate with anyone in the world.

Q: What would we most likely find you doing on the weekend for fun?

Either playing video games or grabbing some good food with my family.

Q: Is there anything that surprised you about working for Skilljar, something that you may not have expected?

Something that is great about Skilljar is that no one is expected to know literally everything. I can’t speak for everyone, but I’ll speak about the SSE team.

We all try our best to know as much as we can about our product and assist in debugging/investigating etc. But each member of our team usually has one thing they shine in – and that helps us to all learn from each other.

Thank you, Michael! Congratulations on being named the Core Value Award recipient for Q3 2022!

Michael’s not the only one getting awards around here. Skilljar has been named a 2022 award winner for “Best Compensation” and “Best Perks & Benefits” by Comparably.com, based on anonymous employee feedback regarding their overall satisfaction with their compensation package, perks, and benefits – just another reason Skillets love working for us!