Christopher Johnston
Technical Team - Employee spotlight
Christopher Johnston
Technical Team - Employee spotlight
What do you do on a daily basis?
Working as a member of the Tech Team my job is really varied, primarily I am here to support the Sales team technically but that can mean a huge range of things. I can advise and troubleshoot directly with the Sales Team and customers, I am responsible for all the initial technical training for new starters, and I also work on projects to help Tech and Sales do their jobs even better.
How has your role changed since starting?
Since I started the company has really grown, so we’ve had to adapt to working in a larger team and supporting a much larger group of Sales Engineers. We have also released many new products and launched a new Sales Division which I am involved in, so I have never stopped learning since I joined 2.5 years ago.
How did you learn the technical side of the role?
We start with about 6 weeks of training where we focus really heavily on the technical side of the role. After we establish that baseline we can start dipping our toes into the daily job, and from that point there is a lot of on the job training which never really stops. I still come up against new technical problems every single week!
How would you describe our working culture?
Very collaborative. Most of us are working together towards similar goals, Sales, Tech and the back office teams might all speak to the same customer in a day so we are regularly working together to resolve issues and present the customer with added value. This is pretty easy as the company is very social, even those people in other offices that you almost never meet in person. Everyone is always happy to help with any questions and generally when people have a spare five minutes to just chat and catch up at the end of a call they will seize the opportunity.
What is your favourite thing about your role?
This is very cliché… but the variety. I sometimes struggle to properly summarise what I do in my job when I’m asked. What I know about my job for certain is I will be working with a fantastic team and some lovely customers, and I will be solving problems. Nothing else is set in stone and you can rarely predict exactly what a given week will look like which keeps things interesting.
Any advice to potential applicants
Be ready to talk about every aspect of your experience, even the parts that you might not think are that interesting or relevant. I was surprised to find myself in an interview for a technical role, getting several questions about my part time phone centre job I had while I was at university (that I had left on my CV to fill things out a bit) as I didn’t completely realise how relevant it could be to the role.
Also, ask lots of questions! The interview is there not just for KEYENCE to see if you are the right fit, but also for you to see if KEYENCE is the right fit for you.
