James Day grew up in Dagenham and now lives in Braintree, Essex. After an inauspicious start in which his IT training provider went bust, he completed his qualifications and landed his first gig. Fast forward a few years and he’s now our lead engineer, solving notoriously tricky third-line support tickets.
In our chat, he talks about what makes great IT support, his impressions of Intersys and why his dog, Yuki, is possibly his biggest workplace challenge.
James, tell us what a third-line engineer does. We’re guessing you’re dealing with the really tricky stuff?
In terms of support, I’m the final escalation. I often look at the infrastructure side and in-depth issues. You definitely need your Sherlock Holmes hat on.
Having said that, IT is huge and I’m not an expert in everything. I sometimes have to defer backwards and forwards, for instance, to someone from second line support who knows more than me about a given technology or process.
Let’s go back to the start. Tell us about your earliest interest in IT.
I was aged four and got a Super Nintendo. Making things move on TV, and not just watching, was magic to me. It sparked an interest in tech. Then, aged five or six, Dad brought home our first PC. I would plug away and press buttons until something wonderful happened.
Moving on a few years, your IT career had a false start?
I was throwing bags into the back of planes for Ryanair – I’d done that for multiple years and there was no intellectual challenge. In 2006, I saw an advert on TV for computer training. I signed up and started learning, but they went bust and stole my money! I was determined not to let the work I had done so far go to waste. So I financed myself again and finished my qualifications off of my own back.
Then you walked into a highly paid IT job?
Not quite. No one wanted to touch me. They wanted experience and I was like a newly trained soldier who’d never seen battle. Eventually, I got a job at a small ISP in Chelmsford, then, later, at an MSP down the road. I stayed there for 13 years and progressed to a CTO role.
However, they were very focused on on-prem servers in offices and, as time went on, I felt I needed to pivot to the cloud.
Sounds like we’re going to talk about Intersys now?
Exactly! I had an interview, chatting with Director of Professional Services Mark Kirby for over two hours. We talked about the ins and outs of day-to-day helpdesk work, sharing frustrations and our tech passion. I think we hit it off. And they offered me the job.
What do you think they liked about you?
I imagine my people-focused mindset came across. It’s essential on a service desk. Every time someone phones, they’re stressed, need help, and need emotional as well as technical support.
And what were your first impressions?
It was a structured environment, where people had specialist roles – very unlike my last job. I also quickly realised how much I didn’t know and imposter syndrome hit hard. In my old role, I’d been a big fish in a little pond.
I got on lots of training courses to get up to speed. Intersys were very supportive. They provided time for study, the actual exam fees and financial incentives after passing an exam.
More generally, how would you describe the Intersys culture?
We work very closely as a team. We absorb knowledge from team members through osmosis, as well as by upskilling via courses and qualifications. It’s far more collaborative than anything I have experienced in previous roles.
Also, family comes first at Intersys and they have been very accommodating to me. My wife has a disability, which means it’s difficult for her to do day-to-day tasks like the school run. So, I generally work from home and it’s made the world of difference.
What makes a great third-line support engineer?
A methodical approach. You must always start with first principles. Too often, second-liners start in the middle and don’t worry about the start. But you should never assume something is correct without checking – it could lead you down the garden path.
You’re a lifelong tecchie. What do you miss about old-school IT?
I liked it when using computers was more difficult than it is now. The era of specialist knowledge made you feel you were part of a secret club.
Oh, and who doesn’t miss a dial-up modem and the dulcet tones of the screeching banshee!
What’s your favourite computer game right now.
With my nine and 13-year-old boys, we have a family game of Mario Party. And that’s when they’re not beating me at Mario Kart. It’s a disappointing chapter in my life to acknowledge that I used to let them win, but now can’t do that because they’re better than me!
Finally, it’s an unwritten rule of these staff profiles that we must finish by talking about pets…
That would be my dog, Yuki. Three times in the last month, she’s ripped my headset off me by getting caught in the cable! Most days, she’s upstairs in bed, but occasionally she’ll pop down to cause office-based destruction before toddling off again…
Read Staff Stories with Head of IT Infrastructure Yacer Sellam and Second Line Support Engineer Keiron Dunnage.