Josh Lockheed is a Technical Support Expert at Datto. He recently traveled to an ASCII summit to represent Datto. 

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Columbus, Ohio for the ASCII summit to represent the Datto support team. This was an incredible experience to interact with other attendees and exhibitors, as well as some Datto partners. It was nice to hear them consistently note that Datto was at the top of their list in more ways than one. “It just works” was the description many partners gave when asked what they like most about the solution.

While we had to sweat it out assembling Datto’s monster of a booth, I was impressed by its size and sophistication. It seemed to stand out among the others as a focal point for the room. I was equally impressed by the teamwork showed by the other Datto employees while putting the booth together. Everyone cooperated to figure out how the booth came together and in the end built an impressive display.

Although I have seen Rob present at conferences before, I was once again amazed by his stage presence and ability to engage the crowd. Rob explained how Datto helps our partners deliver a solution that will provide a benefit to their clients and how working with Datto’s sales team can push the needle and help acquire new clients.

After Rob’s presentation, it was time for the Datto team to engage with attendees on the exhibition floor. We spoke about their familiarity with Datto, Rob’s presentation and enlightened them on all the great things we do for our partners.

Eventually, it was time for the coveted awards ceremony, where attendees had an opportunity to vote for vendors in a number of different categories, ranging from ‘best in show’ to ‘best revenue generation.’ This is the part where Rob gets really excited about because it not only proves that what we are doing works, but it provides visibility to Datto and the amazing things we do to engage the channel community. I’m happy to say that Datto walked away from the awards ceremony with four awards: Best in Show, Best Keynote Presentation, Best Storage Solution and Best Partner Involvement. The entire Datto team had a chance to get up on stage to accept the award, and it felt great seeing the love and support showed by the group.

Having spent nearly three days on the road for the Datto team, I’ve been reminded about how hard our business development team works to promote Datto. Representing Datto on the road is more than just a fun time, it re-enforces the fact that what we do here is important to those we serve and that without us Datto would not be the amazing thing that it has become.

In this blog series, women at Datto will post stories from their interviews of each other. This week, we hear from Samantha Ciaccia, Partner Marketing Manager, and Erin Turner, VP of Financial Planning and Analysis.

When we’re young, most of us have some pretty funny aspirations of what we’d like to be when we grow up. I first wanted to be a veterinarian, but that changed sometime in middle school when I learned about the digestive system. Then, I wanted to be a “stomach doctor,” which still makes me laugh! My career today in Marketing at a technology company doesn’t align with my childhood dreams, but that’s normal – for most of us.  

This wasn’t the case for Erin Turner, Datto’s VP of Financial Planning & Analysis. When I got the opportunity to interview a woman within the organization, I chose Erin for a number of reasons, but mainly because of two things. First, she’s a very successful, confident, yet humble woman. Second, her strengths are different than mine. She’s great with numbers, and I’m great with words.  

Sometimes, what we think we want to do and what life actually brings our way, can be two very different things. However, for Erin, she was able to identify Finance and numbers at a very young age. Erin grew up in Florida and went to Auburn University for Accounting, where her focus quickly turned towards financial planning and analysis.  The plan behind this was that you can do Finance, anywhere for any company. This sentence right here is gold when we talk about women in technology. There are many different and necessary aspects of a business. Just because you’re working for a tech company, doesn’t mean you have to be the one developing the technology.  

In the spirit of this blog series, I asked Erin if she believes there are any challenges that women specifically face when working in the technology industry.  She answered:

“Finance in a tech company is harder than being a woman in a tech company, however, I believe women, in general, don’t stand up for themselves enough, and when they do, they often times are considered pushy. There’s a difficult balance between the two.  Being a woman in any job, we put pressure on ourselves to have more facts, remain non-emotional and have a poker face in order to prove ourselves.”  

If she could go back in time and give her 20-year-old self one piece of advice, she would say to make the most out of every opportunity. There were often times she traveled for work and didn’t appreciate the opportunity to do side travel for leisure, but instead only focused on the work. Erin said, “we’re only here once, make the most of it.”

My last question to Erin was about building confidence in the workplace, as I shared some of my experiences as my own worst critic. Her response was to always seek out feedback from others because it is a helpful way to learn other perspectives.  A huge part of building confidence is truly knowing your stuff. It’s clear that Erin does both, and I’m thankful to have gotten to know her on a deeper level, and continue to build our relationship together.  

The Women in Technology blog series is coordinated by Customer Experience Innovations project coordinator, Rachel Powers.

In this blog series, women at Datto will post stories from their interviews of each other. This week, we hear from Adrianne Mora, Technical Writer on the Training Team, and Kim Desorcie, Associate Software Engineer.

As a senior IT major at RIT, Kim Desorcie was ready to enter the working world. Like most things in her life, she did a lot of research to decide on her next steps. For this important decision, she immersed herself in blogs that covered start-up companies. Though she loved the idea of working for a start up, she didn’t like the idea of working in chaos. So, she set her sights on finding a company that was in the late stages of starting up. It would give her the best of both worlds: fresh, innovative technology with the stability of a larger company.

It was inevitable that she’d find Datto. Datto CEO, Austin McChord, is an RIT graduate, and Datto actively recruits on the campus. At an RIT career fair, Kim met up with Charles Lundblad, a longtime Datto engineer, with whom she immediately felt comfortable. Charles started off the interview by asking her to read some code and find the problems with it. “I really liked that his interview included reading code instead of just writing code and talking about it. It got me into the right frame of mind for interviewing and helped me to feel confident about answering the rest of the questions,” she recalls. Two years later, Charles remembers her as being one of the few who found the code’s problems right away.

She started her Datto career in late 2014 as one of the first software engineers at our Rochester office. At the time, the small Franklin St. office housed about a dozen Technical Support Experts and about five software developers. Today, our Rochester workforce numbers in the hundreds across two locations in downtown Rochester.

Despite being a natural at software development, her decision to go into the technology field was not obvious, at least not early on. As a kid, she didn’t know what she wanted to do. “Maybe a zookeeper or an artist?” she guesses. As an older teenager, she hesitated between artist or coder, and eventually settled on technology. (Her sister, on the other hand, became a zookeeper.)

My own journey into technology was undecided as well. As a kid, I loved computers and owned one of the first PCs on the block. However, a tech career did not seem accessible to me, and I pictured it as being lonely. I imagined sitting in front of a computer screen all day. Of course, in the intervening years, while I was changing my major five times, the whole world changed. These days, one of the biggest problems tech companies face is being able to hire enough techies to fill all of the job openings, and I cannot imagine working in any other industry. Like Kim, I immediately felt at home with my colleagues at Datto. It’s wonderful to be in a culture where nerdiness is celebrated, rather than merely tolerated. My, how times have changed!

I shared with Kim that one of my favorite things about being a tech writer is that I can be as introverted or extraverted as I feel like being. Some days, I am solitary and churn out Knowledge Base articles. Other days, I walk out onto the tech support floor at our Norwalk, Connecticut location and pick the brains of our super-knowledgeable Tech Support Experts. When I shared this habit with Kim, she said “oh yeah, I love talking to them. I walk around and ask them ‘what bug is horrible this week?’ and I try to help them with workarounds and getting things fixed. I love refactoring code to make it better.”

It makes me wonder what I would have done differently if the tech field had been so accessible when I was a kid. Then again, I never have a lack of learning opportunities at Datto.

The Women in Technology blog series is coordinated by Customer Experience Innovations project coordinator, Rachel Powers.

In this blog series, women at Datto will post stories from their interviews of each other. This week, we hear from Dianna Pappas, Project Manager, who gives us an in-depth perspective on her colleague, Kit Thorpe, VP of Internal Audit.

When you were young, did you ever imagine you would grow up to do the things you’re currently doing? When I was young, I wanted to dance for the American Ballet Theatre. Needless to say, my role as a project manager doesn’t exactly lend itself to doing a pirouette into conference rooms. When Kit Thorpe, our VP of Internal Audit was young, she wanted to be a gymnast because she admired the simultaneous strength and grace they exhibit. These traits that she respected as a child stayed with her as she worked hard through college, work and life to get to where she is today.

If you’ve never had the pleasure of meeting Kit, one of the first things you’ll learn about her, aside from her love of tennis and chocolate candies, is that she is a huge fan of process. She shared that one of her first jobs was at a fast-food restaurant and what she loved the most was the processes in place. “If something was broken, even the fryer, there was a clear process and procedure so anyone could fix it.” This resonates well for her current role, as one of Kit’s projects is working on the Inventory Management system for our Monroe office with the Build team, defining and documenting different processes so they can do their work more efficiently.

Working at PricewaterhouseCoopers and GE before coming to Datto, Kit has gathered some great advice for women in the workplace. Recognizing there are still challenges ahead for the generation of women behind her and how important it is for women to support other women, Kit offered this impactful piece of advice, “It is important for women to speak when they have something to say and to use their voice to influence others.”

The example Kit gave of this was a story she had read about President Obama’s female staffers. There were fewer of them than there were of the men and they found their voices were not being heard. Their remedy? Using a tactic called “amplification” which was when one woman mentioned a point, another woman would echo that point in support and give credit to the original person who said it. By doing this they made that first voice a louder voice and the women as a whole began to get called on more by President Obama.

Madeleine Albright once said, “There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women” and I think the more we as women do for each other and continue to support each other in our careers, the farther away we’re getting from that handbasket.

The Women in Technology blog series is coordinated by Customer Experience Innovations project coordinator, Rachel Powers.

“Everyone needs to know some things

like products, tech, and who is Veeam;

Dan, can you whip up something fun

to teach it to our entire team?”

“Umm,” I said. I had some doubts:

700 plus had to learn a lot

With schedules booked and deadlines near-

“Sure, game on, I’ll give it a shot.”

First the plan of what this meant:

A Powerpoint, a classroom jam?

Who would watch a day of slides

and still be a Training fan?

“Ah!” my colleague, Jackson, said,

“They won’t want to waste time here.

Who would, when all our deadlines loom,

and the office fridge is full of beer?

It could be done so one could learn

the things they want and skip the rest,

assuming they knew some basic things

like passing a Datto Knowledge Test.”

But, I thought, that’s status quo.

There’s so much more that I would teach

If everyone is clamoring

for knowledge that is out of reach.

I agree that folks are busy bees

and lectures sure are mega lame.

It all should be somewhat useful, too,

and contribute to a large-scale game…

I’d include with whom do we compete,

and all about Backupify,

Datto Drive, Datto NAS,

all wrapped up and gamified.

So thus begat the Graduate School

the plan to teach those high and low

the basics, the products, the market too;

Stuff that everyone should know.

And so it went, with much ado

all of Datto raced to learn.

Broken up into three teams

Bragging rights for those to earn.

Along the way I heard a lot

from folks who’ve worked here many years,

that straying from the day-to-day

ignited a few sheepish fears:

“This is COOL! We do this too?”

a joyous phrase that echoed much.

The general vibe from old and new

was that the Grad School was pretty clutch.

And of course, the game, the challenge set:

which team would win and which would fold:

The techs? The devs? The Fighting Sales?

Learners rushed to claim the gold.

The time the clock reached 10 of five,

the game was down to a paltry few

between Team Robert & Team Brooks,

Not even I could guess who.

Throughout the weekend, scores were tallied

to double, triple check every name

The dawn of Monday an answer be:

Team Robert won eternal fame.

The game gave all my peers a chance

to set aside an hour or two,

enmeshed in products, markets, facts,

Broadening a communal view.

The program goes until Q4

is buttoned up on New Year’s Eve.

None escape the Training Team,

Not even “I’m Too Busy” Steve.

If getting 700 folks

to learn from all their Datto friends,

is as much fun as Graduate School,

Well, hot damn, sign me up again!

Thanks to their hard work on the Tech Support team, Kat Benitez and John Boyer were both honored with the Tech Support MVP award and had the opportunity to represent Datto at the recent TeamLogic IT event in Tampa.

While at the event, Kat and John worked with members of the Datto Sales and Business Development teams to represent Datto and network with partners as well as interested IT professionals who may be less familiar with the company.

For both John and Kat, they relished the opportunity to work with Rob Rae, VP of Business Development. In addition to Rob, they also worked with Patrick DeAngelis, Chanel Sales Executive, at Datto. This provided a unique and fresh perspective compared to their usual roles as Tech Support Experts.

According to Kat, it was a nice opportunity to integrate with some other Datto employees outside of tech support. It gave her and John a chance to see the similarities and differences of their roles and walk a bit in someone else’s shoes.

In addition, they had the opportunity to interact with partners face-to-face in a more relaxed environment, compared to interacting with partners on support tickets.

“It was a really good experience to put the face to the voice. We had the opportunity to meet with some partners that we have worked with in the past, and that was a nice touch,” said John.

As Kat added, “It was nice to hear the positives and understand exactly what our partners are happy about and what their pain points may be. It was great to see how much they really enjoy partnering with Datto.”

In addition to Datto partners, John and Kat also interacted with other attendees who were less familiar with Datto. This gave them the chance to answer any technical questions about the Datto solution thanks to their expert knowledge of the Datto solution.

As John and Kat agreed, they are both looking forward to their next opportunity to get out on the road and represent Datto.

In this blog series, women at Datto will post stories from their interviews of each other. This week, we hear from Whitney Swesey, Trainer, who gives us an in-depth perspective on her colleague, Macall Lofstead, Technical Support Supervisor.

Like myself, Macall had a transition period of adjusting to the Datto culture when she first started. Every other company Macall previously worked at was very black and white in how situations were handled, they were suit and tie environments and there were procedures on how to handle every situation. It took Macall about three months to transition to the Datto way of life and during that time she leaned on her fellow supervisors, spending time shadowing them, and asking many questions. Macall believes it takes a team to be successful and the willingness to learn and grow on a daily basis, which is why she is a perfect fit for the Datto culture.

As a Tech Support Supervisor, no two days are the same. Just one day in Macall’s life can include one-on-one meetings with her team members, ticket quality reviews, ticket queue management, payroll issues, customer service follow-ups, meetings, additional projects, sales escalation monitoring and those are just the basics. While her days may be hectic, you can easily identify that developing her team is the favorite part of Macall’s day, which is evident through the passion in her voice when she discusses the topic. Macall shared with me, “when I find what they are passionate about, I am willing to do anything possible to provide them the chance at that item, whether I research online e-learnings tools for them to take during their development time, carve out time for them to practice a skill like presenting a meeting or mentoring new hires, or role playing interviews for a position that might be coming up.” Macall ultimately feels that her responsibility is to drive her team’s success.

Macall is one of the few female Tech Support Supervisors, largely outnumbered by men in this role, however, the issues she faces are not specific to Tech Support. The biggest issue that Macall says she faces as a woman in the IT industry is being second guessed, especially since her background is not originally from the IT world. Macall said because of this, whenever she has to give a presentation, she always has proof of reports, and extra detailed information to back up what she is saying, so that when she is questioned, she is prepared.

Macall said the key to overcoming this is to stay strong and be confident in the answers that you provide; “being confident in yourself will demonstrate to others that you are knowledgeable about the topic.” However, Macall does not believe there is a significant barrier to women or men gaining leadership roles within IT; she believes that everyone is their own personal barrier. “You will not succeed unless you try; just because someone has told you no, that is not a no forever, no is not a forever word. It is a challenge to yourself to continue to strive and learn and grow to be the better you that you may not currently be at that moment in time.” As individuals, we can get in our own way and stop ourselves from progressing forward.

Macall’s advice for women interested in the tech world is to just go for it; ask as many questions as possible, and never sell yourself short.

The Women in Technology blog series is coordinated by Customer Experience Innovations project coordinator, Rachel Powers.

Two Datto Tech Support Experts recently headed to SpiceWorld on Behalf of Datto. Steve Lersner and Jeremy Tedesco were selected as part of Datto’s Tech Support MVP program for their outstanding work with partners.

While at the event, Steve and Jeremy had a variety of duties, which included setting up the booth at the event as well as spending the day at the booth and speaking with attendees about the Datto technology.

According to Steve and Jeremy, it was a unique experience speaking with so many end users who were unfamiliar with Datto. “It was a good experience to get our brand out there. We ran them through a lot of the features of the Datto solution,” said Jeremy.

In addition to speaking about the Datto technology, they learned a lot about the attendees and their current backup practices. “It was interesting. I spoke with a lot of people about how they currently take backups who are relying on some outdated practices. They were pretty amazed by the Datto technology and how much time it will likely save them. I was shocked to hear how many people still use tape backup” said Steve.

Steve and Jeremy were joined by members of the Business Development Team, Sales, QA, and Development. This provided a variety of experience and knowledge for them to offer to any event attendees who were looking for more information about Datto.

“Although my voice got pretty worn out, it was fun to interact and talk with the attendees. Especially when we had the chance to give them a run through of the Datto technology,” said Steve.

In this blog series, women at Datto will post stories from their interviews of each other. This week, we hear from Sheila Lahar, Director of Communications and Content, who gives us an in-depth perspective on her colleague, Leanne Cushing, Computer Hardware Engineer.

From testing welding robots for Toyota to creating some seriously nasty battlebots, Leanne Cushing, a hardware design engineer at Datto, likes to roll up her sleeves and build, build, build.

At Datto, Leanne is responsible for designing and customizing the company’s hardware devices, e.g. Datto’s SIRIS and ALTO products. You wouldn’t know it from speaking with her, but this is Leanne’s first foray into hardware product management. Her previous background was in the automotive industry along with stints in robotics and engineering support for things like gas powered turbine engines.  After graduating from the Rochester Institute of Technology, Leanne ventured into the familiar world of cars. She grew up a tinkerer, putting Jeeps back together. An early challenge came from her father regarding a broken Jeep: “if you can fix it, then you can drive it.” Her passion for building was ignited.

After working in the automotive industry post-college, it was time for a change along with a change of scenery. Leanne knew her next move was to the northeast and Boston’s startup culture was calling. In Boston, Leanne worked in robotics for a few years before making the move to Datto where she is single-handedly building a new hardware department for the company.

According to Leanne, “I’ve always been a creator. If something doesn’t work, I learn from it and move on. With my job at Datto, I can iterate fast, constantly trying new things.”

Leanne is used to trying new things. It started when she was a kid playing around on her computer. “As soon as I learned I could set my own personal background on a computer, I was hooked,” said Leanne. Several years ago, Leanne added an intense new hobby to her interests when she got involved in building Battlebots (yup, those crazy awesome robots that fight each other). She actively participates in competitions and was even featured on season two of ABC’s Battlebots.

From her work at Datto to her outside hobbies, one thing remains constant – she’s used to being a minority. According to Leanne: “Since I’ve been involved in technology, I’m frequently judged for being a woman. I’ve had professors tell me I was in the wrong building or even worse, the wrong major.” And it, unfortunately, didn’t end at school as she quickly learned the world of Battlebots is a boy’s club where it’s often assumed she’s someone’s girlfriend instead of a Battlebots competitor when she shows up to an event.

So, what has she learned professionally and personally from these experiences?

Be stubborn when it comes to proving yourself. Whenever Leanne faces a gender barrier, her internal monologue begins with something along the lines of “screw you, I’m now going to do this even better.” Beyond her stubborn nature, Leanne actively tries to mentor women in the field. She’s always straight with them, letting young women know what they’re potentially up against. She also reminds them that when it comes to equality for women in tech – it’s getting better.  

The Women in Technology blog series is coordinated by Customer Experience Innovations project coordinator, Rachel Powers.

Recently, two Tech Support Experts represented Datto at ChannelPro SMB Forum in Boston. Nick Becker and Jeff Henderson were both selected as Tech Support MVPs and were given the opportunity to hit the road and experience another side of Datto.

According to Jeff, it was a good time overall. He and Nick had the chance to work with Christine Gassman from Business Development and Mike McHugh from Sales. While on the trip, they were able to get to know Christine and Mike a little better.

While at the event, Nick and Jeff were responsible for working at the Datto booth and speaking with attendees about Datto including some current Datto partners. “It was interesting to meet some of the partners I had worked with on tickets in the past. It was nice to a put a face to the name,” said Jeff.

Aside from Datto partners, Jeff and Nick also met attendees who were unfamiliar with Datto.

“Speaking with attendees who were unfamiliar with Datto was a unique experience. However, they were really receptive and interested in what we had to offer,” said Nick.

As Jeff and Nick both agreed, it was great to see Datto bring home some awards and get recognition for the hard work the company does every day.

In this blog series, women at Datto will post stories from their interviews of each other. This week, we hear from Stacy Rossetti, Salesforce Administrator, and Dory Viscogliosi, Senior Marketing Operations Manager.

My professional journey has been a great experience and the realization that others are following similar journeys is motivational, to say the least! Like some of us here at Datto, my university studies were not technology focused. However, once in the workforce, I was drawn to databases and development. I’ve always found inspiration in new challenges and consistently strive for new ways to learn.

Things move fast, especially here at Datto. For those who know me, they know I like that pace. As a developer, admin and trainer I get to see my work in action every day. It inspires me to make each day better and help build new Datto horizons. In such fast times, what better way to help others than with a team?

New to our team is Dory Viscogliosi, Senior Marketing Operations Manager. Dory brings the same fast pace to Marketing as I do to Sales. Dory began her career in a small marketing company where under a great mentor, Christina, she learned Marketo and its technical ecosystem.  She was interested in how changing something would affect something else and the patterns you can find in numbers. Now,. numbers are a big part of what she does, and understanding the impact one channel has over the other and its return on investment.

She realized it’s about feeling confident in yourself and being unafraid to venture out, knowing you have to take that first step toward your goal. It’s about learning how to do new things and overcoming any obstacles in your way. With time, your experience and confidence grow and you’re able to make recommendations for new best practices and make an impact.

Dory is bringing that impact to Datto. It’s with great pleasure that I get to work with her and other WIT members, Melissa McPherson & Neha Kamineni in bringing operational excellence with global reach and endless possibilities. Welcome to the team!

The Women in Technology blog series is coordinated by Customer Experience Innovations project coordinator, Rachel Powers.

The worst part about conferences, professional development, or any kind of “training” is when you have to sit through the basics. That foundational knowledge that you learned years ago that someone else just never learned? Training tends to play to the lowest common denominator and it’s a snoozefest if you’re not that person.

That magical session, when everyone is on the same level and knows the terms and theories and counter-theories, is a rare treat. You can imagine the classroom where every person around you has truly valuable insights to share on a level of nuance that makes you think, “These folks get it! This is where I belong!” It’s when you stay after the session to talk to the presenter or trainer and everyone else does too because nobody wants to leave the oasis.

The conversations are too good to stop, so you and the class go to the café together. One person keeps on bringing up an obscure reference that you didn’t know much about and you’re kind of intrigued. You jot down the name- that’s a research item for later. For now, though, you get in line for a sandwich with someone who does the same job as you at an international modeling agency. You quickly learn they faced the same problems you’re facing at work, but they tried a very different strategy than you and it’s been working really well. You get his business card and vow to follow up.

After lunch, you run to another session at Learning 2016 and grab a seat while the presenter is finishing up her introduction. The person next to you leans over, “If they mention applying Kirkpatrick levels for leadership, I’m going to gouge my eyes out.” You instantly like this stranger, not so much because of their inclination towards violence as their assumption that, of course, you know why Kirkpatrick levels are a bad frame for leadership. They assume that the kinds of people at this conference are in the know.

And, of course, the presenter then makes a joke about Kirkpatrick and leadership. Everyone laughs. We all get it.

On October 23 to 26, Datto sponsored me to attend the Eliot Masie Learning 2016 conference in Orlando Florida and this was what it was like. General sessions included celebrity speakers like actor George Takei, astronaut Scott Kelly, and journalist Anderson Cooper. These general sessions also had thought leaders in learning, Broadway performers, and small group activities. Between the general sessions were hundreds of sessions on topics ranging from women in leadership to professional voice acting.

I was part of a prestigious 30 Under 30 program that received additional face time with thought leaders, spoke at two of the 1,600+ attendee general sessions, and facilitated a session (mine was When Gamification Fails). It was a magical experience as my first teaching and development conference, my first Masie conference, and the Disney setting, well, that didn’t hurt either.

Datto invested in me to attend a conference of peers that opened my mind in ways I never predicted. You never know what you don’t know, but when you know it…whoa. The kind of place that lets me have whoa-moments regularly is a great place to one’s life work. If you would like to see some of my whoa, check out the slideshow.

George Rouse, EMEA Web Developer, recently won the DattoByte, an award given to one employee each  month because they go above and beyond in their job, exemplify Datto’s core values, and contribute to the organization and culture. I recently sat down with George to chat about the award. 

Can you start off by explaining a bit about yourself and your role at Datto?

I was originally hired as a Web Developer for Datto EMEA, but we soon realized there were lots of other jobs that I could help with to make life easier for everyone else. So, my role developed, and I’ve been assigned several fun job titles, like “the mad hatter” and “the have-a-go hero”.

What is a typical day like for you?

In one word, “Varied”. However, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Some of my more ‘web developer’ tasks this year include writing code for web pages such as EMEA DattoCon, and redesigning and simplifying the EMEA RTO tool. However, I also cross over to the creative side, working on booth designs for events, the Datto Defender, and a personal high, designing the branding for DattoCon EMEA.

Finally, I also handle Demand Generation here in the UK, where we have recently replicated the US team’s approach. That includes keeping Salesforce healthy and sending out emails through Marketo.

So, I might start my morning talking to the Lead Gen team and tidying up Salesforce, spend a few hours working on graphics for an event, then set up a Flow on Marketo, and maybe finish off by planning some Demand Gen activities.

How did you find out you had won the DattoByte award?

I was notified by email that I had been nominated and that was a shock. I never even thought that I would be nominated! When Austin announced the award at our Town Hall meeting, I went bright red. Everyone in the office was congratulating me, so I actually missed what Austin said, so I had to catch up on HomePool later that evening.

How does it feel to receive a company-wide honor?

It was amazing and a bit overwhelming. I’ve only been here since January, so to be recognized already was an amazing feeling. It makes me want to push forward and give even more back to Datto.

The stage is yours, anything else you would like to add?

Just want to say that although I have been awarded this, most of what I have done is a group effort and there is no way I could have done half of what I do without the amazing team around me. I work with Sarah Roberts the most, and together we make a great team. We bounce a lot of ideas off each other and world really well together. Also, Kerrie Featherstone and Kelly Harris have come up with some amazing ideas for events or overall branding that I have gone on to execute. Without these three my job would be impossible so I would love to say ‘thank you’ to them!

In this blog series, women at Datto will post stories from their interviews of each other. This week, we hear from Stephanie Wheeler, Director of Recruiting, who gives us an in-depth perspective on her colleague, Diana Alicea, Associate HR Specialist, Recruiting Operations .

Diana’s key to success is flexibility. Change is constant, especially in a high-growth technology company like Datto where no two days are ever alike. But that’s why she loves it here.

Diana Alicea is the Associate HR Specialist Recruiting Operations at Datto. She’s essentially the Air Traffic Controller for the recruiting function at Datto. She keeps everything moving forward in the hiring process and is responsible for the entire recruiting operations process from setting up candidates for interviews, to processing their new hire paperwork, to reporting on the back end. Diana works with employees at all levels in the organization and does so with a very positive attitude.

Diana graduated from Bryant University with a BS in Marketing and began her career with Carter’s in HR. She believes the biggest difference from working in a corporate retail industry to the tech industry is the culture. “It’s awesome. There’s food everywhere, video games, events, sports teams, unlimited vacation time and more,” Diana explained. “Datto truly knows how to balance all the hard work with amazing perks and benefits.”

Diana hasn’t looked back since joining Datto. As a female in an environment that is predominantly men, Diana knows you must be confident, assertive and unafraid to have a voice.

Outside of work, she relaxes by taking long hikes with her best four-footed friend, Bentley, a Portuguese water dog. The only additional benefit she wishes Datto offered is bring your dog to work. And who knows, in the future, it may be an added benefit.

The Women in Technology blog series is coordinated by Customer Experience Innovations project coordinator, Rachel Powers.

Recently, Marc Ientilucci, a Datto Tech Support Expert, and Carleen Johnson Technical Support Supervisor, had the opportunity to travel to the ASCII Success Summitt in Newport, Rhode Island on behalf of Datto.

According to Marc and Carleen, the event provided them with a great chance to go out on the road and interact with some Datto partners. This was a good opportunity for them to chat with partners and determine if there were any issues they were facing that could be resolved.

While at the event, Marc and Carleen were a great source of technical knowledge for attendees to learn more about the Datto solution. “It was nice to meet with partners and hear all the great things they had to say about Tech Support and the Datto solution. Also, non-partners showed a lot of interest in Datto and asked a ton of great questions that I was happy to answer,” said Marc.

As Marc and Carleen agreed, one of the highlights of the trip was the chance to work with other members of the Datto team outside of tech support and make some new friends. “Rob’s team is very high energy, focused, and goal driven. Seeing him in action was the best part. He owned each room he stepped in, and it’s clear how admired he is,” Carleen said.  

In this blog series, women at Datto will post stories from their interviews of each other. This week, we hear from Kristen Costagliola, Software Engineer and Michelle McComb, Chief Financial Officer.

As outdoorsy people from the four corner states (Utah and Arizona), it is funny both Michelle and I ended up in our respective careers: accounting and software engineering. But our shared love for problem solving and puzzles help them make sense.  Michelle began her career as a Tax Accountant at Ernst & Young and progressed quickly to the Head of Tax and Treasury at Remedy and then continued to be the CFO at VitalSigns, both software companies located in Silicon Valley.

Prior to Datto, all of these moves were made through recommendations from others and didn’t require a resume, so when Datto was looking for a CFO, she was surprised that the recruiters even found her resume. This was a piece of advice that I have also found crucial for my development: network with all your colleagues regardless of department or gender.  A lot of times women do not invest as much time in networking as we should.  Although networking is incredibly important, Michelle never had what most would consider a formal mentor.  Looking back she would be more conscious of people that she admired and be more thoughtful in asking for help, advice and counsel.  In this area, her suggestions are to look for people that you admire and consider what kind of people you want to attract to you and find a mentor that is like minded and invested in their career.  She suggests to let these relationships develop naturally, it starts by getting to know people as individuals not just as work colleagues.

One of the women that had a lasting impact on Michelle was a woman she met in business development while working in London.  This woman was very classy, well put together and carried herself with poise and confidence which shifted Michelle’s thinking on how you should carry yourself and to look how you want to be perceived….messy or classy?  When applying this to work output, half the battle is how things look; you can’t have spelling errors and expect people to trust your data.

Michelle was not only our first female executive but one of the first executives at Datto outside of Austin and Michael Fass.  She believes that the more diverse an executive team is, the better for the company and our customers.  Women and men do think differently and many times Michelle has approached topics from a different angle and perspective than others on the executive team.

According to Michelle, the most important thing you can do in your career is be yourself. “You have to speak your mind. Women let themselves down when they make themselves less than they are; when they believe their opinion doesn’t count or they don’t think they should be talking about something that isn’t directly their area of responsibility. If I can ask the questions; other employees are probably asking the questions too.“

The Women in Technology blog series is coordinated by Customer Experience Innovations project coordinator, Rachel Powers.

In this blog series, women at Datto will post stories from their interviews of each other. This week, we hear from Julie Almeida, Partner Success Manager, and Dineen Forest, Director of Human Resources.

Datto’s culture is unique featuring a wide range of ages, ethnicities and backgrounds. However, we all have one major attribute in common: passion. The Datto culture allows all employees to feel comfortable and be themselves, so I find they are also happier. Dineen noticed this too, and that’s what brought her here.

Dineen came from the private equity sector prior to Datto. Once Dineen set foot at Datto, she immediately noticed the smiles on everyone’s faces, and knew this was the place to be. “We may be tired on Friday morning from a long week, or stressed from a late night prior, but that doesn’t stop the smiles on the employee’s faces,” she noted, “If you see people miserable all day long, it makes your day miserable because you’re focused on fixing the misery.”

Dineen also wanted to make sure she wasn’t forced into being an HR cop. At Datto, she can focus on all the HR functions that the company requires. Whether it’s helping Recruiting with interviews, onboarding, performance and employee management, or benefits; this shared vision allows her to have honest conversations with employees and work to resolve the situation in the best manner she sees fit.

Since Dineen and I had some of the same reasons for being attracted to Datto, I was curious what advice she had for anyone wanting to work in technology without the existing industry experience. She noted people take their jobs very seriously, but not themselves. This is evident when she describes herself as “the most inappropriate HR person you’ll ever meet.” Throughout her career, she has learned that not being a stone-faced director is one of the best ways to ensure employees can approach her. She is also quick to note that we can stop ourselves from success if we try to be perfect at everything. It’s okay to make mistakes and learn from them, even if we are striving to be the perfect mom or woman.

For Dineen, confidence is a driver that she has every day, and if you’ve met her you would know that she carries it well. According to Dineen, we may subconsciously hold ourselves back without knowing it due to a lack of confidence. She said it is important to have confidence in yourself, and “fake it till you make it;” people will believe in you when you believe in yourself. I can say from first-hand experience, this approach works. When I started at Datto, I didn’t have the prior experience working in a tech firm, but I build on that everyday. My confidence when working with others allowed me to build trust more and more as I worked with them.

Dineen admitted even as she works to be the best she can be at work and home, she still needs the mornings to start on her own time, and her coffee. This allows her to get started for what lies ahead, and sets her up for success.

The Women in Technology blog series is coordinated by Customer Experience Innovations project coordinator, Rachel Powers.

Despite all working in the sales department at Datto, Alexis Granahan, Kellie Luth and Izabel Guerrero each have different paths that led them to their current roles.

Alexis is a Channel Sales Executive, while Kellie and Izabel are both Partner Success Managers. Alexis initially started off at Datto as a Sales Development Rep, Kellie and Izabel both started off with the tech support team.

However, each of them agrees working at Datto is unlike any other company. One of their highlights is the way Datto treats employees and guarantees they have the tools for success.

“1,000 percent, Datto is the most amazing company I have ever worked for. They treat everyone here with so much respect; it is incredible,” Kellie said. “Datto is a fast-growing company, but we have great support and resources to ensure we have everything we need. Especially as a woman, we have great examples in our leadership team such as Michelle McComb and Emily Glass,” Izabel added.

Alexis had a similar response, “Datto has opened the door for me to grow as an employee and enabled me to get to where I am today. Having the support from sales managers and my team members has made such a huge difference in my growth as a Sales Executive. I feel like Datto invests in their employees and sees the potential in everyone.”

For all three of them, working with partners and building the relationship is a major aspect of their job. For Alexis, the focus is on establishing the relationship and nurturing it and ensuring it continues to grow. For Kellie and Izabel, it also involves working with other departments throughout Datto as more of a liaison.

A common answer among each of them was the family atmosphere and great team they are set up within Datto.

“While it sounds cliche, the people make the job special. We spend so much time together during the workweek; we have become like a family and come to know each other well,” said Izabel.

All three had a similar response when asked what their favorite aspect of working at Datto is.

“Besides working with various team members who I have become friends with at Datto, I enjoy working with partners and building up that relationship. Being able to call them and have a conversation is a nice perk of my role. I like when I get the chance to meet them in person because I can put a face to the name and get to know our partners even better,” said Alexis.

Each of these women has enjoyed much success in their career, so they were eager to share their advice for any woman looking to join the tech industry or specifically a company like Datto.

“Be confident in yourself and your skills, but don’t be afraid to seek help when needed.Find a company that not only guides you but challenges you to be the best version of yourself; in doing this you will not only reach your goals but exceed them,” said Alexis.

“Don’t hold back. Don’t let anyone take you away from joining the technology field. There aren’t a lot of females in the field, so it’s important to stick with the tech field if you enjoy it because we need more females in this industry,” said Kellie.

“You don’t have to fall into a career that doesn’t fit your interests. At a company like Datto, there are so many places for people to succeed, whether or not they have a major background in technology. We have such a variety of people and skill sets here, and that’s what make this a unique place to work” said Izabel.

In this blog series, women at Datto will post stories from their interviews of each other. This week, we hear from Chelsea Doherty, Manager of Logistics, and Ashley Mathieu, Partner Accounts Manager.

When asked to interview a female coworker at Datto, the first name that came to mind was Ashley Mathieu. She has worked at Datto for years and has helped our company grow while making impressive personal strides herself. She and I have been working in parallel for years, with two totally different perspectives. She moved from our Sales Team to our Finance Team, and I have worked in our Hardware Operations Department for six years now. We have a solid relationship from having worked together for so long, but I was eager for the opportunity to really pick her brain.

When I started at Datto, I didn’t even know what I was interviewing for. I had been waitressing for years, but I was lucky enough to score an interview for a position in Datto’s RoundTrip department. When I got through the interview, my boss-to-be said to me, “How do you feel about being our Logistics Manager?” I figured, “let’s do it, right?” Ashley’s journey was much different, though. After working with the Sales Team, she noted that Datto could do more to elevate our overall Partner experience. She took the initiative and brought her skills to the table to create a team solely focused on making sure our policy is clear to our Partners, and that their experience with Datto always exceeds expectations.

As a queer woman in a male-dominated industry, I’m pretty much considered “one of the guys” which as any other queer women out there know is a blessing and a curse. We’re just exposed enough to the boy’s clubs, but never really in them. We don’t get harassed much about not being able to do our work because we’re women, but we do get the occasional bigoted or ignorant comment. I wanted to ask Ashley what her experience was in this regard. Did she ever have a hard time getting through certain barriers, being a woman in the IT world? She firmly answered in the negative. She was raised as the oldest of four girls, so women ruled her house and were expected to excel. Ashley always focused on achieving her goals – thinking critically and meeting her requirements for school and work.

Though it seems taboo to ask about family, it’s been on my mind for a while so I ventured to ask Ashley what it was like over the last year-plus starting her family while moving into a new position at Datto where she was taking on added responsibilities including more direct-reports. Being at a stage where I’m planning what my own life will look like throughout the next few years, I had to ask. Ashley couldn’t have been more gracious and answered my question with a few short tips: She waited until she was sure she was ready to expand her family, and then just did it. No floating back and forth. She said she understood why women take offense to the “How do you do it all?” question, asked seemingly to every woman with children and a job, but her advice to me was to figure out how to be okay with not being able to do it all. Her composure and “que sera, sera” mentality as she prepared for leave, I believe, is what helped her team move in quickly and lose no ground with our Partners. As she put it, “I passed a little bit of my skill to my teammates and when I came back, empowered my team to keep some of those tasks. She says that since the team has shifted into being able to take on more, she feels more able to admit when she’s made a mistake and asks for help more often.

A fast-growing company like Datto is constantly changing. You can’t count on today’s rules to apply to tomorrow’s work. Ashley and I both have been involved in the molding of our departments and often changing processes according to what’s around the next bend. There’s always a problem to solve, and that’s exhilarating.

Ashley’s piece of advice? “Don’t be afraid.  Dive on in, ask for what you deserve.” And as a parting gift, she leaves me with this in regards to dealing with coworkers and clients alike, “You may regret things throughout your day or throughout your career, but you will never regret being kind.”

My interview with Ashley was supposed to be for others to read and learn about us, but I learned a lot myself just by speaking with her in this way. I feel lucky to have worked with her for as long as I have and look forward to sneaking some of her practices into my day-to-day life.

The Women in Technology blog series is coordinated by Customer Experience Innovations project coordinator, Rachel Powers.

In this blog series, women at Datto will post stories from their interviews of each other. This week, we hear from Jessica Janiuk, Front End Software Engineer, who gives us an in-depth perspective on her colleague, Ziphorah Kim, Scrum Master.

Ziphorah Kim is lovingly referred to as Zip by the development team. She originally was looking for a career in international development but had a lot of difficulties finding a job out of college. As part of her last year of school, she had taken a one-year program on Information Technology and Policy. When she switched her resume to focus more on IT policy, she immediately found a job. She went from operations to sales engineer, and then to product and project management. It’s a happy accident for her since she never expected to work in technology. Now she loves it.

Zip started shortly after I did. Her role as scrum master has given her a change of pace. Her prior role in project management was in a waterfall environment. When it comes to waterfall, she said,“you don’t know what you’re going to end up with.” With agile, she could see things more immediately within a two or three-week sprint. Her role is more flexible now, with room for opinions and ideas, as well as easily adapting to changing goals. She also loves the personalities she works with. They’re the kind you really only get working in a technology environment.

She’s learned a lot since joining Datto. There are a lot of different personalities involved in building software. Each of those individuals brings their own ideas that everyone can learn from. Navigating that process can be challenging. During scrum ceremonies, everything should be brought up, even if you’re not sure it applies. To her, that’s what’s great about agile and working with a team.

We talked a bit about how there are only three women in the software engineering teams at the Boston office. “You have to speak louder and learn how to cut people off in a nice way; otherwise I’m never going to have a say.” I’ve experienced similar things. She mentioned how we have to be more assertive and be ready to push back. It’s a double-edged sword, because being more assertive can be perceived as “bitchy”. It’s easy to get caught in that catch 22 where we’re either too nice or we’ve got a bad attitude. It’s a delicate balance.

I asked her about her goals, and she talked a lot about wanting to teach. Eventually, she’d love to teach the scrum process, and not just here in Boston. “There are a lot of countries that will benefit from agile; even non-profits can benefit from it,” she said. She really likes technology, though, and loves being around people who see the world differently. She mused about the teams here in Boston, “you guys make me laugh.”

Ziphorah has some great advice for other women in technology. She said we should make sure we take advantage of the many resources for women there are. There are a lot of meetups that focus on women in technology, and they’re great for making connections. People you meet there will help you get where you want to go in the technology industry. We shouldn’t ignore those helping hands.

The Women in Technology blog series is coordinated by Customer Experience Innovations project coordinator, Rachel Powers.