How would you describe your role?
Basically, I’m a jack-of-all-trades. My main role is to get everything set up and deployed for our classes and exercises. So, for example, if we have a mobile training team that’s going out of the country, I get all the equipment ready and ship it out, and make sure it comes back through customs and all that. With our local classes, I make sure that things are all set up for the instructor so that when they get there, there are no issues. They have the drives, their travel routers, the laptops and phones, everything is set up and they’re able to do their job instructing without having to worry about it.
Before that, I worked in Logistics doing shipping, receiving, ordering for everything in the company, inventory management, issuing equipment and getting it back from employees.
What’s your experience at Ridgeline been like so far?
It’s been positive. From the moment I started the recruitment process, I felt wanted. They flew me up from Florida, I had the interview, and I knew 10 minutes after I walked out that I had the job. I don’t think things work that way anymore since we’ve got a more mature hiring process, but it felt great to know that they wanted my skill set. Every supervisor I’ve had here has listened to what I had to say. Sometimes they were terrible ideas, but they trust me and give me the freedom to try things out.
How would you describe your team?
My team generally has a lot to do, but we have a solid culture, we joke around, and we get it done. We know we’re valued and it’s important to us to get everything done as quickly and timely as we can.
What part of Ridgeline’s mission do you connect with?
I’ve always been a customer service partner. That’s pretty much what my career is. In the military, I was in the motor pools, helping out the mechanics get their stuff done. So, it’s the customer-focused part that I connect with the most. Being able to support our customers by making sure they have what they need for their classes, it motivates me.
How have you grown professionally at Ridgeline?
Ridgeline has challenged me more than I’ve ever been challenged in pretty much every other job. In most other places, I usually worked on one specific thing. Here, I’ve been part of building a logistics department for a growing company – one that grew really, really fast. So, things were thrown our way that we never would have done except five years down the road at another company. You have to be challenged to grow, and I have the freedom to try things out, make mistakes, but then ask, “How can we do better?” “What did I learn from this?” And that’s how I’ve improved.
What’s been your biggest accomplishment so far?
I can’t say it’s anything specific, but I’m proud of the way our processes in general go and in making Jira work for us. Before we had it, things were a little bit chaotic and things got missed, but we made changes and created a whole new system for how the company as a whole orders things and how we process those orders. It’s smoother, it’s easier, and there’s no waste of resources. That’s probably what I’d say is my biggest accomplishment.
What resources have you taken advantage of?
I’ve definitely taken advantage of both the clothing and hobby allowance. It’s a unique thing that I don’t think I’ve ever had in another company. It’s nice that they encourage you not only to look better, but to be better by trying a new hobby or looking for educational classes. But other things, like the Convergence at the Renaissance Fair and the Family Day that’s coming up – I’m trying to go to that. In my role, you’re not always out meeting your fellow employees, so getting to hang out and get to know them a little better, that’s been a great part of our culture.
What is unique about Ridgeline?
Honestly, I think a lot of it is just how our founders and the CEO, Erik, are around and we talk to them on a daily basis. There have been other companies I’ve been at where I never saw the president, never interacted with a founder – they didn’t even know my name. Here, you say hi in the hallway, and they ask “How’s the job switch going?” or “What are you doing up here?” That last one is a joke, but we’ve got a good back and forth.