In every Meet the Bees blog post, you’ll learn more about a different CloudBees Bee. Let’s meet Amanda!
Who are you? What is your role at CloudBees?
I’m Amanda DeLuise and I’m a Customer Success Manager here at CloudBees. I’m primarily responsible for managing our customer’s success! And less literally, CSMs are communication experts and project managers. We coordinate CloudBees resources to ensure our customers are meeting their business and technical goals. Whether it’s escalating a support ticket, contacting the Account Executive about purchasing extra entitlements, or setting up a customer with a Professional Services engagement, our goal is to maximize the value of the customer’s subscription.
In addition to my CSM duties, I’ve also taken to planning and running Jenkins Area Meetups (JAMs) around the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill).
When I’m not at work, I keep pretty busy. I work with a few local social justice organizations on the evenings and on weekends, and recently joined a comedy writing workshop. I’m sure my coworkers can attest to my hilarity (just kidding, I’m pretty quiet and I’m sure most people have never heard me speak aloud). I also have two cats (Lemon and Basil), so taking pictures of them takes up a decent chunk of my free time.
What does a typical day look like for you? What are CloudBees customers like?
A typical day starts with coffee. We have a lot of coffee connoisseurs in the Raleigh office, so someone is always grinding fresh beans and brewing something delicious. It’s honestly the best office coffee I’ve ever had.
When decently caffeinated, I go through my emails. I have meticulously filtered and color coded labels so it’s easy for me to determine what needs my immediate attention each morning. I start with direct emails from customers, move onto tickets that need my feedback, check to see if I have any meeting invites for the day. If it’s a relatively slow call day, I reach out to customers to see if we can get something on the calendar for a check-in call. It’s important to stay on top of the goals my customers have for each quarter, how close they are to achieving them, and how we can help them.
Lastly, I’m most likely always creating or updating a spreadsheet at some point in the day. Staying organized is super important when you’re handling 30+ unique accounts. I want to make sure I always know what my customers are doing, what they’re thinking about doing, and what features or plugins are important to them.
Do you have any advice for someone starting a career in the CI/CD/DevOps/Jenkins space?
Be patient! There are literally thousands of ways to use Jenkins, and learning about CI/CD was a bit like drinking out of a fire hose when I first started. But a little patience and a lot of Knowledgebase articles go a long way. And when you do make a mistake (which will be inevitable), look for the lessons in it.
Similarly, ask a lot of questions. Not only are people willing to help, but I’ve found they love talking about projects they’re working on or tips and tricks. It’s much easier to digest all of the information when you add a human element to it. Jenkins is more than just code running on a server somewhere out in the ocean, Jenkins is a community.
What has been the best thing you have worked on since joining CloudBees?
It’s been awesome getting to work with the marketing team organizing the JAMs. As you may have guessed from my mention of meticulously filtered labels and spreadsheets, I love organizing. I’m also a people person, so it’s been wonderful meeting local Jenkins users and customers face-to-face instead of over the phone or through email.
What is your favorite form of social media and why?
Vine (RIP)! I could watch Vine compilations for hours. It’s a mark of comedic genius to be able to make people laugh in a 6 second video.
Favorite TV show character - why is this character your favorite?
It’s a tie between Olivia Benson from Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, Annalise Keating from How to Get Away with Murder, and Linda Belcher from Bob’s Burgers. I have a thing for well-written, multi-dimensional women characters!