Transcript
Paid Media Manager here at AutoMox, and welcome back to your newest episode of IT Insiders, AutoMox's podcast that introduces you to the people behind the product. This month, we are chatting with Katie Blakeman, our Director of CX Operations and Enablement. Thanks for joining us, Katie. Thanks for having me today. Yeah, excited to chat through your career and kind of where you started, and now you're here at AutoMox. And it's interesting, you had kind of an unconventional entrance into the tech world. So you were an educator before you came to AutoMox. So talk to me a little bit more about that. Yeah, I would say I'm probably one of the only ones at AutoMox who came from elementary education. And I was in elementary education for just over two decades as a elementary school teacher, as a trainer of teachers, and then a literacy specialist, so literacy coach. All that to say, I've been like a lifelong educator. And before COVID hit, I was just looking into ways to kind of stay busy in the summer because my children were getting older. And a friend of mine introduced me to AutoMox, and there was an opportunity for an internship. And after speaking with the head of customer experience at AutoMox at that time, we kind of decided that my skills matched what she was looking for. And so while it sounds like there isn't like a direct line from education over to technology, there actually really is definitely on the post-sale side. When you think about, you know, as a teacher, your students are your customers kind of similar to the post-sale side of the house. Your curriculum is the product. And the way you get there is, you know, and either in a one-to-many fashion with some adjustments along the way. And so all of that transfers really nicely to how you satisfy and meet the needs of your customers. Yeah, no, that 100% makes sense. I mean, I think, you know, anytime I've used a new product over here at AutoMox or in any of my past roles, you know, there is education that's involved in learning how to use it. So I think that totally makes sense. What else about your prior education experience prepared you for the role that you're in today, whether that was starting at AutoMox or I know you've had some career growth here as well. So interested to hear about that overlap. Yeah, I'd say one of the things that, you know, just from teaching, any teacher you speak to is probably juggling 15 different things at the same time, right? Like classroom management, some interventions, some incentives, some instruction, all of those things are kind of going in tandem at the same time. So the ability to multitask, which is something that I think is something that is natural to me. And so moving into this operational role that I'm in now is very much juggling lots of different projects at the same time and making sure they're all kind of meeting the timelines that we have set and getting what I need from others that are part of the project. So I'd say that piece of it. And then obviously I also have customer education under me. And so the idea of customers and internally, but mainly customers being able to self-serve and get what they need on their own when they need it in an on-demand format is what our university is for. And so all those courses are built to get people up and running without even having to talk to somebody at AutoMox. And they're done in a way to keep people engaged. So really short to the point courses that provide a good use case. So all of that, along with the digital customer segment, which is how we are engaging with the vast majority of our customers is a very programmatic approach, one to many formats. So think about webinars, workshops, office hours, things like that. So all of that, everything that I did in teaching very much transfers to what I'm doing now, just maybe with a different label and a different look, but the intention is the same. Yeah, absolutely. And highly encourage anyone who is in the IT space and maybe interested in AutoMox if you're not using it. And also if you're a customer, obviously AutoMox University is amazing. I'm so impressed with all the work you and your team have done. And I recently completed some of our certifications. And yeah, I mean, I feel much more confident about my understanding of the product. And that's coming from me, a marketer who has, like enough tech understanding to hit the buzzwords and kind of get myself in trouble when talking to IT people. So yeah. Well, I'm glad, yes, I did see that you completed your certificate. So congratulations. Thank you. Yeah. Okay, we'll get to these. I'm actually gonna chat through these other like sort of career focus questions and then we'll chat through one more fun one as we wrap up here. But what would you say is the most important lesson you've learned throughout your career, both as an educator and here in the tech SaaS space? Don't be afraid of the unknown and don't put yourself in a box. I think, especially with the focus on AI and what's happening with AI, I think as humans keeping our jobs, we always need to be able to reinvent ourselves and learn new skills and apply those skills and be willing and open to try new things. And that's something that I think, especially some of these industries that feel like they are lifetime commitments. So teaching is one, like stepping out of that space and learning how to take those skills and apply them elsewhere is just very flexible. It's a flexible life skill and it's important. So I would say not putting yourself in a box, challenging yourself, that's I'm always a big fan of kind of moving outside of your comfort zone and moving from elementary education to cybersecurity was like a leap out of my comfort zone for sure. But it's only given me much more confidence in what I'm doing now and the ability to do what I'm doing now. And so everybody should be looking to challenge themselves in one way or another. Yeah, I love that. Absolutely agree. I mean, it's, you never know until you try. So, and okay, so kind of expanding on that, if you had a piece of advice for someone that's interested in pursuing like your current career path, whether they are coming out of school or they're like you and they're looking to just kind of like adapt and make a change, what would you tell them? Lean in, like dig into whatever you are interested in. It's never too late to make a career change. It's never too late to kind of jump into the deep end. But I think it's the responsibilities on ourselves to learn how to do that thing. We can't expect somebody else to just, you know, spoon feed it to us. So all the courses that you mentioned taking like whatever you are interested in, dig in by taking courses, by, you know, the YouTube channel of that company, just consuming, like consume all that you can and then run with it because the answers are out there. You just need to find them. Yeah, absolutely. And I think I'm definitely someone who's an advocate of lifelong learning everywhere, but, you know, especially in your career, like you said, it kind of goes with that adaptability and not putting yourself in a box. And then it's like, you don't really get tired or bored of your job because you're learning something new, right? Yeah. If you are challenging yourself, you shouldn't be bored. Yeah, right. Yeah, it's because it's never like the same, you know, every single day, there's always something that's gonna be a little bit different. Yeah, 100% agree with that. Okay, well, let's wrap up with some more fun questions and content. So what do you like to do, you know, outside of your career, outside of our virtual office here at Automox, what do you get up to? So I live in the mountains, or I live in Colorado where mountains are nearby. And so I have a family of five, a husband and three kids. So skiing in the winter for sure, getting out on trails in the summer and spring, riding my bike. So just sort of being outside in nice weather because we are fortunate to have nice weather and great landscape. So that's where you usually will find me or visiting my daughter in college, checking out my youngest soccer games on the sidelines. So outside somewhere. Love it, yeah. I think that's a common theme. I mean, you know, there's, we're spread out all across the country at Automox, but I think we all kind of enjoy being outside. So I love that. Definitely, yeah. All right, I've got two fun little trivia questions for you that are kind of like fun facts about things related to education. So I'm curious to see if you'll get these right. Obviously no pressure just for fun, but okay. So my first question is a pencil can draw a line that is 50, 35, or a hundred miles long. Like if you were to just take the pencil and just keep drawing until it ran out. I guess the hundred miles. It's 35. I wish it was that long. Meaning one, because the lead will last that long? Yeah, yeah. I know, right? Isn't that, I thought that was crazy. That is an interesting fact. Yeah, not really something. I was thinking it was a trick question. I'm like, but I don't know what the trick answer would be. Okay, and then a second and last question, which I also thought this one was interesting is what country has the largest school in the world? And your options are China, India, or the United States? India? Yeah, they have 32,000 students at one school, which is, yeah, I'm sure it's- What city? What city do you know? I don't know. I know it's a Montessori type school, but yeah. 32,000, that is the size of a universe. That's the size of CU, University of Colorado. Okay, wow. Crazy, I know. You would not catch me teaching there. Yeah, I'm sure the logistics are quite complicated there. So- I would imagine so. All right, well, Katie, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate all your insights on career adaptability and just how education translates to tech. Thanks for having me today. All right, thanks everyone for joining us and remember to follow us on YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and stay tuned for new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. We'll see you soon. Bye-bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.
