Employee Spotlight: Maria—Technical Support Rockstar

We are going to start this month with something new for us, and we hope that you would enjoy it as much as we do. During our voyage far and wide – we’ve met and gоt to know so many of you amazing people, which we call our fantastic community! This inspired us to share with you a bit more about ourselves and the actual people behind the name, and we hope you would enjoy getting to know us slightly more.

For those of you that might not know us, here at FastComet, we always believed that providing you with the best possible performance and features are our №1 priority. However, we all can agree that even the best technology is nothing when there aren’t great people to back it up. And this for us is what really matters the most. We believe that our most significant resource is not the hardware but our hardworking team! Well, most of you know that for a fact, if you have ever got in touch with us – you know that we all love to get to know the people we interact with, and your project ideas, personalities, and different aspects of your lives. This is why we have always aimed to grow a knowledgeable, attentive team, and most importantly, with an ongoing personality. And because we like everyone so much, we would love to introduce our team members to you so that you can get to know them a little better!  

Today we are going to start with one of our Technical Support Specialists – Maria Zlatilova. Most of you might have already had the pleasure of communicating with her when you needed help with your website. However, not that many of you might know that Maria began her journey with FastComet just last year in October, as one of the Tech team trainees, and quickly excelled at it. So without further ado, let us get things started and give her the stage (in a way).

First thing first, can you introduce yourself and share how you decided to join the team? 

My name is Maria, and if I could describe myself in a few words, I would like to think of myself as an artist, adventurer, and maybe a tinkerer? Yes, such also exist in our area of expertise. And I add myself to this list – that sounds quite a lot like me. As far as how did I decide to join the team – this one is easy. My previous job was to stay at the office and do nothing. I was always fascinated with technology and wanted to expand my knowledge when dealing with more complex systems. This is when one day, I saw a job posting and decided to give my hobby a chance, and I applied for the position in FastComet. Because it was something completely different from my previous jobs, I was so nervous before the interview, and I honestly can’t recall how that went down. However, during the interview, it almost felt like home. Not to speak that, I was promised never to be bored at work and always have something new to learn. And here I am, after almost one year – I am now sure that there will always be something new to learn, and I have never been bored at work. Love it!

What keeps you inspired? What does a typical day in your life look like? How do you keep yourself productive?  

Challenges keep me motivated! Well, at least when I am able to handle the situation ?. What keeps me productive at work are my colleagues who would always have my back (even when I have no idea what is going on) and the fact that at the end of the day, I have helped people by resolving the issues with their precious websites. A typical day at the office, and even now when we are working from home, would always start with a nice cup of coffee and end up with a nice walk with or without a dog and some friends and colleagues. These are the things that keep me going and always motivated to be there for our users. 

What’s one thing people would be surprised to learn about you? 

Hmm, this one is actually quite easy, as most people are quite amazed when they hear about my typical day-off. I always try to arrange it more like an adventure – I do rock climbing, and most people are quite frankly amazed to hear that. I usually pack my backpack, rush to the mountains for some rock climbing, snowboarding, or only a hike with my friends, always when the opportunity presents itself. There, we either laugh our heads off or chicken out and head to the hut or the campfire. Еither one is great – at the end of the day we always end up with drinks in our hands and hearts full of happiness. That’s because we have made it to the top, or at least we have another heroic story about how we survived.

Other than that, I am a very open person, and there are not a lot of things people don’t know about me. Still, something else that might surprise many is when they get to know that I do have a more artistic side that I keep to myself. Whenever I have spare time or the weather is terrible, I try to paint my ideas on a blank canvas. It helps me quite a lot to relax and ensures that my trusty doggo – Brody, would have the perfect opportunity to distract me!

Having so many different hobbies is quite amazing; however, it makes us wonder if there is anyone you consider your role model or mentor? And, if you could choose anyone who would you pick?

That is a hard one! I believe that at different points of your life, you would need different mentors. On the other hand, at work, I would not choose one but trust all of my colleagues with more experience. They are all entirely opened and always willing to share their knowledge with our users and me. This helps me grow professionally, and this is frankly amazing! 

What aspect of your role here at FastComet do you enjoy the most, and what’s the one tool that you think is most helpful for clients?

I love it when I can find the resolution of a complicated issue. As far as the most helpful tool – that hands down would be the JetBackup feature; it always saves the day. I’ve been in countless situations myself where the backups came to the rescue and saved my projects when needed. Knowing that you do have backups alone should give you the confidence to experiment. 

Speaking of experimenting, what piece of advice would you give to people starting a website right now? Is there anything you would like to say to our Clients in general? 

Yes, sometimes you need to try several things before you hit on a business idea or website that works for you. What works for some may not be right for you. The key is to leverage what makes you unique, and then you absolutely will find your secret sauce! Never hesitate to try a new thing. Just don’t forget that even if something goes wrong, we have you covered. Just, I would love to add something here, which I’ve always wanted to say – I know that when something goes wrong, you are worried about the issue you have faced with the website or the server itself.

Thus, for us to be able to help you out as fast as possible – please help us by providing as much information as possible. Even if you don’t know what exactly is happening, just try to explain things with your own words and attach pictures of the experienced inconvenience – so that we can try to recreate what is going on, and get everything sorted out. We are all humans, and sometimes we need just a tad bit more information so that we can do our best to assist you. 

Final Thoughts

We applaud the determination and effort Maria demonstrated during this year, and we all look forward to seeing all of the great things we know you will accomplish in the coming years! We would love to hear what you think, and want us to improve when doing those interviews! We hope you enjoyed it, as much as we did!