Richard Noble

Engineer on the Connectors service team looking after all aspects of CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code, Containerization and Automation

Smartsheet (NYSE:SMAR) is the enterprise platform that aligns people and technology so your entire business can move faster, drive innovation, and achieve more. An extensible platform backed by enterprise-grade security, Smartsheet is used by more than 75% of the companies in the Fortune 500 to implement, manage, and automate processes across a broad array of departments and use cases.

Driving a cloud-first strategy by taking charge of the AWS cloud environment hosting 37 corporate and branded websites. Pushing for more optimisations to improve efficiency and reliability in the short term (utilizing AWS Services including, EC2, RDS, S3, CloudFront, EBS/EFS) and in the medium to longer term moving to a standardized architecture to support both the public-facing corporate and branded websites as well as the up-and-coming e-commerce platform utilizing containerization and Kubernetes.

Working as part of the Global Infrastructure Operations team I was responsible for looking after the physical and virtual infrastructure in 27 global locations. This includes, but is not limited to Windows and Linux server administration, AWS Management, Virtualization and Hyperconverged Management (VMware ESXi, Nutanix), Office365 Admin, Network Management (Cisco Catalyst/ Cisco ASA/ SonicWall).

Part of the Operations team working in a DevOps environment responsible for maintaining over 500 physical and virtual servers in five locations across the UK and Europe. I was responsible for building releases in Git and deploying them using Puppet, as well as maintaining the internal GitLab environment. I also designed and initiated the move of the corporate website off ageing internal infrastructure and onto a resilient platform using multiple AWS services (EC2, S3, RDS and EBS/EFS).

Other duties included, but were not limited to Linux and Windows server administration (Active Directory, DNS, Group Policy Management), Virtualization Management (VMware ESXi, vCloud), Maintaining backups (Avamar & CommVault), Patch Management, Release Management of updates to AnalytiXagility using Puppet, Artifactory and TeamCity, SAN Management (Dell EqualLogic, EMC VNX, EMC Isilon) and Network management (FortiNet, Checkpoint, Dell, Cisco, HPE). I also acted as an escalation point for the Support and Service Desk engineers and maintained the company’s WinTel network.

I worked on a 24x7 basis as part of the VIP Support team. This involved exposure to a large number of technologies due to the variety and complexity of iomart’s customer base. I provided support to the clients based on their needs and requirements. This included providing support for the following, but not limited to, Cisco, Sonicwall and Juniper firewalls, VMware, Windows & Linux server administration, Exchange and VDI support, Avamar, Veeam and Backup Exec backup management, Web and Email server management. The role also included working out of the Glasgow data centre, managing hardware, racking and de-provisioning servers, cable runs, rack audits and PDU installation and configuration.

Working as a senior member of the server support team. Providing exceptional support to both our virtual and dedicated server customers, ensuring we meet the required SLA’s. This involves investigating and troubleshooting issues that our server customers may have and assisting them in resolving these issues, we also have a select number of managed customers that we provide an enhanced level of support for.

I progressed to the position of 2nd line support, providing support to customers and dealing with escalated tickets from 1st line. Assisting with the administration of the shared hosting and virtual server environments as well as dealing with server builds & migrations, abuse complaints and my position at the moment is to share my knowledge with 1st line to help further develop their skills, enabling them to further develop within the roll and provide excellent support to our customers ensuring the have a great support experience.

Starting out in 1st Line Technical Support, providing support both over the telephone and via the online helpdesk. Supporting both shared hosting and virtual/dedicated server customers. Providing a variety of support and troubleshooting for both setup and issues relating to email, DNS, shared hosting, Linux virtual and dedicated servers.

Working on a day to day basis to provide exceptional customer service to customers while actively identifying new products or services that may enhance the customers banking experience. Solving customer queries and deciding on the best course off action to take. Working as part off a team and on an individual basis to achieve set sales targets, goals and objectives set by management on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Participating in regular team meetings and one to ones with team leader to further develop my skills and assess my performance.

I worked in the resorts of Benidorm and Mallorca providing an in resort customer service on a day to day basis as well as carrying out regular airport duties and coach transfers. My duties included actively making sure customers were having the best holiday possible by promoting the in resort service and activities, enhancing customers experience through the selling off in resort excursions. Working to achieve a weekly sales target and strict deadlines every week to make sure paperwork was up to date and handed in on time. Pro-actively seeking customer feedback and pre-empting potential problems and complaints at every opportunity, handling customer complaints in a timely and professional manner. Ensuring I was fully compliant with company procedures and completing regular health and safety checks in my allocated properties.