I'm Glen Eccles,
a software developer
and enthusiast of all
technology, based
in the Spokane area.
About Me
I graduated from Colorado State University having majored in Computer Science and minored in Mathematics. I have a variety of experience in the software industry over the past couple of decades, including at a help desk, client onboarding, quality assurance, software developer, and managing teams.
Howdy!!
Software Development is where my heart lies. I have delved deeply into databases (mostly SQL). My software knowledge has been hardened via creating websites and REST APIs for work and in my personal life. I have used .NET, scripting languages, and 3rd party automation tools extensively to make my life (and the lives of those around me) easier. I am a huge proponent of a development cycle using Agile or a combination of Agile and Waterfall (go Scrum!).
Outside of the office, I collect Magic: the Gathering cards and I enjoy music. My favorite music experience was to attend Summer Breeze in Germany in 2014. I also love cooking (and especially eating) new foods. You can also find me in the garden cultivating herbs or superhot peppers. Here is a link to my homemade cookbook I keep just for fun.
I am constantly keeping up with the latest code trends and best practices, learning new languages, and trying new deployment techniques. Coding is a passion of mine and you will often find me setting up smart home automation, 3D printing, and playing with my Raspberry Pi.
Skills
Work Experience
June 2022 - Present
Flash Parking
Director of Enterprise Support
- Manage the consumer support team of 30 members, handling over 500 support cases per day via phone, email, chat, and SMS. Improved efficiency by introducing a chat bot, IVR workflow for the call tree, diving into all team SOPs, and adding many automations.
- Manage the teams involved with creating and maintaining internal tools, scripts, websites, and automations. This varied from three to five teams as some teams were merged during my tenure to improve efficiency.
- Work closely with the product, development, support, and implementation teams to improve efficiencies and play a key role in allowing the business to scale quickly.
- Develop and deploy fixes to existing websites, services, and APIs which allows the development team to focus on new products/features.
- Write SQL queries and Looker reports for customers and internal use. Provide guidance to the data warehouse team about how to ingest the data controlled by our sector.
- Key owner and coordinator for onboarding all teams (over 20 teams and 300+ users) with Freshdesk. Advise the business on operational best practices. This includes which software to use to manage our internal operations as well as the structure of the team.
June 2020 - June 2022
Flash Parking (previously OmniPark)
Support Engineer
- Assisted customers in troubleshooting problems. Diagnosed issues with software installation/use, identified sources of the problem, and offered solutions.
- Involved in the creation of new software and worked closely with development teams to identify and resolve potential issues. Analyzed all aspects of the software and made suggestions throughout the development phase to help avoid issues in the final product.
- Developed and deployed fixes to existing websites, services, and APIs.
- Wrote SQL queries to build reports for customers and for internal use.
- Created customer-facing documentation of product behavior and use, as well as internal documentation for implementation and support technicians to troubleshoot and resolve issues.
- Built from scratch and maintained an internal administration tool (website), used internally to assist with onboarding new clients, managing data for existing ones, and assisting our billing department with audits.
August 2018 - June 2020
Geek Squad
Advanced Repair Agent
- Provided end-users with troubleshooting, repair, and support services within Windows and Mac environments.
- Installed, managed, and updated operating systems, and their supported applications. Restored and reimaged operating systems and ensured a clean file system exists, to make for safe web browsing and general use.
- Assembled, maintained, and repaired system hardware.
- Engaged with team members to ensure that every client issue was resolved in a timely manner with the utmost accuracy to meet their definition of "fixed".
- Provided support for a range of electronic devices including, but not limited to, computers, cell phones, tablets, televisions, home audio, and accessories.
- Provided knowledge and conflict resolution skills to ensure every client was educated and confident while using their devices.
- Performed software and hardware diagnostics and navigated requested and recommended repairs in a timely fashion.
- Utilized deep knowledge of data backup and retention strategies.
March 2015 - August 2017
Brandwise
Software Developer
- Coded an API for credit card tokenization to integrate a sales software website, PC program, and iOS application with a way to securely accept information and be PCI compliant.
- Converted a Microsoft Access SQL reporting application to WPF, including the API to the SQL database and the WPF UI. Assisted in all design meetings for the project from the ground up. Created the UI with multiple ComponentOne tabs, grids, and other elements to define a customized sales report. Applied my previous experience to be the main tester for the integration between the UI and the API, as well as report layout and data integrity.
- Updated the installer for the PC application using InstallShield. Removed unnecessary steps to make the process more comfortable and painless. This would install the necessary SQL SMO components, create initial database DML, update required 3rd party tools, install the base software package, and complete the initial data sync to get the client up and running as smoothly as possible.
- Enhanced an ecommerce website UI using CSS and Bootstrap to add a look and feel to match the scheme of the software package. Added and removed columns in the order history grid to display more pertinent information.
- Participated in code/peer reviews to validate that the code adhered to best practices and was functionally sound.
- When bugs were identified, stepped through the entire code stack to find, and potentially fix them. When a bug needed further investigation or design, documented it in TFS for discussion with the team in a future status meeting.
August 2008 - March 2015
Brandwise
Software Quality Assurance
- Provided black box testing for websites, APIs, PC, Pocket PC, and iOS applications. This included all internal and external tools across the company. Documented any bugs found using TFS to aid developers.
- Added unit and integrated tests to new and existing projects using NUnit and Moq to ensure tweaks did not break functionality of existing, working code.
- Implemented a gated release process through Microsoft Release Management. This included releases to the Development environment, triggered on code check-in, and a separate release approval for the Staging and Production environments.
- Acted as a final tier of technical support before documenting and escalating any bugs to the Development team, relaying information from ZenDesk to either TFS or Jira.
- Created a plan for documenting test cases using Microsoft Test Manager which had a hierarchical tree to organize platforms, templates for different levels of test depth (high level, UI, deep dive, etc.), and examples using sample data sets.
- Managed other team members, training them in advanced troubleshooting and how to properly document bugs in Microsoft Test Manager.
- Controlled a bank of virtual machines for testing various Windows platforms and hardware configurations, to ensure clients had the best experience possible, as well as determine benchmarks for minimum requirements.
- In triage meetings, provided knowledge on the testing effort involved, to determine the most effective path for resolving, testing, and implementing a solution.
August 2006 - August 2008
Brandwise
Support Technician and Implementation Specialist
- Trained and set up new groups of clients to configure and use the entire software suite. Training was conducted by phone and video, or on-site for hands-on instruction.
- Migrated client data from other systems to a compatible format using in-house tools built with Access.
- Created web-based training videos for clients so they would not be as reliant on Tech Support.
- Assisted clients by phone and using remote access when they experienced problems with network access, printers and barcode scanners. Gave training on PC/iOS applications, websites, and reporting tools.
- Trained new employees on troubleshooting techniques and how to use issue management software to document incidents.
- Updated unclear or outdated troubleshooting documentation in Confluence.
- Delved further into client problems and bugs by querying their SQL databases and correcting data when necessary to solve the problem at hand.
- Documented client information and problems/resolutions using Microsoft CRM and ZenDesk.
Say Hello
Learn more or simply say hi!