Training classes have become somewhat less frequent in recent months, as hiring has slowed down for new members of the Support team. I had the pleasure of spending three weeks with two new hires and wanted to share some anecdotal insights and observations. Before I do, I’d like to provide some context on how the training landscape has shifted over time.
When I was hired and went through training, the model we used for our Support team was a bit different than it is today. I was hired as a Junior Support Specialist and didn’t have a background in Linux or cloud computing. The team was looking for people with particular soft skills and relevant background experience, and was willing to teach the technical aspects. This resulted in a very thorough—but lengthy—training process. In retrospect, it was somewhat akin to the training that new secret agents receive in spy movies. You know, where they kidnap them, lock them in a room, and deprive them of sleep, food, water, and their sanity? When they’re done being tortured and their body and mind reset, they can begin to learn again. Only this time, they learn the right way.
Perhaps it wasn’t quite like that. In fact, everyone was genuinely welcoming and patient. They took the time to impart the “whys” behind the “whats” and helped reshape one’s approach to problem-solving and customer interactions.
Applying these newly learned skills over the next couple of years deepened my appreciation for the extensive training I received. In retrospect, the environment created by having an entire team trained in the same way produced a unique dynamic. When someone on the team needed help or had a question, they weren’t simply handed an answer. Instead, they were supported in a way that reinforced our learned behaviors: checking all resources, thinking analytically, asking good questions, and communicating clearly. It was also refreshing that this support came without judgment. Asking a poorly worded question or overlooking a resource didn’t lead to contempt from others.
With more recent hires, the focus has shifted somewhat toward candidates with more direct experience and stronger technical backgrounds. This isn’t because the old model wasn’t working—rather, the business needs have evolved to accommodate more enterprise-level clients. Because of this shift, I find the new training dynamics quite interesting. For example, we might have a new hire come in who can confidently speak about advanced setups like Kubernetes clusters or managed database services. That same person might, however, struggle to weigh all the relevant factors when deciding whether to grant a customer a payment extension.
In my experience, technical ability and interpersonal skill aren’t mutually exclusive. That said, I’ve observed that most individuals tend to lean more strongly in one direction. Those who quickly grasp new and changing technical concepts often need to put in extra effort when it comes to communicating empathy or aligning with the customer. They may also struggle to objectively evaluate the effort they invest in a customer compared to how they approach solving the problem. On the other hand, someone who’s highly attuned to the nuances of a customer request and adept at seeing things from their perspective may shy away from jumping into incident-level outages and coordinating between engineers and managers.
Do these observations suggest that one type is more valuable than the other? No—in fact, I’d argue that both personality types are essential in a Support team environment, especially when collaboration is encouraged. In isolation, someone who leans too far in one direction may feel underserved in their role and may underperform by failing to both leverage their strengths and collaborate with others to compensate for their weaknesses.
I’ve always believed you can’t train someone into a particular personality type. You can’t truly “give” someone a soft skill they don’t already possess. However, you absolutely can build upon those skills if they exist within the individual. A talented trainer can uncover and identify these traits in their trainees and tailor their training approach accordingly. Broad approaches to training—such as pre-recorded video lessons—have their place, but that place is not in skills-based training.
You can ensure someone internalizes the intended way to perform a task by assigning work, evaluating their progress, and offering feedback. Strong foundational training is a great way to lock in good behaviors early on and support employees in developing healthily within their roles.