Talk us through an average day in your role.
An exciting thing about this role is that every day is different. One day might be focused on getting new workflows launched for a customer, another on building strategic initiatives with our partners. We all work collaboratively across projects, so every day I try to look for where I can make the biggest impact and focus on that.
How did you get started in the media industry?
I initially wanted to be on the creative side and went to film school to study screenwriting. While there, I learned how TV and films are made and found myself drawn to the technology behind those processes. I also learned that it is very hard to make a living screenwriting.
What training did you have before entering the industry?
In college, I studied production and post production, and learned non-linear editing on industry standard tools like Avid and Adobe. However, a lot of my training has been on-the-job. One of my first roles was doing QC for content in preparation for broadcast. It surprises me how often things I learned then are useful in my day-to-day life now. I also discovered how the cloud can be applied to media workflows during my time in operations at A+E Networks, which eventually led me to working at Amazon Web Services. Overall, I would say the things I learned (and continue to learn) on-the-job are even more important than the training I had before.
Why do you enjoy working in the industry?
I love that this industry is always being challenged to adopt the next wave of technology. I started out working in a videotape library when the shift from SD to HD was happening. Then came the tape-to-digital transformation. And after that, the on-premises to cloud movement. All those shifts happened for good reasons, and living through them taught me to pay attention to industry-wide challenges and what solutions address them.
What piece of advice would you offer someone looking to explore a role similar to yours?
My biggest piece of advice in general is to embrace change; whether it be changes in technology, in processes, or just in life. There will always be people who are resistant to things that are new or different. Try to be the person who is excited by change and uses it as an opportunity to learn and grow.
