A huge congratulations to Alex Pitchford who recently celebrated his 10-year Long Service milestone.
We caught up with Alex to find out more about his time at OGL so far:
"Blinked, and 10 years have gone... Must have been stuck in an infinite loop! (Terrible software joke).
I joined OGL Software straight after graduating from the University of Worcester in 2014. Initially, I applied for a position in the original OGL Computer technical department, but due to my background in web development, I was considered a better fit for the Web Services team - a department I wasn't aware existed at the time. After a series of interviews with Dario Brenni (I still remember wearing his signature purple shirt), I was offered the role of Junior Web Support Analyst, and the rest is history.
At the start, I worked closely under the guidance of Matthew Austins, who was heading up the Web Support team inside Web Services at the time alongside Harsha Sam. Though I had experience working within the world of the web, the eShop platform and an ERP product (prof.ITplus) were entirely new to me. Matthew's mentorship was invaluable in helping me learn the ropes until, eventually, I became confident enough to handle things on my own - though I'm sure he was relieved to finally have a break from my ‘quick’ questions!
Not long after, John Lester joined the Web Support team, and Matthew transitioned into a more prof.ITplus focused role. This left myself, John Lester and Harsha Sam, tackling everything from service requests to the most complex and challenging incidents – fair to say we bottomed everything out! There was never a dull moment, we moved around a lot within different teams and managers. During my time I have supported various different products; Channel Hub, Magento, eShop3, changes to eShop2 core, prof.ITplus/3rd party integrations and now Profit4 integrations. The strong sense of teamwork and collaboration made every day enjoyable striving to provide the best possible support for our eShop customers – and still is today now working back within the Web Services team with Robert Moseley, where we were a year below each other at the same college and university – small world!
What stands out most to me about OGL is the people. Everyone is willing to lend a hand, and that sense of camaraderie is one of the company’s greatest strengths. I would like to show appreciation to all colleagues past/present who have helped make my time enjoyable at OGL Software and thank everybody who I work closely with in Web Services and software support – 10 years has been a pleasure!"
Alex's manager, Andrew Davies, commented:
"Alex has been an integral part of the web team for the past 10 years and it’s great to see his development over this time. The experience and knowledge he’s obtained across our web products has allowed him to grow and take on additional responsibilities.
During this time Alex has not been afraid to take on new challenges such as Magento and Channel Hub which demonstrates his versatility and willingness to learn.
Alex is a valuable member of the web team, and you can see the appreciation from both his colleagues in the team and customers alike.
Thank you, Alex, for an incredible 10 years of service. Here’s to many more milestones ahead!"
