Calum Robinson celebrates 10 years at OGL Software

We caught up with Calum to find out more about his time at OGL so far…

"I had previously interviewed twice to get a job at OGL. The first time was for a junior Team leader role and the second was for the Application Support Team Leader role. I had three interviews; two with HR and one with Sharon Moreno to then be told someone internal had stolen my role (Charlie Grant). As I interviewed so well I was offered a Linux Support role and the rest is history. Since starting I have progressed a fair amount. Starting as an Application Support Engineer where I was dealing with support calls and after a few years of doing that, I started doing installs shadowing the late great Mr Neilson. After doing that for a few years I became the lead Installations Engineer where I was helping to train and mentor engineers on support and installations. I then became the Infrastructure Team Leader where I then started to manage the Linux team and Internal IT and now I'm the Senior Technical Lead where I am helping the support teams and taking ownership of the hardware element of internal infrastructure and our customers.  

My favourite aspect / biggest achievement during my time here has been surviving multiple trips to Sharon's office over the years, all of them warranted.

On one of my first prof.ITplus installs with Mr Neilson he asked me to get behind a very old server we were replacing and keep an eye out for anything that looks out of place. With me being very eager and wanting to please I did as he asked. Only for a few moments later the server span up and out came about 10 years worth of dust and I was covered. I never heard Mr Neilson laugh so hard."

Calum's manager, Charlie Grant commented:

"I've worked with Calum for his full tenure at OGL and I recall the day he started; I actually stole his job or so he likes to remind me 😊 He initially applied to be the Application Support Team Leader role, of which I had also internally applied for and obviously got given. However, Calum was then offered a role within the Application Support Team of which I would then team lead. On first glance, Calum comes across as a stern, stubborn, sometimes grumpy engineer but when you get to breakdown the exterior protein (sorry) he can be one of the hardest working, kindest people you will meet. Every Easter and Christmas, Calum will bring in chocolate bunnies and advent calendars for his colleagues, although the one year he did forget Sharon's!! Safe to say he hasn't forgotten it since and such a kind unprovoked gesture.

Calum is a doer. If we need something progressed, he will always do what's best for the company and the customers, although may put up a little resistance to begin with 😊 The number of times I have called Calum late nights or on weekends to help resolve customers' challenges, he has always been there for me to assist and has always helped provide a solution. I honestly can't thank Calum enough for all of those times he has helped us get out of a hole, although I'm sure Calum won't wish me to bring up FSW!!!!! Oh ok, as we are talking about FSW then we may as well discuss it. On this occasion Calum called me; it was a Sunday afternoon, I was having a lovely family day out until Calum called. He explained he had made an error on FSW's server - I told Calum, "whatever you do, don't reboot the server, we can fix this but give me 30 minutes to get home to assist you". Safe to say Calum didn't wait and decided to reboot the server, and it's safe to say I was right, the server was beyond recovery. Thankfully, Calum told me what the plan of action was to rebuild the system and he worked until 11 o'clock that evening to resolve it. What I love about Calum is that he acknowledged his error but provided me with a solution to overcome it and he was determined to get it sorted for the customer, not always an easy trait to exhibit.  

I don't think there are many occurrences of this but a customer once decided to lock Calum in the server room until an issue was resolved, no joke he was stuck in the server room for several hours I think, until Calum called Sharon to explain the situation as to which Sharon managed to calm the customer down and let Calum out of the server room.

Calum is a super star, such a workhorse at times and offers great support to the teams and customers that surround him. He genuinely wants what's best for the customers and has gone the extra mile on multiple occasions. I know Calum doesn't always agree or see eye to eye with my approach but he gets that sometimes you have to just do what's right in that moment. Thank you for a fantastic 10 years Cal, and here's to the next 10 years with many amazing new opportunities to come. Just please don't reboot any servers without checking with me!!"