Quick Facts
Role at TomorrowNow: Support Engineer on J.D. Edwards Support Team
Location: Denver, Colorado
Total PSFT Experience: 11 Years
Total Industry Experience: More than 17 years
Product Specialty: All J.D. Edwards applications
Roberto |
Although he didn't know it when he was a little boy playing on the beaches of the Italian Riviera, much of TomorrowNow's J.D. Edwards Support Engineer Roberto's childhood was leading him down the perfect path to his current career.
"My father was very much into mathematics and solving problems, so I was around them a lot and found I was good with them also," Roberto said. "Word problems, in particular, were always very appealing to me."
He soon began to extend his curiosity beyond the verbal puzzles, and start taking things apart to see how they worked—then putting them back together again. "I was always curious about why things were working the way they were working," Roberto said. "I'm in my element when I'm resolving problems that involve critical thinking and logic processes."
Languages also come easily to him. He grew up speaking English and Italian as his native languages—as his mother is British, and his father is Italian. Spending his childhood in the Italian Riviera meant he also spent a bit of time around native French speakers, so he quickly achieved fluency in that language also. His proximity to so many cultures growing up makes it easy for him to relate to and accommodate the diverse cultural differences of his clients.
While spending some time in France, Roberto learned to play the classical guitar. He still plays to keep up his skills and to relax.
Growing up, Roberto remembers the summer Olympics being a central fixture in his life. He spent every spare moment following the Games on television, particularly following the track and field events. His mother threw the javelin and ran cross-country races when she was younger, and his dad was an avid cyclist. By the time he was 12, Roberto was competing in track and field events, running both the 1500 meter and 800 meter races.
While watching the Olympics, he dreamed of seeing himself run in the Games one day. He qualified for the Monaco national team as a young adult, and competed in the Fourth Games of the Small European Countries in Andorra in 1991.
"I had a blast, it was so much fun being there," Roberto said. "They had an Opening Ceremony, parade of flags, and everything."
The Games of the Small European Countries were formed during the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and are open to European countries with a population of less than 1 million inhabitants, have an autonomous Olympic committee, and are members of the International Olympic Committee. Current members are: Andorra, Cyprus, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, and San Marino.
From Running the Track to Tracking Down Software Issues
His first job was as a customer support technician for a software company that built programs to help with customs clearance at the border of France and Italy. That was when the AS400 first came out, and he's been supporting it steadily since.For Roberto, supporting his J.D. Edwards clients is a two-step process. First, is to get the client running again from production-down issues. Second, is to get to the cause of the problem, create a permanent solution, and document it clearly so his clients have no questions about what the issue is or how to permanently resolve it.
"I like to provide a solution that's clean, simple, and clear so everyone understands what happened and why, and how the solution addresses the issue," Roberto said.Recently Roberto received a support call from a client who asked his opinion on a third-party tool they could use with their J.D. Edwards application. "They didn't have an issue with their software that they needed me to fix," Roberto said. "They were calling because they trust us enough to ask our opinion. It's nice to have that relationship, that level of closeness, and that single point of contact who can take care of everything you need as a client."