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After leaving UF, I went to work for e-TechServices.com, a Premier IBM Business Partner. They had been in business about 8 years, and wanted to build the business. They had been offering Professional Services since their inception, but thought that expanding that offering would help to build the bottom line. To accomplish this, they hired aManaging Principal for Services, a Practice Principal, and a Systems Engineer. I was the Systems Engineer. As you can imagine, the management::effort ratio was a little high.

So what does that actually mean? I did services perform work, that is, I went on-site with the customer and made the solution work. Sometimes this meant that I physically install the equipment, other times it meant that I just configured it.  Most of the time, it meant that I interact with the client and make sure that they understood how to use their new gear. A significant number of my first engagements were finishing services that had been started by another engineer — most of those resulted in me saving that client as a customer.

I worked at e-Tech for about two and a quarter years — and I learned a great deal about how channel programs work in general, and how the IBM channel program works in specific. I believe that I also learned about the growing pains experienced by small businesses, and how sometimes a change in strategy is required to get beyond a plateau; both personally and professionally.