I have worked with Small Dog Electronics for a long time now — almost seven years all told, starting when I was in high school. In that time, I have worked in a few different areas. I started in shipping and for the past few years, have worked on the sales floor in Waitsfield. In the past four or five months, I have moved to the tech department. I must say, it’s been an interesting transition.
Earlier this year I decided to move to Burlington from the (Mad River) Valley and moving to the South Burlington Small Dog store was a logical step in that move. When I started there, I was asked to be service writer, the person who checks machine in and out and is the main point of customer contact for service.
After about a month of working that position, Jen and Jason (the Retail and Service Managers) approached me and asked me if I wanted to move into the tech department to fix machines. I took this as an opportunity to learn some new things about the business, and jumped right in. A week of studying later, I took my ACMT certification so I could be authorized to work on Apple desktops and portables.
Here in the tech department, you learn anything from good problem solving techniques to how to actually install new parts, and finally, a lot more about how computers really work. All of these skills can come in handy no matter what you’re working on. Dissecting the internal components and learning about how they fit together to make the machine work has been very interesting, and I’ve been enjoying the whole process!