Medtech lessons from the Trenches: A support engineer within Medical Devices with Eva

After reading through my colleagues' post, you are probably expecting more insights into the MedTech industry and my learnings. But let me tell you right upfront, compared to my colleagues, I’d consider myself the wildcard.

A wildcard in Medtech

I say wildcard because, even though I have years of experience leading teams in technical customer-facing environments, this is my first real experience in the MedTech industry.

During most of my professional career endeavours, I was working with teams in the trenches, providing support and solutions to customers globally. The teams I’ve worked with over the years were as diverse as the customers. And those people—you, the customers, but also the incredible people I had the pleasure of working with—are the core motivation for me.

The most shaping stage in my career was most definitely my time at Apple. When I set off for an adventure and moved to Ireland for a job I had never done before in a field I had no experience in, I would have never expected how big of an impact this spur-of-the-moment decision would have on my future professional growth. Not only did I learn what great customer service should look like from an industry leader, but I also had the privilege of working with many great mentors who helped me grow as a leader and coach. I learned what a good leader looks like and how providing a healthy, growth environment for your team will help them strive, providing them room to grow and flourish.

The motto at Apple was “We’re here to help!” It’s a simple yet meaningful statement that pretty much sums up my understanding of good customer support. Because after all, that is what we are here for.

Continuing to learn & grow

After almost 4 years and many learnings, I decided to leave the Emerald Isle and move back to Germany. And I didn’t know it at the time, but leaving Apple would send me on a quest to find a company that shared the same core values in their support functions, as they did. But I learned that support does not have the same meaning everywhere.

Over the past few years, I really learned and shaped my idea of what a great support function should be. Apple gave me the blueprint, and I used my experiences over the years to shape it into something I can fully support. In short, I would sum it up by saying customer support is about the people. The customer and their needs should be at the core of everything, not just support, but also marketing, sales, and most importantly, product development. And I am sure that is a statement many of you will agree with, as the customer drives you in your day-to-day as well. But great support is not only about the customer but also about the people on your team. The ones who are with you in the trenches—building and shaping talent, understanding their strengths and weaknesses, and helping them unlock their full potential. To me, that is what it’s all about. But finding a company that mirrors this mindset was not easy. Even though I had the pleasure of meeting and working with many amazing people throughout the years, I never really felt like my mindset and ideas were met. And as rewarding as working with my team was, it was also a draining quest, one that led me to re-evaluate if Customer Support was still the right career path for me.

Finding the right team, isn't always easy.

So at the end of last year, I decided to look for other opportunities and leave Customer Support for good—that was until I came across the job ad of Matrix Requirements, who were looking for a Head of Support. I was a bit hesitant to apply as I had already made up my mind and was ready to leave behind my career in Technical Support. But I decided to give it a shot. After speaking with Wolfgang and Yves, I could really feel that they had understood what it was all about and that they were passionate about their product and their customers. I could feel that for them, the customer was at the center of every decision, and that it was about building a great team and growing talent. I remember coming out of this conversation and saying, "If they offer me the job, I’ll take it," to my own surprise. And as you may have suspected, they offered me the job, and I took it, even though I had other opportunities lined up that were not Support-related.

And even after almost 9 months here at Matrix, I have not once had the feeling that this mindset has changed. The team at Matrix Requirements continues to grow, yet with every new joiner, you still feel a common passion. Everybody understands the value our software brings and the impact it has on our customers' day-to-day. We know that each customer of ours has a significant impact on the MedTech industry, bringing new innovations to the market every day to improve life and push the MedTech industry to its limits and beyond. And I am thrilled and proud to be part of your journeys developing new MedTech devices. To us, you are at the core of our day-to-day, so if you ever have a question or need advice, don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re here to help!