VineSpring Employee Spotlight | Colin Brine
The VineSpring team is lucky to have Colin onboard. He’s a coding boot camp graduate, comes with tons of technical support experience, and loves collaborating and solving problems—the perfect combination for a Technical Support Guru. When VineSpring customers have a technical issue, he’s the one digging deep to see if he can solve it or bring in the development team if needed. Learn more about Colin, his love of new technologies, and his furry work-from-home companions.
Can you tell us about your role at VineSpring?
My title is Technical Support Guru, and I get to wear many hats solving customer questions and issues! I work very closely with the customer support team as well as Amy, our Technical Product Owner. I’m the newest member of the team and am learning new tricks daily.
I have been focusing most of my time escalating tickets from customer support before they get to our development team. I try to resolve them, and if I am unable to, I then write up new tickets for the development team directly. I also field any oddball issues that customer support cannot resolve quickly and dig into things behind the scenes.
What experiences from your past help you the most today in your position at VineSpring?
I have years of experience in technical support in various roles and, combining it with my recent coding boot camp experience, it has set me up for success at VineSpring. I consider myself a strong team player and pivot point between the customer and the development team.
Outside of VineSpring, I founded a small DJing business with a friend, which has given me a good perspective on small business and problem-solving in a multitude of different situations.
What do you think sets VineSpring apart from other winery eCommerce platforms?
The team is the biggest asset that VineSpring brings to the table. Everyone has been fantastic about stepping up and helping when there is any kind of issue that comes up. You can’t put a price tag on a team that genuinely cares. The proactive approach to having customer support available to answer questions and work on follow-up is absolutely invaluable.
I also love how VineSpring has embraced some of the best technology behind the scenes (Amazon Web Services, DynamoDB, Glue, Trello, Slack, ZenHub, and ZenDesk) to keep track of projects and processes. It is not something our customers always get to see directly. It is all cutting edge and very scalable technology, which excites the tech nerd in me.
What advice would you give to wineries/breweries who are evaluating new eCommerce and wine club management platforms?
You want to choose a simple platform for you and your customers with a responsive team that can take feedback, solve problems, roll out improvements. Craft producers need a solid team to work with when things are going well and when help is needed.
You can work with all sorts of different technologies, but if you want to know what kind of experience you will have, it is about the people you will be dealing with when a problem arises. Every team is different and I think one of the beautiful things about VineSpring, in particular, is that it is a small company focused on working intelligently for its customers. You don’t want to be a number with a big corporate host—it’s nice having a personal experience and reaching the same representative multiple times if needed to really follow through on things if they come up.
What has surprised you about working at VineSpring?
I am always surprised, excited, and happy about how great the team is here. As I am new, I still have some questions, and the entire team has been amazing about answering everything and just being understanding. Everyone really loves what they are doing and the company, and it really shines through.
What part of your job at VineSpring brings you the most joy?
I love solving problems. When you dig into an issue and find the solution—that is what I love most. Every day is different with new things to look into, and I appreciate the variety. Working remotely, I enjoy the ability to put some music on and focus on the problem at hand and being able to dig into it. I also appreciate my co-workers helping out with answers when I have questions.
I guess the simple answer is there is not just one thing that brings me joy while working at VineSpring as it is a combination of a lot of awesome things!
The VineSpring team is located all over the country and has been working remotely for years. Where are you located, and what are your tips for working remotely?
I currently live in Bolton, Massachusetts. It’s about 45 minutes outside of Boston. I believe I am the only one, so far, who lives on the east coast on the team. My biggest tips for working remotely is to have a comfortable desk setup to work from. This means a good desk, a comfortable chair, and a comfortable keyboard and mouse—comfort is king.
What do you enjoy doing for fun outside of VineSpring?
I love my pets. I have a dog, two cats, four guinea pigs, and an albino leopard gecko—working from home has been amazing spending time with them. I like to go camping with my wife and our friends. I have a Harley-Davidson Road King, which I adore taking out and riding when it’s nice out and my wife rides her own bike too. I also love music and DJ in my spare time, though that has been a bit on the back-burner of late due to the pandemic. I get together with friends (online now, but in person when I am able) and do tabletop gaming nights as well. I keep busy in a lot of different ways!
We talk a lot about perfecting the customer experience in the industry. What is one way that you think wineries and breweries can improve the customer’s experience online?
It depends on the winery and brewery and their particular approach, but being able to tailor-fit how complicated and personalized the experience is for their customers is incredibly important. I think VineSpring fits into this incredibly well because of the different tiers and ability to respond to customer requests.
What did you think you were going to be when you grew up?
When I was a little kid, I always wanted to be an astronaut or engineer. I only knew engineers conducted trains, and I thought it was the coolest thing because my Grandfather was an engineer. It turns out that he did not drive trains; he was still excellent and a great mechanical engineer.
If you could go back in time and give your younger self some advice, what would it be?
If I had a chance to talk to my younger self, I would have a lot to say. I can say I didn’t take the easiest route to where I am today, so I would love to make that a bit more streamlined. To sum it down into three things:
1) Invest in bitcoin.
2) Buy turntables as soon as you can and learn to DJ—you’re going to love it.
3) Pursue coding and technical support as it is your calling.
