#LicenseDashboardDiscusses
Gary Smith
Global Technical Product Manager
1 August 2024
Michaela Gray
Blog,
Our Global Technical Product Manager, Gary discusses his journey into the tech industry, his success within our SAM team, and why the License Dashboard culture stands out.
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How did you get into the industry?
Iāve been working in IT since leaving school at 16, starting at York City Council as a programmer in their IT department working on their mainframe, a Honeywell Bull system, while attending day release at a small college in York as part of the Youth Training Scheme (YTS).
What appealed to you about the industry?
Since getting my first home computer, a Sinclair Spectrum 48K, I knew I wanted to work in IT.Ā I love the problem solving and creative sides of computing, and it went from a hobby to my full-time career.
Tell us about your career history and what led you to License Dashboard
After two years at York City Council and a further two years at Shepherd Building Group, I was recruited to Phoenix Software as their first dedicated IT person, where I managed the internal systems and setup the customer support service desk. There were only 12 other members of staff at the time. Over the 30 years Iāve been at Phoenix Software, Iāve had many roles: Technical Support Analyst, Help Desk Team Leader, Help Desk Manager, Consultancy Projects Manager, Senior Technical Consultant, at which point I was recruited into the License Dashboard division as the Technical Product Manager. Then later the Head of Development and to where I am now, the Global Technical Product Manager.
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Whatās your experience of working at License Dashboard so far?
Iāve been lucky enough to have been working for License Dashboard since its very early days, and seeing its progression has been amazing! Working closely with customers and guiding the direction of product development has been a great experience.
Tell us a little bit about your role
I work end to end with our products, from product inception through development and operation teams to our customers. Additionally, I develop and manage our integrations into third party systems through our suite of connectors. Iām also the utility guy, where I develop tooling to help solve immediate problems and automate systems to help users be more productive.
How would you describe the culture at License Dashboard?
Iām definitely biased, having worked here for more than 30 years, but it is an incredibly supportive and collaborative working culture that values open communication, knowledge sharing, and teamwork.
Check out our current vacancies
Michaela has worked within the industry for over 11 years, both within sales and marketing. She works closely with the team to support them with all their marketing needs and maintains and promotes the License Dashboard brand.
Michaela Gray
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