My Time At MonsterCommerce

My First Week At MonsterCommerce
Originally uploaded by ArcoJedi

I was looking through old pics and found this picture of me from what I assume to be my first week at what was then called MonsterCommerce. This was likely early in 2003. I've had one other job briefly, but for the past 6 years I'd been sitting at a very similar desk helping e-commerce clients and growing with and nurturing the technical support department.

At the time of this picture, I'm not yet 27-years-old and the company has about 20 employees that on average were younger than me --at least by a small margin. Our department of new technical support reps was a group of 4 or 5 guys in a small set of cubicles in a basement office. We had utilitarian carpeting on the walls and mismatched dividers.

So much has changed since then that I'd need at least ten pages to tell the whole story. This has been the best job I've had so far in my life. In summary, the company was acquired by Network Solutions in 2006 and became the Belleville office for the leading domain registrar. This purchase was a huge boon to everyone involved; NetSol got the e-commerce, web design and marketing teams that they needed, and MC's leadership got an influx of cash, tools and resources to greatly expand what they did so well and to hire tons more people.

As of September of 2009, I am no longer employed with Network Solutions. This is much to my regret considering the knowledge I've gained and the memorable times spent with numerous coworkers and what I hope will be lifelong friends. Though the separation and new personal direction will be to my benefit in the long run, I will miss the team. I could go into more detail about the separation and the reasons for it, but it would be impolite and unnecessary to hash it out here.

The question remains about what to do with this blog. Clearly the trademarked name of MonsterCommerce is owned by Network Solutions so the URL of monstercommerce.blogspot.com might need to be relinquished. But I see no real reason to do so. Regardless, the blog content is for the most part all mine, so perhaps my own "rebrand" is in order. I could reorganize this into my "Web Developer / E-commerce" blog. Or, incomplete as it is, I could just lock and freeze it as a testament and history of my time and leave it alone for all time.

Just in case someone at NetSol sees this and does want the URL, feel free to let me know but keep one thing in mind. According to my stats I've received an average of less than one (1) lonely visitor per day for the better part of the last year. And since none of the links to the NetSol owned pages that you see have been (or will be) modified, it's not like anyone is getting lost or confused. I'd still honestly recommend Network Solutions E-commerce to anyone who asked.

I'll probably write more about this at my personal blog at some point, but I wanted to update this blog page before the year ended. Thanks for visiting and please check back once a new direction (for me and this blog) has been chosen!

Ten Popular Features of Version Seven

Here's something I put together for a coworker. In no particular order...

• Customizable Keyword URLs - Beneficial for both users and search engines...
• SEO Fields - Meta / title tags independent of product/category names...
• Customizable 301 Redirects - delete / move pages with confidence
• Advanced Reporting - sales, tax, searches - includes Google Analytics Integration
• Design Sandbox - Manage multiple designs that can be managed and previewed
• Integrated Customizable Forms - Feedback / Contact / Reply
• Shareable Shopping Lists
• Included Import / Export Utility
• Quickbooks Integration
• Customizable Shipping - including regional management and real-time integration
• Extensive Personalization and Variation options

Technically this is 11. But just like Spinal Tap, sometimes you have to have that little something extra. Read more details at Network Solutions E-commerce.

Five Years

I expected it to go by with little fanfare, but a long-time senior staff member here sent me an email congratulating me on my FIVE YEAR anniversary. Yes, it has been five years since I first began at . It should be pointed out that I left the company amicably and temporarily for about 6 months to pursue a job as web developer for my local school district, but it has been 5 years since my original start date. And what a long strange trip it's been.

For those few who were around at that time --especially in technical support-- the following should make you laugh, but not for the reference to Donald Trump.

moar funny pictures

Here's to the next five years! Drink up me' hearties, yo ho!

Technical Support III: Job Title

I was just informed earlier today that I am the only member of the company that is a Technical Support III. Job titles aren't really all that important to me. In my past years at this company I went through the ranks of technical support at about the same time they were actually adding ranks.

I was pretty sure that I was the only tech support team member at level III that worked here in Belleville. But as it turns out, I'm a bit of an odd ball in that I'm the only level III in all of Network Solutions. That seems a bit weird. The reason that this happens is largely that there is a career path that most follow from Tech Support I to Tech Support II and then from there jump off to either a leadership position or to another department like Design, QA or Development.

Even though I started in this department the very first week there was in-house technical support department formed, I don't feel like I should get any sort of special treatment. And I am certainly very happy doing what I'm doing in my current role. It's just weird.

Job titles are weird. End of story.

Milestone: 250,000 Tickets

Today was a milestone for the technical support department. We have been using one system for ticket support since about 2004 or so. The front end area that our clients see is located at MyMonsterCommerce. We reached the two-hundred and fifty-thousandth ticket today. This is a neat figure from my perspective as I was there for ticket number one in this system. In fact, I recall the system we used before that though it's name escapes me. Back then, we just called it "molasses" because that's how fast it went.

Our current system has served us well for many years, but what's most important about this milestone is that it is one quarter of a million phone calls and customer service problems solved by the best e-commerce support team in the industry.

Remote Scripting Examples

These remote scripting demonstrations can be viewed in more detail on this MonsterCommerce QuickGuide: Using Remote Scripting

Simple Link Method

This link opens in a new window (using target="_blank"):
Add a Mini RC Police Car from Mini-RC-Cars.net.

This link opens in the same window:
Add a Mini RC Police Car from Mini-RC-Cars.net.

MonsterCommerce Softball Game

DCP_0397 - MonsterCommerce Softball Game
Originally uploaded by ArcoJedi

The gang at the office here are some sports nuts, and a lot of them play more sports than you can shake a trophy at. There are even times when they organize a decent team. Here is one of several pictures I took at a softball game in summer of 2003.

See more photos that I've tagged 'MonsterCommerce'.