This document discusses the challenges faced by Ivan Mworozi, a remote support engineer for Treasure Data based in Kampala, Uganda. Some of the key challenges include learning the Treasure Data platform without being able to easily ask coworkers questions in person, co-workers not always being immediately available for assistance, and the lack of a data engineering community in Uganda. Solutions proposed to address these challenges include scheduling regular calls for questions, creating documentation of questions to ask later, working on examples independently, and staying immersed in the broader data engineering community through online resources.

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2018-09-28
Challenges Remote
Support Engineer

2. Copyright 1995-2018 Arm Limited (or its affiliates). All rights reserved.
Who I am...

3. Copyright 1995-2018 Arm Limited (or its affiliates). All rights reserved.
Ivan Mworozi
- Remote Support Engineer @ Treasure
Data
- Been at Treasure Data for the last
year.
- Based in Kampala Uganda (see map
on the right).
- Working in Support or Account
Manager Role last 10 years at different
companies.

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Challenges

5. Challenges of Remote Support Work
● Learning the Treasure Data Platform.
● Not having co-workers immediately available to ask
questions.
● Lack of a data engineering community in Uganda. No
peers.
● Continual learning and development

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Learning Treasure Data

7. Learning Treasure Data
● Quality of support is directly proportional to my
understanding of the TD platform
● The better I understand the architecture of the platform
the better support I can provide.
● Spontaneous question and answer sessions, that arise
when the question comes to mind are great for learning,
because they are used at the time of application.
● This is not always an option when working remotely. Not
only do you not have face to face interaction. Co-workers
might not be avail when the question arises.

8. Learning Treasure Data - SOLUTIONS
● Regular calls that allow time for questions and learning.
● In between calls, I have a system for listing all the
questions that arise so that I can ask them during the
scheduled calls.
● Creating and working on working examples that make use
of different parts of the platform. On Td examples include,
creating workflow, using connectors and working on
documentation.
● Tasks that require actual implementation of TD
components combined with regular calls help.

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Co-workers not immediately
available.

10. Co-worker availability
● Because co-worker are not physically visible it can be
hard to determine if they can be interrupted.
● Interactions have to be scheduled and are not
spontaneous.
● This is more pronounced for co-workers outside of your
immediate team.
● E.g. co-workers in other departments, especially those
you have never met, in those instances interaction are
much more structured and scheduled.

11. Co-worker availability - SOLUTIONS
● First need to have a system for recording and scheduling
the call and other interactions you need to make.
● Exposure to other team members and departments.
Assignment that allow for me to interact with other team
members in meaningful way (i.e. to accomplish a task)
have been helpful.
● Slack, channels - playing pro active role in searching our
and learning about other department, personnel and roles.
● Feeling a part of includes feeling like you are a in sync
with advancements in the company and platform.

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Lack of Data Engineering
Community in Uganda

13. Data Engineering Community in Uganda
● Data Engineering community in Uganda is still very young.
● Software engineering community in uganda is also still
very young.
● The number of engineering with actual exposure to Hive
Presto etc. number less than 3 that I know if (that includes
me).
● Not aware of any one else providing remote support from
a data engineering stand point.
● Multinational companies (Bank, Telephone companies)
data engineering is done in HQ (Johannesburg, S. Africa)

14. Data Engineering Comm in Uganda - Solutions
● Constant, reading, reading and more reading. First line of
defense is the Treasure Data information itself,
documentation, blogs, releases.
● Working on examples and practical cases within TD itself.
● Blogs, podcasts, immersion in information and releases from
the data engineering community world wide.
● Most important point is having a system, of regular immersion
in new information, people and technologies. A passive
attitude is the enemy and the first step toward feelings of
separation, which in turn manifest in an lack of understanding
of the platform which in turn leads to providing inferior
support.