Alexandra Ifrim, our Customer Support Assistant

26 Oct 2020 5 min read
Alexandra
in 5 things
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  • Favorite artist: Autumn
  • Best book ever read: The sayings of the desert fathers
  • Dream destination: Syberia
  • Quote you live by: "If you're happy and you know it, overthink"
  • At the office or remote? (beyond my wildest dreams) Remote

Tell us a bit about yourself.

  • 33 years old, position relative, border none (just horizons).
  • Works inside the support team at XWiki since the beginning of 2017, in line with being a mother of three.
  • Constantly willing to improve things and convert into being a highly productive person. 
  • A strong believer in truth, beauty, and goodness. 

The journey to XWiki

What were you doing before XWiki? Did you change careers when joining our team?

My professional background is quite transparent: before XWiki, I worked five years as a website administrator, content creator, and graphic designer for an NGO, and one year as a web designer in a corporation. Since 2017, I've been working at XWiki, inside the support team keeping our clients happy. Within the limits of the signed agreement, of course emoticon_smile

What is it like to be working in the Support team at XWiki?

It's a privilege as it holds quite a big amount of XWiki talent emoticon_smile.
First of all, it is a lot of communication with the clients and a lot of collaboration inside the team and with the other teams.  

Second of all, it is doing a little bit of everything, as the requirements of the support tasks vary from really complex ones, such as infra to database operations, development work, design, to very simple ones, such as answering simple questions or sending basic information from the documentation. Either way, it is hard to get bored working in support. Sometimes it is annoying, but most of the time it is really entertaining. Also, having to interact with so many aspects of the product (XWiki), it is an excellent position from which to grow, learn, and evolve.   

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Open Source impressions

Was Open Source something you had an interest in before XWiki?

Before working at XWiki I had more of the business view on software, but generally speaking, I was very close to the concepts like sharing, caring, contributing, and with the sense of community. 

What's the Open Source value you identify with the most?

Inclusive meritocracy emoticon_smile Good ideas can come from anywhere, and the best ideas should win.

Being an XWikier

What has kept you at XWiki so far?

The team, the work itself, and my colleagues' patience. 

If you ever wished for a job change, what made you decide to stay?

It was not the case. 

What were the most important or drastic ways in which XWiki changed during the years you've been around?

XWiki evolved a lot, both on the product side and on the management/team side.
On one hand, XWiki, as a product, has significantly grown to be a powerful software, due to the improvements done in both usability and functionality and technologies used.
On the other hand, the whole company has evolved to be more agile in answering clients' needs, with great improvement in capability, communication, and collaboration. 

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Lessons learned

What would you say is the most valuable lesson you learned during your time at XWiki?

That you should never suggest technical solutions to developers. emoticon_smile

The XWiki experience

If you could describe your XWiki experience in one word, what would it be?

Perfect timing.

What is your favorite memory of the years as part of XWiki?

Working with the French team from the Paris Office.

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