Get to know Katie as she answers 5 questions:
I work directly with our clients to solve problems and improve their systems. That includes technical support, installations, upgrades, data conversions, and a little programming.
2. Can you give some examples of your recent projects?
I just upgraded a client’s AccountMate by two versions yesterday—they have 142 companies in their AccountMate system.
I recently did a DOS conversion. Those are so cool to me. AccountMate had a version that runs on the old blue and white Microsoft DOS screens, and that’s the first version of AccountMate I used. Those systems have fewer features than today, but they worked great, and a few companies out there still use it.
Tech support questions are very particular to the client’s environment and situation. A common technical support topic that comes up is when someone’s doing month-end and there’s a variance, like the balance sheet isn’t matching the aging or inventory values. I’ll trace where the problem originated and show them how to prevent that from happening again.
I was an end user! As the office manager at a very small wholesale distributor in 1995, I did some of everything. They were on Peachtree and then switched to AccountMate.
I’ve always been pretty analytical and technical, so my next job was with an AccountMate business partner. They were a small company at the time, and we grew together.
That’s where I met Lisa at iSOFT. She’s always done a lot of custom programming for other AccountMate business partners for their clients. I worked with her on projects. It was a good relationship right from the beginning. She is so giving with knowledge; and an awesome mentor. And I loved learning.
I worked with her at another AccountMate BP after that, and then I got the opportunity to work for iSOFT directly as an employee.
4. What do you like best about your work?
I love to think. To really investigate and solve problems. Technical people who are programmers often like to be creative and build cool software. But what I like best is to fix things when they break.
My favorite part is when there’s a problem that the user and I can’t figure out initially. Then I focus and go tunnel vision with it for a couple hours and solve it. It’s fun and rewarding.
My husband, Billy, had been out West before we met and he wanted me to see it. I grew up on the East Coast. We took a trip and rented a cabin and when we left, I KNEW we needed to move out there.
A year and a half later we did it—bought a house sight unseen. Our kids were little, ages 5 and 7, so it was a good time to move them. We didn’t want to wait until the kids were grown or until we retire.
And we’re very outdoorsy. We live on a big ranch where my husband manages and raises bison. It’s in a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains. We love to ski and kayak. We do a good bit of hiking, and enjoy the world class hunting and fishing opportunities in our area.
It’s wonderful to have the technology and flexibility to be able to work 100% remotely while living our dream. We’ve been in Montana since 2005 and haven’t looked back.
