This year VRS will be publishing a series of blogs aimed at giving you a better understanding of various jobs within the Analytical Chemistry, Life Sciences and Engineering sectors. These are all written first hand by people currently in these roles. We hope they will provide you with an interesting insight into various positions which exist in these industries and help you to identify potential new directions for your own career. Please read on for the first instalment…

Technical Support Specialist, Mass Spectrometry (Instrument Vendor)

As a member of our Global Service team my day to day tasks require me to provide technical support to customers all over the world, both directly and via local field service engineers. This typically takes the form of telephone calls and emails and using remote access software to log directly into the customer instruments. Working as a support to the field service organisation, I provide instrument information in the form of technical reference sheets and service notes and act as a SME for new products.

Within my role I have had many opportunities to travel to customer sites around the globe to perform the corrective action in person, as well as install our equipment or present at service meetings. Typically, these trips last around a week, although a highlight has been spending three weeks in Shanghai assisting in the very first days of our new Asia Pacific team.

Alongside my site work I have also been heavily involved in project work from creating and reviewing technical reference sheets for new instruments to writing Customer Familiarisation Guides and even creating the new install procedure and accompanying manual for our latest instrument launch.

Working at the company MS research hub I also get involved in the new projects prior to customer launch and assist with training the field organisation in how to use the new equipment but also ensuring the new product customer installations run smoothly.

My job is fast paced and diverse; it’s the perfect role for someone who enjoys working hands-on with instrumentation, troubleshooting issues and is handy with a toolbox!