Support Engineer (AMER)

As a Support Engineer at GitLab, you will be responsible for resolving customer issues through various channels such as Zendesk tickets and video conferencing. You'll collaborate closely with product, development, and infrastructure teams to build new features, fix bugs, and enhance our documentation based on customer interactions.

To qualify for the Support Engineer position at GitLab, candidates should have excellent Linux systems administration skills, proficiency in scripting languages like Ruby or Bash, and experience with Git and CI/CD. Familiarity with DevOps methodologies and excellent communication skills to explain technical issues to various audiences are highly valued.

GitLab offers a range of support for its Support Engineers, including benefits focused on health and well-being, flexible paid time off, and opportunities for growth and development. The remote work environment allows for a flexible schedule that accommodates personal needs while maintaining customer support.

As a Support Engineer at GitLab, you can expect to engage in innovative projects like developing tools for analyzing strace output, capturing the state of a customer's server for troubleshooting, and creating functionalities that streamline customer interactions through ChatOps.

The work culture at GitLab for Support Engineers is collaborative and inclusive. The team operates in a remote-first environment, encouraging open communication and teamwork through pair sessions and coffee chats, ensuring you stay connected with your colleagues while working independently.

Discuss your familiarity with Linux, including any relevant certifications such as LFCE or RHCE. Talk about specific projects or tasks where you utilized these skills, emphasizing your troubleshooting abilities and how you managed server configurations.

Describe your methodology for troubleshooting technical issues, emphasizing your experience from initial customer inquiry through to resolution. Highlight your ability to document the process and collaborate with others if needed.

Talk about your experience with scripting languages, particularly Ruby and Bash. Provide examples of how you've used these skills to automate tasks, deploy applications, or solve customer problems.

Share an instance where you successfully communicated a technical issue to a non-technical audience. Focus on your approach to simplifying the information and ensuring they understood the implications and solutions.

Explain your approach to prioritization, focusing on assessing the severity and impact of issues. Discuss tools or methodologies you use to track and manage tasks effectively.

Provide an overview of GitLab's DevSecOps approach, discussing its comprehensive tools for usability across the software development lifecycle. Include insights into how this knowledge can benefit your role as a Support Engineer.

Provide a specific example of a challenging customer issue, detailing your thought process and the steps you took to resolve the problem while maintaining customer satisfaction.

Discuss your experience with creating and updating documentation based on customer interactions. Emphasize how you collect customer feedback to inform product improvements.

Share your methods for staying informed about industry trends. This could include attending webinars, reading articles, participating in forums, or completing certifications related to DevOps and support engineering.

Reflect on GitLab’s mission and values, highlighting the aspects that resonate with you, such as the focus on collaboration, transparency, and the opportunity for everyone to contribute in meaningful ways.