Optimizing IT Workflows with Automox: Insights from Steve Engler

Summary

In this episode of the IT Heroes podcast, Ashley interviews Steve Engler from the Oklahoma Farm Bureau. They discuss Steve's background in IT, his experience with implementing Automox, and his certifications from Automox University. They also talk about the importance of the Automox community and the support provided by the team. 

Transcript

Ashley Smith:  

So for people who are just joining this year's first IT Heroes podcast, welcome. The IT Heroes podcast is something that we like to host at Automox focusing on people who we think are our heroes in IT. This month we had Steve Engler from the Oklahoma Farm Bureau. And I think we're gonna have a really great conversation today. Hi, Steve, welcome.

Stephen Engler:

Yes. Hi, thank you.

Ashley Smith:  

Why don't we start off with just hearing a little bit about your background and what has led you to your place in IT.

Stephen Engler:

yeah. Man, it's been so long. So my place in IT probably started with a very ancient Hewlett Packard that my parents brought home took it apart one day, put it back together, and from there on, that's all I've been doing. I went to school for it, I was in the Air Force for it, and it's... Once I got out of the Air Force, started from dial -up help desk all the way up to where I'm at now doing the...

system administration and kind of everything in between.

Ashley Smith:  

Yeah, I feel like every good computer story starts with someone taking apart a device. Like that's how that's how they all start.

Stephen Engler:

I think it almost has to.

Ashley Smith:  

Well, I know that we've kind of talked a little bit before this about how you come into an environment that had a little bit of Automox and that was kind of you dipping your toes into the water. But it wasn't really being used to the fullest extent. So what was it like digging into that project?

Stephen Engler:

So it was, I've enjoyed every minute of it, but we weren't using it on our enterprise side for some reason. So it was used updating like our deployed laptops and things like that. But enterprise side, we were kind of, I would say semi-automated. But once I was like, we have an, we have Automox. Like, can I get on there? Can I see this? And did a little test bed with it,

did some updates and I'm like, yeah, why am I not doing this? Like, can we buy the licenses? It was a super easy request. It was almost like a thank you for finally asking. And then I've just been, I've been digging with it ever since.

Ashley Smith:  

I know it's, I feel like it's always super tempting to rip and replace when you find like a new system or you come into a tech stack. So I know you talked a little bit about that first step of automating and translating it across your entire environment. What was that like in terms of like work and bandwidth and learning curve?

Stephen Engler:

yeah.

Learning curve was, especially on the Linux side of it with the automation was, I wouldn't say steep, but it was just a little bit more as I'm typically a Windows guy.

But I got together a nice little, we had about a four system lab that I was working on of varying Linux flavors and then two different versions of server. And I took probably about a month, three weeks to a month to reset computers, give them varying different degrees of updates and to make sure Automox, what it would catch, what it wouldn't catch, what I could attempt to make it do versus what I hoped could be

Could do.

But yeah, I found it, it's like super easy to learn. I haven't found anything too crazy.

Ashley Smith:  

That's great. That's music to my ears. And I think that actually really segues us to the next point really, really well. I've noticed that you've gotten some Automox University certifications. And for those of you who don't know or haven't taken them yet, Automox University is where we house all of our learning courses that teach you about the software. And they offer several stages of certifications. Steve, why don't you talk us through

Stephen Engler:

You

Ashley Smith:  

the test, the test taking process, and what motivated you to get those certifications.

Stephen Engler:

Yeah, well, right away what motivated me, especially for the beginning of it, was even though trial by learning is good, I wanted to get at least a strong baseline of here are the basics on how the platform works. The courses are super easy to digest. There's no long, four-hour boring, you have to watch it all in one thing.

session, everything's easily digestible, the test taking process is super easy, and you know, it also helps to get cool swag. But yeah, I just wanted to, my drive was to learn as much as I could quickly, so I could be that SME that everybody's like, okay, something's going on with Automox, go talk to Stephen really quick.

Ashley Smith:  

Yeah, that's awesome. I think that there are three certifications out as of the time of this recording. And I think you've received all three, is that right?

Stephen Engler:

I have, yep, yep.

Ashley Smith:  

What was the difference in your eyes between certification one, certification two, certification three?

Stephen Engler:

One and two are kind of the, I want to say bare bones, but they're the, like, you're, here's what it would be to just be able to function how you need to function, whereas three got in a little deeper to the Worklets and inner workings of things that really, where you want to be at the end is knowing exactly, it's more than just.

pushing updates, you can actually do a whole lot of administration inside Automox

Ashley Smith:  

I mean, Worklets is the fun stuff. So that's always motivation to get to number three. Yeah. Awesome.

Stephen Engler:

It is, 100%.

Yep.

Ashley Smith:  

Lastly, let's talk about the Automox community. So that's actually, for all of our listeners, that's actually where I found Steve, our community manager, mentioned him to me, and that's how we originally connected. When did you originally join Automox the Automox community? Was it when you first realized, you know, hey, there's a lot of other ways that we can use it, or is it something more recent?

Stephen Engler:

It was pretty much once I got the go ahead to make my little test lab with the server side. It was probably that afternoon I was like, I have a question. And the person who was using Automox prior was like, I have no idea. And I was like, look, it says community. Right in, right to it. And have been using it and loving it ever since. I, you know.

questions that I can't seem to find the answer to script wise, Worklet wise. There's some great people on there. What's up Jack? Lots of good people on there.

Ashley Smith:  

Yes. Yeah, I've actually I've interviewed Jack in the past. He's definitely a superhero on there. Yeah. But I know even yeah, even inside Automox were constantly reading and people are in there answering stuff. And I think it's really cool the idea of like a crowd bank around an issue or problem or

Stephen Engler:

I saw that interview. Yes, he is for sure.

Ashley Smith:  

Especially when it comes to things like scripting and writing workloads for your own environment. It's crazy, the knowledge in there.

Stephen Engler:

It is, and I was actually really impressed and happy to see that there was so much Automox back in instead of just the standard users doing it, because getting answers from the people who know it way better than us is, you can't beat that.

Ashley Smith:  

Yeah, definitely. I think I can speak from the Automox side at least and that the past year I think community has been such a large initiative and we've really seen buy-in from.

So not just marketing and our community manager, but also product and support and having those people live in it as well has been really key to making sure that it's valuable and not just another webpage cluttering you.

Stephen Engler:

Yep, yep, and I'm sure, especially support wise, the guys have to like the fact that somebody from the community or somebody from Automox can answer before they get 15, 20 tickets asking the most random things.

Ashley Smith:  

Yeah, yeah, no, I mean, our support guys are, they're killer. I couldn't do it myself, but the volume of tickets that they receive and how quickly they respond, it's awesome for sure.

Stephen Engler:

I've only submitted a couple and the response has been really quick and had remote help once and it was got to the root of my problem. There was no like sitting around for 10 minutes. I'm trying to figure out he's like, nope, this is what it was. Do this works sweet. Now top to bottom, you guys have been very amazing. I'm loving, loving Automox.

Ashley Smith:  

That's really good to hear. I know when you come into a tool it can be, I don't know, very overwhelming and not always, you know, maybe what you're used to or what your preference previously was. So that's really great to hear.

Stephen Engler:

Mm -hmm.

Ashley Smith:  

Will leave us with a discussion question for the Automox community So anyone can visit the Automox community, but we really recommend that you join as a member respond to the posts And our community manager Sophia She'll post this question in the discussion section for everyone to answer after this video after this podcast And our discussion question today is if you've inherited a tech stack. Did you rip and replace?

and why did you do so? I think it will be really interesting to hear everyone's take on it. You don't have to name the tool. You don't have to name shame. But you can if you would like. So yeah, thank you so much for joining us today, Steve. This has been a really awesome chat.

Stephen Engler:

Yes.

It has been great. Thank you very much. Anytime. Let me know.