In this latest post in our “Getting to know us” series we got the opportunity to talk with Travis Hatridge, the marketing manager here at spriteCloud. As spriteCloud’s service and product offerings are focused on software testing, DevOps, and test automation, we typically shine a light on our technical staff.
This time, however, we are getting to know one of our support staff to help people get a glimpse of what working at spriteCloud is like from a non-technical perspective. Watch the video or read the interview below and enjoy getting to know us!
Hi Travis, Congratulations on your three-year anniversary at spriteCloud and thanks for chatting with us. Can we start off by you telling us a little about what you do at spriteCloud?
Hi, my name is Travis Hatridge. I am the marketing manager of spriteCloud, its cyber security and performance testing wing, as well as its sister company Calliope Pro.
What do you like about working at spriteCloud and what do you find challenging?
What I like about working at spriteCloud and what I find challenging are actually the same things.
So, as a relatively small company, with between 50 to 60 employees and a marketing department of only two people, you’re required to wear many hats. Just two people doing so many things, it can be quite difficult, and no day is really ever the same. For example, you could be working on advertising, Google ads, for one day and the next day doing web design and another day doing graphic design and writing blog posts. So, it makes it very interesting and makes it very engaging and fun to do, but it also can make it very challenging because you have to keep so many balls in the air at the same time.
You have been at the company since before the pandemic started, can you tell us how it has impacted the work atmosphere?
I recently celebrated my third year anniversary at spriteCloud, which means that I actually started before the pandemic. Obviously the pandemic has forced us to change a lot of the way we do things. Our company atmosphere and our company culture has actually changed a lot in response to that. So before the pandemic, we used to have regular kinds of events where we would show up and have meetings in person. Every Friday, we’d have our kind of knowledge sharing sessions and in our vrijmibo or borrel or just friday afternoon drinks. And that was a great time for us to kind of come together and discuss technical things that are really relevant to our work, but also just to get to know each other on a more personal level and just have some fun.
So obviously when the pandemic started, we all had to work remotely. We tried our best to kind of recreate some of that, you know, those virtual drinks and really create that vibe again. But,it’s quite difficult to really recreate that feeling of in-person drinks when you’re sitting in front of your computer at home.
But I think we’ve tried to do things. We had a Christmas party online which was interesting. But I really do think we are all looking forward to when we can go back to the office and just get together for drinks again. I think we’re really looking forward to that.
If I had to summarize what working at spriteCloud means to me in one sentence, I would say that spriteCloud takes a personal approach to working with its clients and its employees.
Any favourite memory of the past 3 years you would like to share?
If I had to think of my favourite memory of the last three years, it would probably be our 10 year anniversary at spriteCloud. Celebrating 10 years as an organization is quite an accomplishment and it was great to see the founders celebrate that and congratulate them on that. As well as looking back at how spriteCloud was 10 years ago and how it is now and, and just, yeah to be together. This is actually one of our last parties we had in person before the whole coronavirus pandemic took off.
What new skills have you learned since you started three years ago? Also, in what areas would you like to sharpen your skills?
Since I started three years ago, I would say I’ve learned a lot of skills, especially in marketing.
Those revolve around web design. I’ve designed and redesigned the spriteCloud website and Calliope website once or twice using WordPress and page builders.
I would say project management. So being a small marketing team, it means that you’re working on a lot of different things yourself. So there’re a lot of balls in the air, as I mentioned. You need to be organized when collaborating with other people to get the job done. So project management skills I’ve learned a lot about, and I’d also say advertising.
Trying to promote yourself as a brand is difficult. So you also need to put money behind some promotional activities and getting to grips with Google [search] ads, Google display ads, also LinkedIn advertising. That’s been interesting. And it’s been challenging because it involves a lot of different disciplines, like text writing, graphic design, but also data analytics. So those are some skills that I’ve recently learned in the last three years.
Now, if I look at the skills I’d like to sharpen in the future, I think they probably revolve more around design. So by that, I mean, web design and graphic design, but also storytelling. Content marketing is an important part of our marketing plan and part of getting people interested in what you have to say as a brand is telling an engaging story and packaging it in a way that is appealing to the visitor. Design and storytelling will help us build awareness and recognition with our target audience.
More generally, what plans do you have for the marketing department in the coming two or three years?
My plans for the marketing department in the coming two, three years are very simple. It’s more people in the marketing department, more budget for marketing, and to really focus more on content.
Finally, could you sum up what working at spriteCloud means to you in a sentence?
If I had to summarize what working at spriteCloud means to me in one sentence, I would say that spriteCloud takes a personal approach to working with its clients and its employees.
If you are curious to learn more about what working at spriteCloud is like, follow our #lifeatspritecloud tag on LinkedIn. We are hiring regularly so if you think this is a place that you would feel at home in, head over to our jobs page and apply to one of our open positions.
