Inside aytm: Meet Michael Scroggins, Systems Engineer

Have you ever wondered how the intricate web of systems at aytm operates so seamlessly? We recently had the opportunity to chat with the maestro behind this technical symphony, our Systems Engineer, Michael Scroggins. From orchestrating smooth integrations to composing automated workflows that eliminate discord, he ensures that our digital tools harmonize beautifully with our business needs.  Join us as we explore his journey from a childhood fascination with computers to his current role as a key player in shaping aytm's technological landscape. 

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Can you tell us a little bit about what you do here at aytm?

I try to foster technical harmony within our business systems. At the very least, I do my best to keep the instruments in tune. Some days that might involve a pitch to leadership—others, onboarding a team’s new SaaS solution to scale gracefully, or composing consistent automation to remove dissonance in team processes. Are you catching the music motif?

Absolutely. How do you conduct this harmony?

The thing that ties it all together is:  At the end of the day, I am a (fill-in-the-blank) user advocate. Systems aren’t just for myself, my boss, their boss, or the people that I get along with the best. Those may all exist in some form or another,  but the fun part is making all of it fit within the big picture of Systems. 

This involves any mixture of identifying primary stakeholders, gathering requirements, devising a strategy, and implementing solutions. Sometimes that starts from scratch, but often it’s more like a sub-project at the end of a longer initiative. That last mile is always tough to predict. Usually, it’s either much simpler than expected or entails a fair amount of revision. That could mean putting in some late nights to try and deliver a miracle, or accepting that things should really percolate for a bit and urging others to plan for a more phased approach.

At the end of the day, the end goal is the same: Translate a problem (or problems) into priority-ranked, iterative, technical solutions.

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So how do you spend most of your days?

In my secluded tower, studying the ancient texts. Pondering the orb—seeking the arcane wisdom to imbue a digital but somehow still human heartbeat into flowcharts and workflows.

My official title was recently changed from Systems Administrator to Systems Engineer. In the interest of keeping things high-level, this just acknowledges that I’m taking a more active role in system design on a more visible, cross-functional level.

While I am an individual contributor, and keep saying the word “I,” I am certainly not an island. Our incredible Learning team plays a vital part in guiding the user experience—so naturally, I partner with them to get insights into any knowledge-gap areas, and then evaluate ideal ways we can adjust the dial—whether that’s by redefining the experience via applied policies (a process I like to call “bumper bowling”), or drafting additional learning materials. Additionally, our PMO team signal-boosts emerging internal major process change, and will approach me when a business initiative requires a “bespoke touch” of custom integration.

I think part of why I enjoy what I do is that I get to visit a lot of different roles. By jumping around to various segments within a business, one will inevitably be forced to consider things from multiple angles and rapidly gain perspective on how to solve complex problems more holistically and efficiently. 

How did you decide to get into your field?

I’ve always been a very technically-inclined person. I’d fix the VCR or TV, experiment with all the inputs, dive into all the menus of everything, learn what it can do. We got our first family computer in 1995, right after Windows 95 was released. Weezer’s music video for “Buddy Holly” was on the installation/driver disk. I must have been eight or nine-years-old, and was instantly obsessed. It just felt like magic. It’s not like I’d never experienced TV, or Nintendo. Something about that old desktop computer with the CRT monitor had me in a trance. We didn’t have the internet until years later—but I still remember how vast the Encarta encyclopedia CD-ROM felt. I’d spend hours researching random topics, playing games, literally just messing around with (and breaking)  Windows… but also learning how to fix it.

By the time I was in my early teens, I was getting heavily into making music. Listening wasn’t enough—I had to figure out how it worked, too. I started with the fundamentals until I could get by, but once I experienced making music with other people—that’s when things started to click, possibly for many of the reasons you’d likely assume. The comradery of creating something with others can be comforting and even intoxicating one day, and then frustrate you to the point of emotional dysregulation the next. Good for a growing brain!

This eventually led me to get into recording. If you know anything about the early days of Prosumer home studio gear, that basically meant you were forced to do the same research as an A+ certification, only lacking the accreditation.

So to make a long story short—I learned how to tame computers. I ended up taking BCIS (Business Computer Information Systems) my first semester of college, and you’re probably thinking, “oh, this is when he decided to major in Computer Science.”

Nope. I attended that class exactly 4 times. Day 1, first test, mid-term, final.

The morning before my final exam, during what I thought would just be an obligatory cram session, I discovered that a project would also need to be turned in before taking the exam—one that we were expected to have been working on all semester.

I knocked it out in about an hour, and got an A. Despite attempting to major in pretty much anything else I could (English, Psychology, Music, Geology)—by the time I graduated around 2010, I had a feeling in my gut that I should probably just accept that I have a weird gift.

It also didn’t hurt that, being on the heels of the great recession,  IT  was one of the few industries with jobs available. Thus was the impetus to my exciting journey into the world of Information Technology. I haven’t regretted it since. Not once. Ok, maybe like… 5% of the time—but the other 95%, I  wake up excited to get cracking on the next thing, grateful to make a living where I am continually learning, improving, and growing.

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Since we started with a musical motif, let’s pull that thread

At some point, I came to the conclusion that despite what music and “band life”  had taught me while in my earlier years about honesty, openness, collaboration, being comfortable in my own skin, all that good stuff—I really didn’t have a stomach for the business side of it. You could say it’s one of the coals that lit my fire,  but something about trying to make a living out of it never hit right.

Anyway, as far as other instruments—I can surprise myself on piano, but will immediately deny saying this if ever put on the spot (unless there’s  somebody playing guitar, bass or something). If it sounds like it should be performed in a tuxedo at the recital—forget about it. Coattails? Brother, I’m already halfway down the fire escape.

If you can count to four, you can play drums. If you can count to eight, you can play fills. If you can count to 16… wow, ok. Showoff much? That was probably funnier in my head. I can keep a beat—well enough to write a track—but I have some much more talented friends who can get it there way quicker.

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How has aytm helped you in your career development?

Communication is a huge part of every workplace. Abstracting that IRL element of the job in our remote environment has motivated me to confront some of my lesser-developed areas. I’m not sure if I realized how much I relied on face-to-face feedback.

So while I suppose I could go off about niche IT tricks, connecting this or that—yes, I’ve learned new things, produced more widgets. However, I think the benefits are more psychological in nature. There’s a tendency for people to associate IT Systems/Support/Engineering/Admin—whatever your company calls it—with the problem rather than the solution. On-prem, it’s easier to feel proactive just by virtue of physical presence and body language—but can lead to some false assumptions. Something about the mystery of a remote environment makes it nearly impossible to be tempted by complacency. If things are getting quiet on-prem, it’s a different kind of quiet when compared to a remote company.

You check on various monitors,  alerts, logs,  outage reports. You check in on people. You check on announcements. You check your calendar to make sure it’s not a holiday or weekend. (Mostly kidding on that last one.)  I suppose that could read as paranoia, but I’m legitimately grateful to be working somewhere that a quiet day can still have me engaged and not checked out. But to wrap up that note —being here has taught me a lot about being more assertive with solutions—and I don’t mean “volun-telling.”  

I’m not going to act like I always get it right—sometimes it’s best to stay in one’s own lane, but the evolution and context of conversations has certainly changed a lot, and it speaks volumes to the culture of aytm. The people it attracts are problem solvers—constantly improving. You may get resistance here and there, but it’s not like it’s a duel to the death. Let the ideas duke it out, be respectful of the time and effort other people have put in/have invested elsewhere. Priorities tend to have a way of making themselves known, eventually.

What advice would you give someone just starting out at aytm?

QTIP: Quit taking it personally.

I love working at aytm, but I’m not going to pretend that it’s not a workplace. There will be situations. Witnessing the horrific state of some people’s desktops/uncleared notifications over the years helped me to fully embrace QTIP—but listening, learning what I could do while accepting what I could not, and remaining open rather than making assumptions has made a difference for me. 

Also: while you should certainly approach work with a professional demeanor,  obsessing over rank-and-file or being disengaged will only distance you from opportunities to grow within (or beyond) your role. It can be difficult to connect in a fully remote environment because let’s face it—it’s not for everyone. Regardless, try not to let the adjustment period discourage you! We’re all just a bunch of humans on the other end of that slack DM.

It’s ok to experience ups and downs. It’s actually kind of bizarre and beautiful if you really take a step back and think about it—but once you find the rhythm that works for you, it will be difficult to imagine sharing an office space with the smell of stale coffee and the guy who always blasts [insert band you can’t stand] on the SONOS.