When you think of support, the first things that probably come to your mind are long hours, endless tickets and a whole lot of "Why doesn't this work?" complaints from users 🤯. Support isn’t usually at the top of an engineer’s to-do list. So I am here to argue that spending time in support might just be one of the best things you can do as an engineer 🚀.
The Reality Check 💡
I ran a quick survey among friends about engineers taking on support and their responses were pretty much what I expected:
"It's annoying, especially when users ask irrelevant questions."
"It breaks my flow. I’m in the middle of coding!"
"Isn't that why we have support engineers?"
"It takes too long to dig through legacy code and figure out the issue."
"That’s not my JOB!"
No doubt, these are valid points. While these concerns may vary by team and company, I believe support is an underrated goldmine of insights, ideas, and opportunities to make your product shine 🌟.
The product I'm currently working on requires more support from users than they need from us to build the next successful feature.
So there are significant benefits when engineers get involved directly:
The Fast Lane to Solutions 🚗💨
The common support process goes like this: tickets first go to support engineers, who either resolve the issue or guide users to the documentation. If they can’t solve it, a JIRA ticket is raised and passed to an on-call engineer. Only then does the engineer begin working on it.
Phew!!!! It's such a long process.
That’s a long journey to get one issue fixed. But imagine if you, the engineer who built that feature, handled it directly. You have the context, the code and the knowledge. What might take a support engineer hours or even days to escalate, you could fix it in a fraction of the day ⚡.
Real User Impact on Code 💻
In support, you don’t just see how the code should work; you see how it actually works 👀. You get a front-row seat to what works, what doesn’t, and what frustrates people 😩.
For example, we once had a flood of tickets from users anxious about receiving their certification results. Turns out, they had completed the test but were stuck seeing the same flow without any status. We didn’t realize this issue until it surfaced in support.
Being close to the users makes it easier to spot and fix these kinds of issues, especially those tricky edge cases 🎯.
Holistic Perspective on the Product 🌍
As engineers, we get to see the entire product lifecycle, from coding it up to watching how users interact with it in the wild. We might think users will follow a certain path (because hey, that’s how we designed it, right?), but the truth is, they can go in the most unexpected ways.
Without the right guidance, things can go into a poor user experience. Spending time in support helps us spot these moments in real time, giving us that crucial insight to prioritize what truly matters.
"Our users teach us more than what we can learn about our product." - Hari
For example, we recently launched a feature behind a flag, accessible only to select users. Those who encountered it were informed that it was a beta release and could opt in if interested. To our surprise, we received a lot of support tickets from users eager to try it out, validating that we were on the right path. This kind of insight is invaluable when deciding what to build next and ensuring you are creating products users love and want 💖.
It’s not just about building what you think is cool, it’s about understanding what users love and leaning into that.
Product Ownership and Accountability 🏗️
Support pushes you to build reliable, maintainable software. When you’ve spent a few hours untangling a mess of bugs, trust me, you start thinking about:
“How can I prevent this from happening in the future?”.
You become more conscious of tech debt, documentation and building with long-term sustainability in mind.
And guess what? That’s how you become a better engineer. Accountability doesn’t just build products, it builds you 💪.
Sharpening Problem-Solving Skills 🛠️
Let’s be real: support issues often involve the weirdest edge cases. You know, the kind that never shows up in development but somehow always pops up in the wild.
Spending time in support forces you to diagnose these issues and strengthen your debugging skills. Over time, you’ll get quicker at identifying patterns and predicting what could go wrong in future builds. (It’s like becoming a product detective! 🕵️♂️)
Empathy for End Users 💖
Nothing teaches empathy like hearing a frustrated customer explain why something isn’t working for them. Spending time in support helps you understand those frustrations and drives you to build products that aren’t just functional but also delightful ✨.
It’s one thing to build a feature that works on paper, but it’s another to ensure users have an enjoyable experience using it.
Suddenly, your focus shifts from “Does this feature work?” to “Is this feature providing any value?”. You’ll find yourself asking, “Is this user-friendly?” or “Can we add a little delight here?”. That’s when real, impactful changes happen.
Just look at the raindrops bouncing on the search bar. It’s those little touches that users remember!
Documentation Makes Life Easier 📝
One of the biggest benefits of spending time in support is that it forces you to document your solutions. When you solve an issue, writing it down in a common place means that the next person who encounters the same problem can fix it even faster 🏃♂️.
Plus, good documentation doesn’t just make your life easier, it helps both support and engineering teams solve issues faster. In the long run, it saves time for everyone ⏳.
Power of Feedback 😎
You know what’s incredibly satisfying? Getting a small “Thank you!” from a user whose problem you just solved. That little burst of dopamine makes all the hard work worth it. Positive feedback isn’t just a pat on the back — it’s the fuel that keeps us going.
Knowing you made someone’s day? That’s priceless 💫.
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work 🤜🤛
Building a good rapport with your support engineers is crucial. They’re on the front lines, dealing with users day in and day out. By working closely with them, you can share knowledge, streamline processes and ultimately make your product better for everyone.
It’s Not Always About Coding
(as i said in my previous blog also.)
To build that kind of seamless experience, engineers need to understand the user journey. It’s not just about coding — it’s about building something that makes users lives easier.
"The best customer service is if the customer doesn’t need to call you, doesn’t need to talk to you. It just works.” - Jeff Bezos
Wrapping it Up
I think I’ve made enough points to convince you. Who knows? You might even find yourself enjoying support. Crazy, right? 😄
BTS: I spent nearly a month brainstorming what to write for this blog. It wasn’t until the last minute that the idea finally came to me. The right inspiration hit during a classic last-minute panic! And of course, a big thanks to the amazing people who helped me with some valuable points to include <3
