Every month, we like to shine the spotlight on our team members who make the biggest difference for our subscribers. This month, we interviewed Kam Bass, our QA/Support Specialist! Take a look at this interview to learn all about Kam and the story of her career.
Liftoff: What’s your Liftoff origin story?
Kam: I have been with Liftoff for 10 months now. Prior to Liftoff, I worked for Discount Labels for 17 years, which was later acquired by Cenveo. Following this acquisition, I was a Software QA for Cenveo for 10 years. I loved my job at Cenveo and was part of an amazing team. The people I worked for at Cenveo managed to create a culture that felt like we still worked for a family-owned company rather than a ‘corporate’ culture.
Eventually, that changed, and my team was dismantled. The job that I had loved for 10 years was not the same and I knew I needed to make a change. It was scary after being with the same company for so long, but I updated my resume and started looking.
It was during that time I got a text from a friend who had gone from Cenveo to Liftoff letting me know that a QA position would be posted soon. This felt too good to be true. I already knew about Liftoff, and I had worked with some amazing people who left Cenveo to join Liftoff. I didn’t know Andrew personally but had heard great things about him from my bosses which meant everything to me. So, I submitted my resume. From the first time I communicated with anyone at Liftoff starting with Nick, I instantly knew these were my people. I was offered the position, and the rest is history!
Sometimes I joke and say I must be living right, but truly I’m just blessed. This does not feel like a ‘typical’ situation. How did I go from being forced to look for another job to being part of a team that immediately felt like family? That feeling of family extends beyond Liftoff employees and includes our subscribers. I’m amazed by everyone that I work with. We have a great product, and every day I see everyone come together and do whatever is necessary to make it better than it was the day before.
Liftoff: What’s your role here at Liftoff?
Kam: My ‘official’ job title is QA/Support Specialist. I am responsible for testing new features or bug fixes for the Liftoff software. A feature could be anything from an addition to an existing report to something bigger, like fulfillment workflows or “Smarty” street-level address validation. I always have a test plan, which is very helpful because any change that was made to the Liftoff software is accounted for by a test case. Beyond the test plan, I make sure I do additional testing to ensure that no other functions were affected by the code changes. Essentially, my job is to try to ‘break’ the software. If it can be broken, we want to find and fix it before passing it to our subscribers.
In my support role, I assist the Subscriber Services team in researching issues reported by our subscribers. This could be anything from an error when trying to ship an order to not being able to enter an expiration date when paying with a credit card. I feel as though this is the perfect role for me. Since I was a kid, if I would hear someone trying to figure out why something wasn’t working, I would immediately start trying to figure it out. I don’t remember ever not being like that. I also hate when I see people give up. I will leave no stone unturned when trying to solve any problem. I can’t count the times I have finally figured something out just as I was ready to throw in the towel!
Liftoff: Tell us about your favorite feature of our platform.
Kam: This is a tough one. I am so impressed with the Liftoff platform. The phrase “They thought of everything” comes to mind. Sticking to the question though, my favorite feature is order rules. I see how useful this tool is and how much time it saves by automating processes at various stages of an order that would otherwise have to be done manually. This allows an order with unique requirements to flow smoothly from start to finish without having to sit and wait for someone to manually move it to the next stage of the process. This feature definitely saves a lot of time, and there are so many options for order rules that multiple rules can be used for one order.
Liftoff: Do you have any pivotal moments from your life you would like to share?
Kam: A pivotal moment in my career was in 1995 when I was working at Discount Labels in the prepress department. I was told that the VP of our department was looking for me. Although I had done nothing wrong, I was nervous because I couldn’t imagine why he wanted to see me. He told me that a consulting firm had been hired to develop a new electronic workflow and I was one of four people chosen to participate in a Beta group. He said they knew they would meet with resistance when introducing a whole new way of doing things and while I had the least seniority, I had been chosen because of my positive attitude.
While working with the beta group, it was discovered that I was able to find bugs and crashes, reproduce them over and over again, and give detailed instructions on how to reproduce them. From there, I was given the new role of Software Tester, which eventually led to my job in IT as Software QA. I believe that is an amazing lesson. I often think back to that day and how something as simple as having a positive attitude and not complaining changed the entire course of my career.
Liftoff: What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Kam: I have always loved to cook and bake. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be cooking but I do a lot of baking too. All of my hobbies have to do with the home. I recently bought a house and have had so much fun decorating, making curtains, learning to take care of the yard, and trying my hand at home repairs. I feel like it sounds kind of boring, but it makes me really happy. I also enjoy writing. Hopefully, I would love to write a series of children’s books one day!
Liftoff: What’s an interesting random fact about yourself?
Kam: I always have movie and TV quotes popping into my head. Honestly, most people would be surprised if they knew how often movie quotes pop into my head. I often blurt them out, and if someone gets it without me having to explain, it makes my day. Some of my favorite movies to quote are Billy Madison, Christmas Vacation, Matilda, Mean Girls, Zoolander, 21 Jump Street, Clue, Home Alone- the list goes on. I also appreciate when anyone else throws in a movie quote that fits what is going on at the moment.