Free support at support.pstnet.com

[mccarthyeberly at gmail.com]

Boiler plate: While I worked as a Technical Consultant at Psychology 
Software Tools for over four years, I am no longer affiliated with the 
company and anything I write here is my own opinion.  

____________

I have wanted to ask the Google group a question for a long time now:

What brings people to the Google Group for support instead of going to the 
web support site, support.pstnet.com? Support is free for most users and 
there is a new user forum over there 
(https://support.pstnet.com/categories/20140047-E-Prime-User-Forum). I know 
that there are some topics that are beyond the scope of support that can 
only be covered here, so I'm certainly not trying to knock the Google Group 
in any way, it is an important supplement. I am honestly just curious about 
people’s preferences.   

____________

I also wanted to give you a little “behind the scenes” of being a Technical 
Consultant at PST since yesterday was my last day there:

1) The Product Service and Support department is only staffed by about four 
Tech Consultants plus a manager to cover the entire user base. Most have 
bachelor’s degrees in Psychology. Besides support requests/e-mails, they 
also handle phone support, webinars, creating how-to videos and knowledge 
base articles, staffing trade shows, and other assorted tasks for other 
departments. Something I love about PST is the extent that my coworkers 
really care about the users and are very dedicated to improving their 
knowledge of the products and helping people as much as possible. 
(Remember, I don’t work there anymore, so they’re not paying me to say 
this!) 

2) PST as a whole has about 40 employees, all of whom are based in 
Pittsburgh, PA when they're not traveling all over the world. I left the 
company because I moving to Menlo Park, CA and I’m not so keen on a 2,600 
mile commute. Contrary to a somewhat popular belief, E-Prime is not the 
name of the company. 

3) I tend to be cautious about updating software in general (here’s looking 
at you, iOS 6) but I am confident enough in new E-Prime releases to know 
that if they get released to the public, they’re worth the update. I was 
there for at least four updates. Each release was significantly better than 
the last and was free for existing users. Unless you’re in the middle of 
data collection or can’t update for reasons listed on the download page in 
the website, I’ve secretly dreamt of showing up outside your university’s 
psychology department with a megaphone and a picket sign showing a link to 
the download page. I know very well that mixed labs with multiple versions 
can get complicated, but I also know it can get sorted out by working with 
someone from support because I’ve done it. 

4) They have a very, very competitive Halloween costume contest each year: 
https://www.facebook.com/PsychologySoftwareTools/photos_stream

5) This Hasp key and E-Prime 2.0 CD costume was so good, it deserved its 
own number on this list: 
https://www.facebook.com/PsychologySoftwareTools/photos/pb.241802160683.-2207520000.1394858474./10151710229700684/?type=3&theater\

This reminds me, I can finally admit that I get irritated by the term 
“dongle”. PST calls it a Hasp key. 

6) I had to fight the urge to write List just there. (E-Objects are 
capitalized in writing.) 

7) There are fancy potluck lunches and a beer fridge on site for Beer 
Fridays after work.  

8) As a result of writing so many support requests, I have developed a deep 
and abiding love for writing in the form of numbered lists.  

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