Beyond the Forum: Jamie Griffis

The success of our Teamcenter community would not be possible without the dedication of all of our community members. We started a series within the Teamcenter blog to give you a chance to get to know these users and share our appreciation for their commitment to everyone’s success.

We previously had a chance to chat with Randy Ellsworth to figure out more about what drives him to be so active within the community. Today we are talking to another regular face on the forums, Jamie.

I hope you enjoy the interview!

Okay, can you please tell me about yourself? Who you are and what you do…

My name is Jamie Griffis, the Teamcenter Solution Architect for Rocket Lab. I was born and raised in Nebraska, but currently living in Wisconsin. I’ve been interested in drafting and design for as long as I can remember. In high school, I took as many classes in mechanical and architectural drafting as I could fit into my schedule. I even placed 1^st Place for Nebraska in mechanical drafting in VICA (now SkillsUSA) both at the high school and college levels. My career started out after college as a Mechanical designer retrofitting machine tools, centerless grinders, etc. This is where I found that I like a bit more of a challenge to my job and became a certified IFPS Hydraulic specialist. I’ve worked all over the USA because my husband was in the US Army and naturally, we moved when ordered. With our final Army relocation in 2006, I ended up in the greater Seattle Washington area. This is where my entire career shifted into Teamcenter, more about that below. I honestly enjoy Teamcenter data migrations because each one comes with a different challenge and I like to solve the puzzle. I’ve also worked as a Teamcenter consultant for several years before going back into a “civilian” role at Rocket Lab.

How did you first become interested in Teamcenter?

Looking back now, I’d say that Teamcenter picked me because I wasn’t given much of a choice. I would say that I enjoy it because I’ve continued my career in Teamcenter. I didn’t even know what Teamcenter was until I started my job at The Robbins Company in 2006. They were already down a path to replace AutoCAD with Solid Edge and Teamcenter when I got hired. With all growing pains of the new system, that was when my manager (VP of Engineering) decided to promote me to CAD Manager making me responsible for the decisions on Solid Edge, Teamcenter, and our drafting/modeling/design standards. I took as much formal training with Siemens as I could get on Teamcenter, started attending PLM World/Realize Live to network and to just learn as much as I could to make better decisions on our path with Teamcenter. Eventually empowered with more knowledge, I moved us off a multisite TcX environment into a single Teamcenter UA 8.3 environment.  From there, I just continued to look for new challenges and Teamcenter will never disappoint you in that area.

What drives you to be active in the Teamcenter community?

Teamcenter is such a huge product and it is constantly changing. The community is a place where we can all come together to share our experiences and help others with their challenges, but also ask for help when we need it. We are all trying to do the same basic thing at the end of the day – create a functional PLM system that works for our business and get our job done. I find it interesting how many different ways a problem can be solved in Teamcenter. I learn new things in the community just by reading posts, and I share what I know to help others find their answers/solutions faster. The community doesn’t work if people aren’t trying to help answer questions.

What do you receive from being active within our community?

I remember being brand new, not knowing how to find the answers I needed and being overwhelmed by reading the help guide. The community was a place I found so many answers. I don’t want anyone to struggle as I did in the beginning, so I’m there to give back to the community to help when I can. I also learn new things reading the posts on the community, and I have a place that I feel comfortable asking questions when I need to as well.

Can you tell me about the relationships you have created, working with Teamcenter?

I’ve made some long-time friends within the community, at PLM World/Realize Live and even with some of the Siemens employees. We all have a bond over this software, and I’d say in my experience we are all rooting for everyone to succeed with Teamcenter no matter where they work.

What do you like to do in your free time?

In my free time, I like to go to the movies. I like historical movies, but I’ll watch just about anything especially true crime dramas. I enjoy crocheting, reading, getting tattoos, and spending time with my family & dogs.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

Omnilingualism – to understand and communicate in any language, even code! I’d think this would come in handy to understand Teamcenter better. Reading those syslogs can be a chore some days.

If you were not working in the software industry, what would you do for a career?

I really had a passion for Hydraulic design, so I’d see myself still in a mechanical/hydraulic design roll.

What’s your unpopular opinion?

Star Wars movies are overrated. I find them unbearable to watch.

Thank you to Jamie for taking her time to interview with us. If you’re interested in finding out more about her, you can contact her within the Teamcenter community or LinkedIn.