Taska Harnischfeger

Languages: English (Native), German (Fluent)
Citizenship: USA & Germany
Teaching Certification: CELTA Pass B

Almstadtstr. 22, 10119 Berlin
taska@taska.org
0177 4667046



Education

Berlin School of English Teacher Training Centre
Cambridge ESOL CELTA English Teacher Training

Berlin
April 2008

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität
Zwischenprüfung, Near Eastern Archaeology

Munich
February 2008

University of Chicago
Bachelor of Arts, Biology

Chicago
June 1997



Work Experience

IBM
Team Lead, EMEA Enterprise Technical Support
Senior Technical Support Engineer

Berlin, Munich
2004 - 2006

Hired, trained, and supervised new Munich-based support team for Europe, Middle East, and Africa for IBM Websphere Product Center, a product information management tool formerly known as Trigo Product Center. Trained and coached German team members in technical skills, customer service skills, business English, and international social and business usage. Managed relationships with development teams in India and California, and with management team in California. Represented customers in internal feature and bug-fix prioritization meetings. Escalation specialist for critical situations for customers worldwide.
Customers included: El Corte Ingles, Carrefour, Kraft

Trigo Technologies
Senior Technical Support Engineer

Silicon Valley (Brisbane), Berlin
2003 - 2004

Provided post-sales support for worldwide enterprise clients of Trigo Product Center. Managed long-term customer relationships with clients in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Spain, Korea, and elsewhere. Performed troubleshooting, created and negotiated plans for problem solution with customers, and coordinated solution creation among worldwide engineering teams.
Customers included: Sony, Unilever, Hewlett-Packard

CollabNet
Support Account Manager
Senior Technical Support Engineer

Silicon Valley (Brisbane)
2001 - 2002

Managed post-sales support for major clients of SourceCast, a web-based software development tool, in the United States and Europe. Held regular issue portfolio status meetings with key client contacts; managed all aspects of requests from troubleshooting to code changes, patch creation, staging, testing, site rollout, and all customer communication. Advocated for customers in internal feature and bug-fix prioritization meetings.
Customers included: Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola

Eazel
Manager of Technical Support

Silicon Valley (Mountain View)
2000 - 2001

Linuxcare
Manager of Technical Support

Silicon Valley (San Francisco)
1999 - 2000

Mann Consulting
Technical Support Consultant

Silicon Valley (San Francisco)
1998 - 1999

University of Chicago Humanities Department
Manager of Technical Support

Chicago
1997 - 1998



References gladly provided upon request