Mark Newell
Engineering Manager, Support Engineering, Chromatic
Managed DeAndre
DeAndre has deeply impacted the Support team and how we work with customers. He is thorough, remarkably efficient, and has a strong, persistent eye for detail.
I’m a senior support engineer with more than 10 years in SaaS, developer tools, and infrastructure.
I trace issues through APIs, databases, DNS, networking, and CI pipelines, reading or changing code when needed. I explain what I find to customers and work on the fixes, documentation, and tools that make the next case easier.
I also take on work that reaches beyond a single case. I led a move from Intercom to Plain and built a Go administration tool for Support and Solutions Engineering. It runs as a CLI and MCP server, redacts PII by default, and asks for confirmation before destructive actions.
GitHub activity
Enable JavaScript to view contributions.
Latest
Earlier
MagicBell, Inc.
Founding Support Engineer
2022
DNSimple Corp.
Technical Support Specialist
2020–2022
GitLab, Inc.
Support Engineer
2018–2020
SurveyGizmo
Technical Support Team Lead
2017–2018
Customer.io
Technical Support Specialist
2016
Groupon, Inc.
Onboarding Specialist, Travel
2013–2016
Customer Support Specialist, Travel
2012–2013
Testimonials
More →
I’ve been impressed with his ability to operate at multiple levels: he’s been instrumental in forming process, tooling and handling the day-to-day interactions.
He makes it a point to contribute to any and all discussions that drive our department forward, ensures that any ticket he touches receives expert service, and is always looking to expand his knowledge and that of his team.
How I work
Debugging and escalation
I’ve supported hosted and self-managed products over email, chat, phone, and video. I reproduce the problem first, then work out whether it comes from the product, the customer’s setup, infrastructure, or a support process. That has taken me through API and networking issues, implementation questions, and incident response.
From cases to product fixes
When the same issue keeps appearing, I work with engineering and product on the underlying problem. At GitLab, that meant changes to the product, tools for the support team, and a way to turn customer feedback into issues the team could act on.
Documentation
I write technical docs and troubleshooting guides so customers can find answers themselves. I also keep internal guidance current, so the next engineer can build on what we learned from a case.
Tools for support teams
I build tools when they make an investigation easier to repeat or a sensitive task safer to perform. I’ve worked on ChatOps, a Slack bot, and a Go support tool at GitLab. In my current role, I maintain the Chroma administration tool and shared support workflows. Where those workflows use AI, I keep PII protection, confirmation for destructive actions, and human review in place.
Tools and technical experience
Support operations
Support platform migrations and administration, routing and taxonomy design, escalation and QA processes, incident communication, and analysis of support work. Plain Intercom Zendesk HelpScout
Product and developer tools
Frontend and developer environment debugging, browser and integration testing, source control, and CI/CD. JavaScript TypeScript React Next.js HTML CSS Storybook Chromatic Playwright Cypress GitHub GitLab
Internal tools, APIs, and data
CLI and MCP server development, workflow automation, APIs, and data. Go Ruby Ruby on Rails Bash REST APIs GraphQL PostgreSQL MongoDB
Infrastructure and identity
Cloud infrastructure, containers, Linux, networking, observability, and identity and access. AWS GCP Kubernetes Docker Serverless Linux DNS Routing TCP/IP VPNs Firewalls OAuth2 OIDC SAML Azure Active Directory
Knowledge and AI-assisted workflows
Documentation and self-service support, plus AI-assisted workflows with PII safeguards, confirmation before destructive actions, and human review.