Imagine someone working in a call center, helping customers troubleshoot a service. All day they walk people through the basics. “Click this button.” “That feature is on the left.” “Is your monitor plugged in?” The repetition is exhausting, but over time they build a muscle for it. They’re trained to stay calm when customers get frustrated. They learn to handle confusion and blame from people who are often less informed and completely outside the system. They get training. They have scripts. The role is understood, and the distance helps.
When your customers are your peers, the dynamic shifts. They know the system. They use the same tools. In some areas, they might be more senior than you. Many of their questions could be solved on their own if they had the time or context, but they’ve come to you. That changes how it feels to support them.
That makes support harder. The stakes feel personal. The feedback is direct. There’s an internal pressure to be right, to be helpful, and to be respected. People who thrive in this environment often care deeply about how they’re perceived by their peers.
You’re not just solving a problem. You’re being observed while solving it by someone whose opinion carries weight. It’s like answering a colleague’s medical question when you’re also a doctor. You choose your words more carefully. You’re not just explaining; you’re collaborating.
But it also makes the work more rewarding. These peers might file the pull request. They might pair with you to debug the issue. Sometimes they work with you to raise the bar for everyone. Sometimes you learn from them. Sometimes they say thank you. Sometimes the only feedback is silence; a quiet signal that the tool did its job.
Supporting your peers is not accidental work. It is one of the core hats worn by product-minded teams. It takes patience, clarity, and consistency to support people who work alongside you and rely on what you build. It is still customer service, but for people who speak your language and know what good looks like. That makes it harder, and it makes it matter more.
The way you support others shapes how they experience your work. When support is part of the product, wearing that hat well becomes part of delivering value.
