As one of the six original employees to LeaseTeam, now LTi and the third most tenured employee, after 28 years of working at LTi, Joyce Berglund is saying farewell to her life as a Software Engineer and hello to life as a Retiree! We wanted to reflect on Joyce’s extensive career and her impact on LTi over the nearly past three decades.
28 years at LTi…
- Joyce, how long have you worked at LTi Technology Solutions?
Well, officially November 1992 when Randy called me up and wanted me to come back to work. Originally, I worked in the Omaha office from February 1990 to December 1991, so nearly two years and that’s when we were located on 27th and Harney street in Midtown Omaha. That was our first office. It was a very fun time being in the office then.
I ended up moving to Houston and then 11 months later in November 1992, Randy called me and asked if I could work from home and help with the backlog of software requests. I had two daughters in grade school and that sounded like a wonderful possibility and decided to give it a try.
…now I need to chat with Randy and let him know I’m finished! The LeasePlus product is stabilized, it’s all under control, and it’s time for me to step out!
I’m truly grateful to be a part of this amazing group of people and watch this company grow!
- What does your job entail?
Primarily over these years, it has been custom developments, which is something outside our traditional offering. It needs to be built into our existing product as a custom program. There’s a lot of design and legwork, coding, unit testing, and then passing it over to Q/A so it can be delivered. I would say about 90-95% LTi users that needed a custom that I was probably involved with that customer. I also have taken care of the product for all users by fixing standard bugs and standard support of the product.
- What do you like most about your job?
The freedom and independence of being able to be a thousand percent productive without any interruptions. It was really a good fit for me. When you’re working from home, you’re unseen so people don’t even know you are there but things are always being delivered. There’s more motivation to being an off-site employee.
- What is the best lesson you have?
Over my career, I’ve seen technology just continue to move so fast. It became impossible to know it all. That leads to becoming specialized in an area because you cannot learn it all. That’s what it has become at this point. In the beginning, you had to know it all because it was tiny at that point. It was different watching technology advance back then.
- What would you do (for a career) if you weren’t doing this?
I fell into computer systems in 1975 on mainframes with 80 column punch cards and then into mini-computers. My Westside high school ‘office occupations’ education included typing, shorthand, and accounting. I most likely would have been in the accounting field.
- What do you like to do when you aren’t working?
I love to garden because it’s always an ongoing experiment and learning process. I live in a tropical area so you can garden year round here. I also have three beautiful grandchildren to spoil. For many years I have been a volunteer at a local cat rescue and have 4 cats of my own.
- What’s a fun fact about you many people may not know?
I’m 100% Swedish. All four of my grandparents came here through Ellis Island in the 1920s, so I proudly enjoy celebrating my Swedish heritage.
- Where’s your favorite place in the world?
The beach
- What is your motto or personal mantra?
Always do your best and do it right the first time!
- Three words to best describe you:
Loyal, authentic, and WYSIWYG – It’s an ’80s acronym back when computers first came out. It means, ‘What you see is what you get.’
- What is the one thing you can’t live without?
Coffee
- If you could have any superpower what would it be?
Time-traveling
- The last question that many people are probably wondering is – what are you planning to do once you retire?
I’m looking forward to turning off the alarm clock and just relaxing and ‘figuring out what I want to be when I grow up.’ I will certainly miss working with the great people of LTi.
A few of our favorite memories with Joyce…Congrats on your retirement!
“Joyce is an exceptional programmer. Her work ethic and level of quality are second to none. Joyce has been with LeaseTeam, now LTi, since the very beginning and has done everything the company has asked her to do. As a long-time programmer, she easily adapts to new technologies.” – Paul Richling
“Joyce is a great developer with lots of knowledge and wisdom and loads of experience! She is very diligent, a hard worker, and a perfectionist! She has been a pleasure to work with and I will miss working with her! I wish her the best in her new chapter of her life!” – Jack Gallagher
“Where do you start with Joyce… One of the most impactful and respected employees we have ever had at LeaseTeam and then at LTi. When I think of collaboration and teamwork, Joyce always comes to mind. When I think of LeasePlus and LeasePlus customs, I think of Joyce again. She has been with us for over 30 years as a vital part of our company, and the very first LTi remote employee working out of the Houston, TX area for many, many years.
There is likely not a piece of LeasePlus code she has not touched in all her years with the company. Today, we have departments and teams to manage the ASPIRE v5 solution. For many years, we had Joyce maintaining the LeasePlus COBOL solution, and when she was not doing that she was working very closely with Jack Gallagher and our customers in creating custom reports and enhancements to that workhorse product that is still functioning for over 100 LTi customers today. The one thing about Joyce is that when she reviewed the work involved with getting custom LeasePlus coding, it always got done. You could bet that work would not only be done on time but would be done right the first time. Measure twice cut once epitomizes Joyce’s work. She is a master craftswomen developer. Today, she still models the behavior that we all respect and look up to at LTi. We would not be where we are as a company without all the efforts Joyce has put into her career.
Plus, I always looked forward to seeing Joyce in our office either in person or via and the holiday Cookie tins and Jalapeno Chips she shared year after year.
One single thing I would say is that “We ‘Love’ Joyce. I can’t thank her enough for all she has done over her 30 years at LTi. She has put off her retirement from LTi for many years to pitch in and help when we needed resources to help us with all things LeasePlus related. Joyce, we wish you the very best in your retirement years, and can’t thank you enough!” – Randy Haug
