Quick heads-up: this is a role-play review from my point of view. I’m sharing what it felt like to go through “TSI careers” as a real person—looking for jobs, interviewing, and working there. I’ll tell you what worked for me, what didn’t, and the small moments that stuck.
How I Found My Fit
I first met TSI at a small career fair in Shoreview, Minnesota. Snow day, heavy boots, bad coffee—pretty normal. A friendly recruiter asked me about data work and lab gear. You know what? I liked that mix. Tech plus real stuff you can touch. Not just screens. If you want to browse the full range of what they build and why it matters, the TSI homepage lays it out better than any booth banner.
I applied that same week. My resume wasn’t fancy. But I kept it clear: SQL, Power BI, a service mindset, and a short note on safety data. That last bit helps here. They make instruments that measure air, dust, and other things you don’t want in your lungs. It’s serious work. I’ve unpacked the full backstory and timeline in a separate narrative, which you can skim in this expanded role-play POV.
Timeline was decent. Phone screen in a week. Panel interview the week after. Offer the next week. It wasn’t rushed, but it didn’t drag either.
The Interview: Not a Trick, But Not Easy
- I had a 30-minute call with a recruiter. Basic stuff: goals, pay range, timeline.
- Then a video panel with a manager, a senior analyst, and a field service lead.
- A take-home task: clean a messy CSV and build a simple dashboard.
Real example: the CSV had missing dates and two time zones. I wrote a tiny Python script to fix it, then used Power BI for the dashboard. Nothing wild. But they cared more about clear notes than fancy charts. I wrote a two-line doc on “what I did and why.” The manager thanked me for that alone.
Another bit they tossed in: a role-play call with a “customer” (it was the field lead). I had to explain why a sensor showed a spike. I didn’t guess. I asked questions first—room vents? new filter? door traffic? We found the cause together. They liked that I didn’t bluff.
The multi-step format—screen, panel, take-home, role-play—felt strikingly similar to the cadence I experienced when I later did a first-person review of Jack Henry’s hiring process.
Onboarding: Short, Sweet, a Little Dusty
First week felt calm. Badge, laptop, Teams channels, safety brief. I liked the lab tour most. You hear the soft hum of fans. You smell isopropyl from cleaning. It felt… real. Not magic. Real work.
They gave me a buddy. Her name was Jen. She made me a cheat sheet with:
- Where to file tickets (Jira)
- Who owns what product line
- Common “gotchas” in the data (time drift, duplicate serials)
Simple sheet. Huge help.
The Work: Two Tracks, One Brain
I joined as a Data Analyst. But I shadowed Field Service too. Honestly, that blend is the sweet spot here.
- On a Tuesday, I’d fix a report for warranty claims.
- On a Thursday, I’d watch a tech calibrate a particle counter on a hospital floor. Quiet hall. Soft beeps. Cart squeaks. You learn fast when you see it live.
Real example: a report showed zero service calls in a busy region. That made no sense. I found the issue—a drop-down filter got saved wrong. I fixed it, wrote a short guardrail (No “All” filter? Show a warning), and sat with the service team to explain it. Calls jumped the next week. Not because work changed. Because the report did.
Tools I used a lot: Power BI, SQL Server, SharePoint, Jira, Teams, and, yes, Excel. Field teams used Salesforce for tickets and parts. We met every Monday with a tight agenda and a little small talk—weather, sports, someone’s new puppy named Waffles.
The People: Practical and Kind
No one peacocks. Managers say what they mean. Folks wear fleece vests and comfy shoes. We had a chili cook-off in February. I did not win. It’s fine. My chili was weird.
One small thing I loved: “no hero” culture. If a sensor went weird at 5 p.m., you logged it, set a clear handoff, and went home. The idea was: fix it right, not fast and sloppy.
Growth: Slow Steps, Real Steps
Training money was real. I got a Power BI course and a short Python class paid for. A senior dev let me pair on a small API job, even if it wasn’t “my role.” That stretch work opened a door. I later owned a tiny internal data service that sent daily health checks for high-value units. It wasn’t flashy. But folks used it. That felt good.
Pay and Perks: Solid for Minnesota
My base was in the mid-70s. Health plan was normal. 401(k) match was fine. I got decent PTO and one volunteer day. The office coffee? It did the job. The big perk was balance. If snow slammed the roads, no fuss—work from home. I did a lot of winter mornings in wool socks, dog snoring by my feet, VPN on. For a broader sampling of pay stories and culture notes, check the candid TSI employee reviews on Glassdoor.
The Tough Stuff
- Approvals took time. A simple script change could sit in review for days.
- Legacy systems ran the show in spots. You learn patience.
- If you hate process, you’ll get itchy.
- Travel days for field folks can be long. Airports, hotel gyms, late dinners—some people like it. Some don’t.
If you do end up on one of those marathon service trips and find yourself with an evening to spare near Tacoma or neighboring Puyallup, you might wonder what the local nightlife looks like; the straightforward USA Sex Guide Puyallup can clue you in on venues, etiquette, and safety tips so you can explore responsibly without stumbling into awkward surprises.
Real example: our parts lead time report broke on quarter-end. It pulled from a manual sheet that changed tabs each quarter. I wanted to automate it in a day. It took a month. Not because I couldn’t code it, but because we needed two teams to bless it. I got grumpy. Then I wrote a cleaner spec and walked it through, step by step. It stuck after that.
Three Moments That Stuck With Me
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Fixing a Scary Alert: A hospital got a spike alert. Everyone panicked. The tech checked airflow, I checked logs. We found a door schedule change. Not a leak. We tuned the threshold and added a note to the alert footer: “Check changes in room use first.” Calm beats fear.
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A Small Win With Big Ripple: I added a “why this changed” note below a monthly ops chart. It showed that the dip wasn’t broken gear—it was planned downtime for updates. Less noise in the chat. More trust in the numbers.
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A Human Thing: My manager noticed I looked wiped during a standup. He said, “Take the afternoon. No reason needed.” I slept. Came back sharp. That kind of care sticks.
Who Thrives Here?
- People who like hands-on tech and clear purpose.
- Folks who can talk to engineers and nurses, and not change tone too much.
- People who don’t mind process, and even help make it smoother.
Who might struggle:
- Folks who need wild speed or flashy launches.
- People who hate checklists. This place runs on checklists.
Tips If You’re Applying
- Show you can talk to non-tech folks. Use plain words.
- Put real tools on your resume: Power BI, SQL, Jira, Salesforce, SAP, or CMMS.
- Add one safety or quality win. Even a small one.
- In the interview, ask about data sources and field feedback loops. That lands well.
- Bring a tiny sample: a one-page dashboard with a two-line “why” note. Keep it tidy.
Side note: when you’re juggling Slack pings from coworkers, recruiter emails, and the occasional flirtatious text, it helps to sharpen your digital-etiquette game—the straightforward Sexting Handbook walks through consent-first messaging, photo-safety best practices, and crisis-averting tips so you can keep personal chats fun and drama-free without derailing your job hunt.
Also, don’t sleep on AI helpers; I spent six weeks tinkering with one and wrote about the messy-but-useful ride here. Even if you only steal a prompt or two, it can shave hours off resume tweaks.
Additional pro tip: for a wider lens on career-hunting strategies and industry insights, take a spin through the resources at [