I worked at a small startup (our office was a store room in a clothing store) and for the first couple years wrote the software and answered the phones along wi

I worked at a small startup (our office was a store room in a clothing store) and for the first couple years wrote the software and answered the phones along with another developer. Eventually we got larger and hired a support guy, but I still handled the tricker calls and covered during support guy's vacation. I did enjoy answering the phone and helping out the customers, though I didn't love the interrupt-driven nature of answering the phone. Being able to interact directly with customers did help improve our software, though. Over the course of many years, I got to know several customers pretty well, and even got invited to one's retirement party (sadly, it was in another state and I couldn't attend).