Techie Tuesday spotlights the talented and diverse tech talent at Onix. It’s where we introduce you to the people on our stellar services team.
This regular feature on our blog gives you a sneak peek into the world of technology and gives you the inside scoop on what it takes to succeed in work and life.
Lisa Hester, Solutions Architect, shares her insights from a lengthy and varied career in technology and also provides tips for creating a well-balanced and creative life.
What is Your Role at Onix?
I'm a pre-sales Solutions Architect. In this role, I work with our sales team to help customers solve business problems with cloud-based solutions. When I started at Onix, I focused on Application Development; helping customers refactor legacy applications and using my knowledge of application development and data practices to develop solutions for our customers. I also work with customers to mature their data practices, help support Onix’s data practice and I’m working on my GCP Professional Data Engineer certification.
What Makes You Excited to Come to Work Each Day?
I really love helping customers solve tough problems. I get to see how customers have solved problems, sometimes not having all the tools they need but repurposing what they had at their disposal. It takes a level of creativity to be able to look at the functionality of an application and then tweak it to fill a business need; mostly configuring out-of-the-box applications. I love that space where creativity and technology meet.
Tell Us About Your Favorite Project.
I’ve been a part of so many interesting projects at Onix; I can’t choose just one. My favorite projects are always the ones where the team comes together to find a really clever solution.
What Do You Like to Do Outside of Work?
I’ve curated a list of life experiences I’d like to have. They range from learning new skills, taking up new leisure sports and trying new foods. The pandemic has really made it challenging to accomplish some of the things on my list, but I did manage to learn some basic gun safety and learn to shoot a pistol. I’ve also done a lot of hiking at local places that I never had the opportunity to hike before, I watched the Star Wars movies in chronological order, and I’ve taught my dogs some new tricks.
I’m going to continue to work on my list as people get vaccinated and more things open up. I still have to find the best Indian food in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. I want to learn Taekwondo and Pickleball. Life is all about exploring new places and having new experiences so you will more than likely find me doing something along those lines.
Share Something You Wish People in the Industry Knew.
I work with some amazing people who know so much about so many different subjects. But the thing that makes a technical team great is that not one person knows everything. We each bring to the table a skill, knowledge or experience that makes a great team so never be afraid to say you don’t know. That’s just an opportunity to learn something new.
Any Advice for Someone Looking to Do What You Do?
Even if you don’t start out in college in a technical field of study or start your career in a technical field, there’s still room for you in tech. In fact, that thing you bring to the table from your original field of study or career choice could be the next innovation. So my advice would be if you’re interested in tech, begin studying it. There are so many resources out there to learn what you want to know. Just choose one and start to learn.
Anything Else You'd Like to Share with Our Readers?
I love a good quote, so I'll leave you with this: “Success is not a goal to reach or a finish line to cross. It's a system to improve, an endless process to refine.” — James Clear, Atomic Habits
