Life at Fionta

Featured Fíontan: Meet Stephanie Byng

Stephanie Byng

February 20, 2020

You’ve been with us for about four months now. What first attracted you to Fíonta?

It’s important for me to be in an environment that is accepting of neurodiversity and can see the value in the unique perspective and special skills that I bring to the table. A lot of companies pay lip service to acceptance, but Fíonta puts real effort into curating a culture/environment where ideas are welcome, and there is no one-size-fits-all notion of what makes a good employee. Fíonta recognizes that everyone has unique talents and makes a special effort to assign them to tasks/projects that nurture those talents while providing an opportunity for professional growth.

I also like the diversity of projects that come with not working for a specific org. Every day I can learn something new. I also used to be a client working with Deborah, Al, Josh, Lisa G, Nina, Teresa, etc. so there was some comfort and familiarity already established.

What were you doing professionally before you came to Fíonta?

I was part of the management team at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) within the Science & Technology Policy Fellowships (STPF) program. In 2012, I started as an intern and was quickly promoted to a full-time staff member and then to a Team Lead/Business Analyst within STPF. I transformed the program’s operations from siloed spreadsheets living on desktops to connected systems supporting a network of fellows, staff, federal agencies, partner societies, and prospective applicants. My work to improve information management within STPF resulted in more efficient internal processes, the retainment of mission-critical institutional knowledge, and labor savings of thousands of hours each year.

What does a typical day in the Salesforce office look like?

Each day is different in some respects. The projects I work on, the tasks I do, and the meetings I’m in vary. I may be data mapping or fleshing out requirements for a new project, building processes and flows in Salesforce or 3^rd party tools, responding to client tickets, mapping business processes, brainstorming solutions/architecture, integrating 3^rd party apps, participating in client check-in/sprint review meetings, and more.

Tell me about a project that you’ve been a part of here at Fíonta that has been particularly meaningful to you. Why?

I’ve enjoyed aspects of several projects primarily because they have allowed me to expand my knowledge of functionality that I’ve barely touched in the past or allowed me to learn something new entirely. For Lifeflight Eagle, I was able to really hone my skills on FormAssembly’s Salesforce Connector to create membership signup forms with complicated workflows that create multiple records on Salesforce (including contacts, accounts, relationships, opportunities, GAUs, payments, and tasks) and include an Authorize.net component. I have since been able to utilize what I’ve learned to assist with misconfigured forms for other clients – making me quite popular with my colleagues. (Editor’s note: This is true.)

Which Fíonta core value(s) strike home for you and why?

Do I have to pick one? It’s hard to have one without the others as they all connect to create a culture that supports professional growth and encourages healthy communication/culture. While these values seem like common sense, they are hard to find in the “wild” and impossible to force. Just like it takes the right ensemble to create a hit TV show, Fíonta has curated a cast of characters that inherently make it easier to strive toward these ideals. It’s not always perfect, and transitioning into this environment can be difficult when you need to shed the tough skin created by past experiences. Once I learned to open myself up to trust, the cloud of frustration, stress, and anxiety caused by the office politics that once consumed my life, has started to fade away.

What’s Stephanie doing at Fíonta in a year?

Still learning, improving, building cool stuff, and leading my own projects.

What do you do when you’re not delighting Fíonta customers?

Play with Legos, model trains and Arduino, binge TV, explore the C&O Canal towpath, learn the cello, bake, read, and attend the University of Maryland as a student in the Master’s in Information Management program.