Life at Fionta

Featured Fíontan: Meet Maxime Paquin

Hockey Superstar Max Paquin
Champions! SFAHL Fall 2018 Novice Division

You’re coming up on your 3rd Fíonta anniversary! What first attracted you to us?

The ability to work from home – my oldest was two back then – was key. Also, I had never worked in the consulting world before so the idea of being exposed to so many different projects was very appealing. So yeah, nothing very Fíonta specific. I don’t think I realized back then how great the Fíonta team was.

What were you doing professionally before you came to Fíonta?

I worked as a Salesforce Developer at a firm called Goby. They specialized in sustainability consulting for real estate companies. Part of their business was to track their customer energy use and any sustainable metrics in Salesforce with the goal of helping them lower their carbon footprint and become more sustainable. That was my first “real” job. Before that, I was studying biology and teaching back in Montreal.

How did you first get involved with Salesforce? Is there a particular Cloud or type of activity within Salesforce that you really enjoy?

I started in 2012 as an admin at Goby, slowly made my way to a developer role there. I was very lucky and privileged to be at the right place at the right time for that job. My favorite cloud is the Community Cloud with all its quirkiness and how differently it operates compared to the rest of Salesforce. Being a developer, I just love solving problems with code. Taking one of our client’s needs and transforming it into a reality line by line is very satisfying to me.

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

I have been working closely with Mobile Beacon and NAMI for the last three years, so these would be my top 2 clients—both because of their missions and the fantastic people who work there.

Project-specific, I would say the Mobile Beacon Disaster Recovery Program is the most meaningful. In the aftermath of Hurricane Florence and Michael, their pages and processes needed to be updated to support people affected by those disasters. The Fíonta team and I were able to deliver the changes quickly, and when that feature went live, I was very proud that we were directly supporting the affected communities. (Editor’s note: Max should be proud!)

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

Always be improving. I love to learn new things, and I love to improve on what I learned. No matter what I do here at Fíonta, I always try to get something out of it and make it into a learning experience.

What’s Max doing at Fíonta in a year?

Visiting the DC office, hopefully? Leading a couple more projects, pushing our developer team further, hopefully still writing code, and always improving.

What do you like to do outside of work?

I have young kids, so when I am not working, I am usually taking care of them. When they are asleep, I enjoy wood carving and playing hockey (I am the perfect Quebecois caricature).

What brought you to the US from Canada?

My wife.

Café ou thé?

Café, lots of it. Nothing fancy. I will even drink instant coffee sometimes because I don’t have time to wait for the brew to finish.

Eléphants or girafes?

Castor. (Editor’s note: Google it for a laugh)

Chocolat au lait ou noir?

Depends on what you are making. If it is just to eat straight, chocolat noir 85%. (Editor’s note: 100% agree on 85% chocolat)

TV ou films?

Films used to work in a movie theatre. Not that I have time for either right now.

Beurre de noix préféré?

Beurre de peanut croquant.