Stefanie Lynch, Engineering Manager at OneLogin, Talks on Transition from Marketing to Engineering
Stefanie is Engineering Manager at OneLogin Inc. She came to engineering later, after starting a career in marketing and product, and loves being able to actively contribute to building features that will enhance the customer experience.
In this blog profile, she gives us a peek into her work at OneLogin and how it translates to her hopes for the tech industry.
What is your favorite part about working in tech?
I get to work with smart and interesting people, and there’s always an opportunity to learn something new. From a broader perspective, it’s really gratifying to get to focus on improving a product that affects so many people.
What is your typical work day like?
I have standups with my team, where we talk about blockers and try to help each other move forward. Often, I review upcoming features with product, where we figure out how we can make the greatest impact given our resources, and then scope out how to balance upcoming features with bug fixes and security improvements. Right now I also spend a good amount of time interviewing candidates for open positions. BY THE WAY, ONELOGIN IS HIRING!
What is important for you in a company culture?
I like working in an environment where people have the humility to readily share their roadblocks and ask questions without fear of judgement of their peers. Everyone has something valuable to teach, and open communication really benefits everyone.
How did you get started in tech? What was the most important decision on why you decided to get into tech?
In school, I studied architecture and sustainable engineering, but I found that my work experience in this area was less creative than I’d imagined, and I wasn’t ready to take the next steps in graduate school. So I started at a very small startup in a marketing role which soon grew into a product role. I found myself wanting to understand more about how engineers were building the product, and wanting to contribute myself as well. I did a significant amount of self education in addition to a bootcamp program in order to gain the skill-set needed for a start in an engineering role.
What advice would you give to your younger self, when you were just studying to become an engineer?
Don’t be afraid to start. Everyone started from zero at one point, and there are plenty of resources available that can help you along the way. Ask lots of questions, even when you feel silly.
How do you balance people management and technical work?
The two can go together - I enable people to do their best work by allowing them to explore areas of interest and offering guidance along the way.
How do you make sure you’re always in the know for the latest technologies?
I read some blogs and technical news to find out about new tech, even when it might not affect me and my team. I find out a lot from friends and colleagues about what’s new that might be relevant to me. At OneLogin, we have weekly tech talks where people can share something they are working on, or that might be useful to implement internally.
What technical projects are you and your team currently working on?
We’re working on a few large initiatives. We’re replacing some older projects entirely, replacing monolithic pieces of an older Rails repository into smaller chunks, with a set of APIs and front end, mostly using React and Node. One team is also developing a “sandbox” approach to clone account data and allow administrators to try out large scale changes before applying those to their user base.
What is one of your favorite resources for technical development?
It probably won’t come as a surprise for any engineers, but I spend a lot of time on StackOverflow. Some people really go above and beyond educating the community, and there’s a lot to be gained from learning from other people willing to share their roadblocks and solutions.
What is the best career/personal advice you’ve ever received?
Be bold, ask for what you want. What’s the worst that could happen?
What is it like to be a woman in engineering? Do you feel that your gender gives you a different perspective and experience from your male counterparts? Any advantages?
I’m often the only woman in a room, but I don’t spend much time noticing or thinking about it. I do think I’m lucky to be working in an environment and with people who don’t remind me of our differences.
What are your thoughts on diversity in the tech industry? What can we do to make it better?
It’s really important, and an ongoing problem. There are so many social and economic factors that contribute to where we are today, which makes it hard to point to any one solution. What’s been encouraging to me personally is the being in a company and industry where some prerequisite background isn’t everything - a person interested and motivated to learn can come into an engineering from any background. Even if it means hiring more junior engineers, companies in the long run really benefit from the diversity of perspective.
What’s your favorite book/food/podcast?
I’ve read nearly every Murakami book. It’s hard to pick favorites on food, I like it all - maybe an exceptional hard cheese. I listen to a lot of Planet Money, This American Life, and My Favorite Murder (don’t judge me).
Where do you see yourself in 10 years? What do you wake up looking forward to?
I wake up looking forward to how I can make things a little better today - for my team, the company, and myself. In 10 years, I want to be running a whole department and organization, and balancing my work life with family.
Stefanie will be sharing more about her experience at ModelExpand’s upcoming #WomeninTech Breakfast. The #WomeninTech Breakfast Series provides a space for women to connect, inspire and uplift one another. Check out our upcoming events here or learn more about our sponsorship opportunities.
ModelExpand: ModelExpand is a diversity and inclusion advisory firm that helps companies attract and retain diverse talent through strategic consulting, workshops and events.
