The best kind of teammate? Someone who pursues excellence, serves passionately, and follows through. We’re fortunate to solve problems alongside Stephanie Northern — a proactive, dedicated Consultant at SingleStone.
If you ask her a question or mention a challenging topic, she does the work and delivers — even if it's beyond her realm of responsibilities. She’s a go-getter, a trusted peer, and we know that work is in good hands whenever she’s involved!
World, meet Stephanie.
Tell me about the journey that got you to this point...
It’s a funny story. My work at SingleStone started with recruiting and hiring tech experts and professionals. After five years, I transitioned into a consulting role and have worked there for 2 years and counting.
It was a combination of curiosity and a desire to solve complex problems that led me to make the career change. I didn’t anticipate it, but here I am. I recently earned my AWS Cloud Practitioner Certificate. I'm grateful to continue learning and developing new skills every day.
Curiosity is critical to problem solving. We’re curious how Stephanie Northern approaches a problem...
I crave the "big picture." As much context as I can possibly get my hands on — details are everything. This allows me to approach problems more strategically and consider all factors involved.
My favorite details are the ones that impact user experience directly.
Consulting has a lot of moving parts, what’s your favorite tool to use and why?
It’s been exciting to explore virtual tools that I've never even heard of. Right now, my favorite tool is Mural. I’ve missed our office whiteboard walls, with sticky notes for days, and Mural’s been very useful for team collaboration. It’s also pretty intuitive.
Have you overcome any project challenges in the past year?
In early 2020, I was on a project that was heavily tech-focused (we built a new AWS architecture and strategy for deploying large applications in the cloud). The deep technical learning curve was challenging to start — especially for someone who needs to see the "big picture" and understand all the things. But by the end of the project, I could comfortably discuss the future of our client's cloud architecture with their CTO. It was a great feeling.
What advice do you have for someone getting started in the consulting industry?
- Do not underestimate the power of whiteboarding with a colleague to better understand a problem, concept, or approach.
- If you can, join a tech project and simply shadow the team for 2 weeks: Watch, learn, and ask all the questions.
And, to bring it home — what do you love about SingleStone?
The people. Everyone is so talented in their own way... they motivate me to bring my best self to work and keep striving.
