Adaptability is Key: Lessons from an NSC Alum Now at Amazon
The following first appeared in the Seattle Colleges Foundation’s “The College Minute” newsletter.
When Amazon engineer Lenny Brown looks back, he credits North Seattle College’s bachelor’s program in Application Development with teaching him the ultimate tech skill: the willingness and drive to keep learning. In his view, a sustainable tech career depends on staying adaptable and curious — “genuinely believing that you can learn whatever tooling you run into, because it never stops changing.”
“The instruction I got at North was, by many standard deviations, better than what I had before,” says Lenny, who earlier started a computer science program at a big-name school in New York. “At North, they’re there to teach, not to research, and it shows. There’s a practicality and groundedness to it.”
At North, App Dev instructors like Bob McHenry helped Lenny master databases and cloud systems, skills that soon led to a job at Slalom Consulting. There, a cloud project for Amazon Web Services opened the door to Amazon itself, where he now works in Amazon Benchmarking.
Five years into a career with high-flying tech companies, Lenny has suggestions for those hoping to enter or stay in the industry. Along with his core recommendation to stay open and keep learning, he adds: “Find the tools you enjoy and become the hands-down best at them. Specialists fare better than generalists — especially if you’re specializing in something your company truly needs.”
Lenny also talks about the human dimension of tech success. “Don’t just randomly network — make friends. Every opportunity I’ve had came from people I worked with and liked. You only need a few of those relationships to change your career.”
And one final tip: If you’re looking for tech education, choose North. “I’ve recommended it to everyone who’s asked — and a few who haven’t!”