Woman in Tech of the Month – Angela Brownsey

Woman in Tech of the Month is our series exploring the achievements of brilliant women who are building their technology-based careers. This month, we’re excited to have Angela, the winner of our recent Web Development course competition, as our WiT of the Month. In our interview, Angela spoke to us about her career in UX Design, the skills she learned on the course and how she will use them in the future.

Tell me about your career so far and what interested you in technology?

My background is in UX design, so I create products that provide meaningful experiences to users. I’m passionate about creating products that will be helpful and useful to people.

I studied industrial design at university, which brought me nicely onto UX as they share a lot of the same principles. I got my first job at a large online retailer, which was a great way of exposing me to a variety of systems. I was able to work across ecommerce, as well as supply chain and delivery apps, on new software and service mapping. So, when I came to PA Consulting, it wasn’t so daunting being put on a range of projects because I had built my confidence and a solid knowledge base.

Why did you apply to the Web Development course?

I helped out a couple of years ago teaching a UX part of the original coding courses. When they were advertised this time around, I thought it would be a good chance to understand more about the web development side of technology. I work with a lot of developers in my role as a designer and I have a good understanding of what they do, but I don’t know how to code a website. I thought it would be a good idea to understand how developers would break down my designs and enable better conversations with them.

What did you enjoy about the course?

It was so daunting at the beginning. I’ve tried to learn Web Development on my own before but found learning online gave me too much information which wasn’t broken down in a digestible way. The women who teach the courses are patient and knowledgeable about the field, which made the experience much more fun and interactive.

What did you develop for the competition?

My colleague and I created a website that encourages people to take a break from their desk. We were both suffering from being stuck inside working, and not having that time in the office to speak to others as a break. We created a website that tells you all the benefits of getting up and moving every so often, alongside a game that gives you an exercise, like get up and do 10 star jumps. With my experience of UX, I was able to do the website design relatively quickly and then focus on the coding aspect.

How will you take what you learned forward?

I never had the intention of switching careers to become a coder, but in UX you must be able to collaborate with the engineers. Now, having a better idea of how to break down designs for development is so beneficial.

I would also love to add an introduction to UX to the course, there are so many areas of technology out there and I think raising awareness of the different career paths is essential. Courses like these give you a great introduction into the technology world and help upskill women to build a diverse tech workforce.