Anna Vo

What do you do?

I work for Widen (http://www.widen.com), an Acquia company, in Madison, WI as a Front End Developer Lead. I work with various teams to develop web-based software that focuses on managing digital assets such as photography, branded content, collateral and other marketing materials. Companies use our products to organize and distribute their branded materials and to fulfill other workflow needs which center around the life cycle of digital content.

While I often touch the full stack (server side/back end and front end) my primary passion is front end development, which focuses on the view that users interact with. Areas that the front end is concerned with is rendering valid HTML and CSS markup (the user interface), interactions and transitions, cross-browser solutions, responsive and mobile design, accessibility and usability.

Technologies that I use currently on a day to day basis are primarily modern JavaScript, React, Typescript, GraphQL, Java, Playwright, Jest, Yarn, Node, Webpack, Git, IntelliJ, and VSCode.

I work closely with a team of other developers, quality assurance (QA), user experience (UX) designers/researchers, and product management. We have a daily standup and periodic meetings throughout the week using Agile/Scrum methodologies to groom and point stories that we'll be taking on in upcoming sprints. My job also includes being a point of contact for cross-team communication, helping to set standards and improve process, mentoring and on-boarding, job interviews, pushing forward accessibility, code reviews, and other responsibilities.

How did you get there?

I took a lot of math, computer, and art classes in high school and participated in a number of extra-curricular activities such as web design, strategy and tactics club, yearbook and sports. I continued that trend at UW-Whitewater and double majored in Management Computer Systems (the programming major at the time) and Graphic Design. During that time I worked as a webmaster, created websites for various businesses while working for an Internet company, and then moved into freelance work before getting hired at Widen.

During my time at Widen, I shifted across multiple positions from working with clients and gathering and defining application specs to software development. I became greatly interested in the design of our applications, especially the usability aspect and ended up getting user experience certification through the Nielsen Norman Group, the general UX certification in 2014 and then in interaction design the following year. Now I work almost completely in the front end space.

What advice do you have for current computer science students?

It's important to focus on the things that you love. There's always going to be someone else who wants to work on the things you hate. However, take this advice with a pragmatic grain of salt and try to fit what you love within the expectations of where you want your future self to be. If money is important to your future self, then tailor your education and career so it incorporates what you love with potential job growth. Break down what you like. Is it creating? Putting things together? Fixing? Communicating? Diversify your skill set initially for the most flexibility. Specialization comes with time and interest.

Learn to love the process, not the outcome. The outcome is transient. Most of the software that's written is often discarded, re-written or modified by others. Every outcome is another building block. We're always working toward a newer, better version.

Network! Many opportunities come from those you know. Being able to communicate clearly and actively listen is extremely important. Communication and understanding is key to collaboration and finding a way forward.

Contact information:

voanna08@gmail.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/annavo

Updated November 8, 2021