For many of us, our time at university or college is where we discover what we want to do as our careers begin. It was in her fourth year studying civil engineering that our newest BitBaker, Diana Valdes, discovered her first career step would be into an entirely different area of study – user experience and interaction design.
Born in Colombia and raised right here in Kitchener, Valdes joined the BitBakery team in December as our Software QA Engineer. Even with her career change, Valdes continued her studies and earned her degree in civil engineering from the University of Waterloo in 2019. “I really liked studying civil engineering, but I wanted to work in something where I could make a more direct and dynamic impact on people’s life.”
After a well-deserved vacation touring South East Asia, Valdes returned to Kitchener and began her job search. In the fall, Valdes attended the Partnerships for Employment Career Fair organized by the University of Guelph, University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University and Conestoga College. Valdes stopped by our booth and made an impression on our team.
We were looking for someone with her enthusiasm and openness to learning for the Software QA Engineer role. For Valdes, it was a great opportunity as her previous co-ops had all been in civil engineering and construction. “This role helps me learn a lot about all aspects of software development,” Valdes said. “It’s like a bootcamp for tech!”
Valdes sees BitBakery’s focus on continuous learning as a way for her to start exploring user experience processes, tools, and theories. “UX can have a positive impact on people’s lives. I love digging into what users actually want and working to make it easier and better.” Valdes attended this month’s uWaterloo meetup to hear from Faire’s Robin Bigio and Davis Neable, UX Director at Manulife.
The discussion was perfect timing for Valdes. “What I remember the most about the talk was the discussion about leadership and management,” added Valdes. “Great leadership should be helping your team not just on the next project, but also to achieve the ‘next big thing’ in their career.”
We’re excited to have Diana on our team and look forward to helping her achieve her next big thing. Interested in learning more about how we work at BitBakery? Check out our career page to learn more.
