I was born in Hong Kong and moved to England with my family when I was 6 years old. It didn't take me long to understand English and get used to the English culture. During High School I realised my creative skills and was talented with the arts and crafts. I further developed these skills after choosing the art and design options in GCSE and A-Level. My drawing and painting skills were at their peak and the more I drew the more I improved.
After A-Levels, I went to the University of Manchester and studied Architecture. I used my creative skills to design exciting buildings. During this time I learnt to build architectural models and designed in digital for the first time. However after a drastic change in interest I was unable to succeed and realised I had no ambition in becoming an architect.
I have always been interested in computing and learning from my mistake I knew that this was the career path I wanted to follow. I applied for a course in Computing (Visualisation) at Sheffield Hallam University and obtained excellent grades in first and second year. During this time, I learnt a wide range of computing skills including programming, computer graphics, 3D modeling and animation. In my final year of studies, I also learnt how to develop web applications in ASP.NET and I was amazed with how much I can do, achieving a first for my ASP.NET application.
After graduation, I found a job at Voyager Systems. Voyager Systems is an IT company who focus on developing products for the travel industry. I was with them for almost three years and my responsibilities include maintaining and enhancing the current systems, help with new developments and daily data management tasks. While working here, I have improved on my VB skills and leant to use new technologies in C#.NET such as building web services and APIs. Although I have used ASP.NET, a lot of my work is back-end related.
In 2009 I decided that I want to move into developing web front-ends so I studied Web Applications: Design, Development and Management at the Open University. From the course I have gained more skills in CSS and understood the importance of accessibility and usability. After that I studied a second short course – The Client Side of Application Development. During this course I learnt how to build websites with JavaScript.
After completing the courses I felt more confident in doing both web design and development but didn’t feel Voyager Systems was giving me the opportunity to do both so I left and applied for a job at FDA Design.
My time at FDA Design feels like I have done more than my three years at Voyager Systems. I have built a whole ecommerce website from scratch, a website with a content management system and several iPad apps. Even though I have more to show from my work at FDA Design, I wouldn’t say that my time at Voyager Systems was wasted because I learnt so much from some incredible people and I wouldn’t be where I am now if I didn’t work there.
After proving to myself what I can achieve with my skills, I feel like I am now ready to move on again. I am now looking for a company who will offer me more web design and development opportunities in Sheffield.