As we continue our series on non-tech jobs in tech, we turn our attention to Gabriella Ferreira, who parlayed an education in fashion into a job as a UX/UI designer.
Gabriella attended the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), where she earned an associate’s degree in fashion merchandising management and a bachelor’s degree in fabric styling. She also minored in art history.
After working in the fashion industry for almost three years as a textile designer, she went back to school for computer programming. Believe it or not, she also received a Cicerone Certificate (Certified Beer-Serving Certificate) through a part-time job at Brooklyn Brewery. Needless to say, Gabriella is a true Renaissance woman.
She made the move from fashion and joined the AVI team as a junior User Experience/User Interface (UX/UI) designer. In this role, she assists in the creating the look and feel of applications for our clients with a specific focus on the end-user experience. Interestingly enough, one of her programming professors suggest she look into UX/UI design given her design history and current programming interests. It turned out to be a match made in heaven.
While her computer programming education helped her land the job, her background in fashion and textile design come into play on a regular basis. Gabriella uses her design and research skills to conduct R&D and create graphic designs for applications. She also draws on her communication and sales experience, especially if she has to sell her ideas to colleagues or clients when they can’t yet see the entire vision of an end product. Her expertise in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator also helped her get up to speed in no time with the programs we use here at AVI.
Gabriella has been a wonderful addition to the AVI team, and just another example of how an app development career doesn’t have to start with technology. She also keeps up her passion for fashion on the side, dabbling in textile designs for fun. We are so glad she does, as it keeps her design skills sharp.
