Tell us about yourself!

After university, I got a job at an advertising company in London as a Product Manager. It quickly became clear to me when managing a team of Software Engineers that their work looked a lot more interesting. The prospect of writing code, working on interesting problems and fewer meetings definitely had an appeal. As a result, I left my job and joined a coding bootcamp with the hope of becoming a Software Engineer. Since then, I have worked at various companies in Software Engineering roles.

Outside of work, I have always loved sports. In particular, I am a keen runner, regularly running marathons and half-marathons, and my dream one day is to run the New York Marathon. Having recently moved to Dorset, I love to explore nearby running trails that Dorset has to offer particularly around the Isle of Purbeck.  

What’s your role at Legl?

I joined Legl as a Software Engineer in August 2022. I work in Team Gladys - one of five squads at Legl. Our squad is made up of three engineers, one designer and a product manager. 

As a squad, we work together to take a problem, identify areas of value and discuss and plan out what solving that problem could look like. All our planning is collaborative and includes everyone in the squad. As engineers, we mostly pair or swarm on what we’re building, which is amazing as you get exposure to how other engineers think and solve problems, and it also means everyone has the same context for the problem that you are trying to solve. 

The problems that we work on are really varied, which keeps things interesting. While I have been at Legl, our squad has worked adding new functionality with third-party APIs, built features using Generative AI and rebuilt user interfaces on the platform. 

What made you join Legl? 

The collaborative work environment at Legl was a major factor in my decision to join. The positive feedback from engineers during the interview process about the teamwork and the integrated approach to solving problems, involving engineers, designers, and product managers, was very appealing to me. I liked the fact that squads worked collectively on problems as a group of engineers, designers and product managers, rather than in silos in their individual disciplines. 

What have been the most enjoyable aspects of your life at Legl?

I really love being able to see the impact of what the team has built. Everything we build is designed to solve a problem, and that problem has to be tracked and measured in some way. There is nothing more frustrating to me than spending time building a new feature, only to be left wondering how it's received or utilised once it has been released. At Legl, this is never an issue. We have great tools to measure, track and chart everything we build, so you always can be sure that what you work on has an impact.  

What advice would you give anyone looking to follow in your footsteps? 

Give something a go, and get stuck in! When I retrained to become a Software Engineer, I agonised about the best or perfect path to making this transition. I really got bogged down and over-thought the initial steps. As there was no definitive answer, I just went round in circles. I learnt it's better to start somewhere and learn through the process rather than waiting to find the perfect starting point. If I had just given something a go, I would have realised there probably is no perfect path and everyone just figures stuff out as they go and that no two journeys are the same. And if it turns out that something isn’t for you, you’ll probably find out much quicker and save on all the agony! 

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