Katy Watkins
I’m a designer turned front-end developer who loves building design systems and automating processes to maintain them.
I've spent the last four and a half years focused on front-end development: shepherding a design system, helping coworkers debug complex style issues, leading front-end focused projects to initial launch & maintenance, and building tools to improve code quality. I'm looking for a similar role with a company that values design and front-end work.
Skills & Experience
- Maintaining & iterating on design systems
- Collaborating with designers to build products
- Learning new frameworks & coding languages
- Writing semantic HTML & improving accessibility
- Using CSS, preprocessors, and Javascript
- Helping colleagues grow their front-end skills
- Defining goals & managing project scope
- Building & socializing prototypes
- Designing solutions for complex problems
Goals
Work with a team that values front-end code and builds responsive sites/apps
I've been a forcing mechanism for improving front-end code standards and quality in the past, but I love being able to learn a lot about front-end from my coworkers. I also miss working responsively, as most of the projects I've been on in the last few years haven't had a need for it.
Maintain a healthy work/life balance
I work hard and take pride in getting things done right, but I've also come to recognize that I'm better at my job if I have a life outside of work. I want to grow my skills without needing to regularly stay late or work weekends.
I also want to work primarily remotely. I'm happy to come in to an office occasionally for specific reasons (or more regularly if there's a culture of taking COVID precautions seriously), but I've realized thanks to the past few years that I can get more done when I control more of my environment.
Contribute to a design system and/or work on internal tooling
I love thinking about systems and building tools to improve the lives of developers and designers I work with. It lets me flex my design skills while still getting to spend a lot of time writing code. I'd like to work with another design system to expand my knowledge and understanding of what's possible.
Portfolio
Updating our design system website was a manual process for years, resulting in out-of-date documentation. I containerized it, got a CD pipeline for the site, then made updates so that the website updated itself when components changed.
Our initial component package setup mimicked semantic versioning but used the build number as the patch value (so you'd end up with versions like 1.6.154). I built an automated solution that could be used with any project.
Back Office Redesign
I led a redesign of complex dashboards and reports to accommodate a new compensation plan with a focus on early exploratory research, testing, internal socialization, and launch preparation.
Forever Live! Conference Site
Forever Live! is an annual conference Forever puts on for their customers and ambassadors. For three years I owned the design, development, and deployment of the website.
Contact Me
Think I might be a good fit for your team? Or just reading a really good book? (I love reading and am always interested in recommendations!)
Get in touch! You can send me an email at watkins.katy [at] gmail.com