About – Shanell | Web UI Quality Assurance Analyst

Hello

About Me

Designing usable, accessible, and enjoyable technology.

Fun Facts

Meet Shanell

Hi there! I'm a UX designer + web developer who switched careers from ecommerce customer service. Other than creating digital experiences, I like eating pasta, watching Netflix thrillers, serif fonts, and taking trips by plane.

Skills + Experience

Designer Who Codes

When I transitioned to tech, I started by building web pages from scratch using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Eventually, I went back to school to obtain my degree — receiving academic training on building responsive mobile + desktop apps using the below technologies.

The Front End

HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, ReactJS, TypeScript, GraphQL, Gatsby, Contentful

The Back End

Java, Node.js, JSON, SQL, MongoDB, Postman, Git, Charles, jMeter, Spring

Design Tools

Figma, Adobe XD, Illustrator, Photoshop, Lr, Pr, Font Cloud, styled-components

Systems + Libraries

Material Design, WebFlow, Visual Studio Code, WordPress, JQuery, Bootstrap

Self-Discovery

My Journey to UX

2014

Working In Ecommerce

After dropping out of college for Fashion Merchandising, I started working as an Ecommerce Merchandiser for a regional department store supporting both Beauty + Baby/Kids divisions.

2017

Intro to Web Design

While working in ecommerce, I was inspired to open my own two online stores through Shopify. I spent a lot of time crafting the look of the sites that I taught myself HTML + CSS to customize outside the limits of the template.

2018

Freelanced for Fun

I went on to customer service & used web design as a "therapeutic escape". It was my creative outlet as I consulted with friends on websites for their businesses, or created small projects for myself to practice.

2019

Went Back to School

I have so much to say here on self-discovery, and how this period of time helped my life. Once I overcome writer's block, I'll update this paragraph.

2020

HTMLbyShanell Is Born

In a Social Networking & Business course, we were required to create an online professional persona to show expertise upon graduation. I decided to go beyond the blog assignments + expand to all social media. A link to my student blogspot is in the footer.

2022

Graduated + UX Career Pivot

On Sunday, May 22nd 2022, I graduated with honors + earned my Associate's Degree in Web & Software Development. I realized that my heart wasn't with programming as much as design so I decided to enroll in a UX Certificate Program to compliment my studies. I got to experience the full UX design process through this, and look forward to getting to work.