Meet the Team: Ruby Rosenthal, Junior Front End Designer
Our Meet the Team blog series highlights the amazing people behind Moixa. This week we caught up with Ruby, our Junior Front End Designer, to discuss her role, her commitment to a cleaner future and what can be done to close the gender gap in the tech industry.
Meet the Team: Ruby Rosenthal, Junior Front End Designer
Ruby initially joined Moixa four months ago as a Front-End Designer Intern before being promoted to Junior Front-End Designer, where she has the opportunity to further explore her skillset.
As our company’s focus is always on value for the end-user, Ruby’s role involves making changes to the code to help maintain and improve the style and usability of our web and mobile applications (Moixa’s Dashboard and App).
Before joining Moixa, Ruby worked as a freelance web designer for a year. Prior to that, she worked in various jobs, from teaching assistant to Wetherspoons bartender.
Ruby holds a BA in Liberal Arts and MSc in Computer Science at the University of Bristol.
What made you want to take the job?
I thought the role was a brilliant opportunity to combine both sides of my educational background: coding and the arts.
There was also an ideological component too. Living as a student in Bristol definitely gave me a strong climate consciousness, and Moixa’s mission aligns with that belief system.
What elements of Moixa and our business are you most passionate about?
For me, it’s both the industry and the people who work in it. As I said, I’m really invested in a green future and love working for a company that shares my values. I’ve found this makes the culture here great too.
When everyone gets behind a company’s wider mission, it improves how people interact with each other. Every single person I’ve met at Moixa has been so open, generous and engaging.
For instance, I am very proud of Moixa for sharing a call for action for everyone, especially those attending COP26 and Climate Action’s Sustainable Innovation Forum, to take matters into our own hands and fight climate change together.
What has been your highest point and the biggest challenge since joining Moixa?
I feel like I get small victories every day. That’s the beauty of programming! Although it can be difficult, there’s no better feeling than when something clicks into place and works as you want it to.
Over the past week, for example, I’ve been working on creating a progress bar to demonstrate data loading onto a page. I just managed to complete it, and it’s a feeling that combines accomplishment, relief and tough learning. Every week gives me a challenging opportunity to push myself further.
What are the essential skills you need to be successful in your role?
To be successful in my role, you need to be motivated, hard-working, and have an eye for detail!
As a young woman in tech, what do you think should be done to encourage more women to work in the tech industry?
I think we need role models to look up to and inspire us. In the past few years, a shift has definitely taken place, and we are seeing more women in STEM, but it would be great to see more women in senior leadership roles.
But the lack of women in tech definitely begins with school. Encouraging girls to explore tech as much as boys is extremely important. I remember IT lessons were not prioritised at school and no effort was made to encourage us – if you liked computers, you would use the hour to explore your interests, and if you didn’t, the teachers would just leave you be. Even in those lessons, coding wasn’t mentioned – I only learnt about HTML and CSS through trying to edit the colour scheme of my Tumblr blog. If schools made more effort to encourage girls to get involved, the difference would be felt trickling up to the workplace today.
Organisations like Girls Can Code are amazing and making such a difference, but it shouldn’t just be down to businesses set up specifically to help this issue – parents and teachers should be encouraging girls to explore sciences and fight the assumption that these are male hobbies/sectors!
What steps are you individually making towards a cleaner future?
For a while now, I’ve cut down on meat, and I don’t drive. The most significant reflection I’ve made over the past few years has been the way I consume materials. Like many, I avoid single-use plastic, but I have also rethought how much waste is produced and the inequality perpetuated through the fast fashion industry. I try to buy second-hand clothes wherever possible – it’s cheaper and often more stylish!
What is the one thing we should know about you that isn’t on your CV or LinkedIn Profile?
I am obsessed with Candy Crush 🙂
What motivates you?
Waking up and working on something I’m passionate about. Being set challenges that allow me to improve myself. Being surrounded by other passionate and fascinating people who inspire and push me.
A huge thank you to Ruby for taking the time out to discuss her life at Moixa. You can connect with Ruby on LinkedIn here.
If you would like to hear more about available roles at Moixa, visit our careers page or get in touch directly with our Talent Acquisition Manager Gail Solomon.