Meet Jess, KTD’s LATEST WEB SERVICES NINJA

Meet Jess, KTD’s Latest Web Services Ninja

I’m Jess, the newest member of KTD’s development team and I’m very excited to be in a role created specifically to deliver added value to you, their current or prospective clients. I’ve been a team member since February having joined after completing my second Apprenticeship and moving to Leeds. Learning is important to me and I am always keen to know more – technology changes so quickly and there are always new and innovative ways to do things, so keeping my knowledge base up-to-date is crucial. I am really enjoying the company’s learning culture, which is giving me the opportunity to develop new skills whilst I do my job. I am fortunate to be learning things I’ve been interested in for a while because there is a genuine purpose and reason for them in my work, and, more importantly, I have highly skilled colleagues who are happy to support me, providing guidance and mentoring when I need it. So, what do I do? I am responsible for translating the purpose and vision for your website into a tangible, well executed resource that meets all of your requirements. I’ll be working with the team to grow further this area of KTD’s portfolio of services and to help forge a new more manageable workflow for us to use going forward. Something I feel I’ve really been able to bring to KTDis my knowledge on website accessibility and how we can make our sites more easily usable for deaf and visually impaired people. This is a specialist area and one about which I am passionate and experienced. As someone who’s had poor vision all my life and grew up using screen reading technology I understand how difficult it can sometimes be just trying to find out even basic information on a website which hasn’t been put together properly. This is an exciting challenge for me because previously I’ve been a strictly front-end only developer. Now, I’m more often than not in charge of planning, designing and implementing a website rather than just building things from a design someone else has made. Whilst that can be a little daunting, it’s been a really wonderful experience and I’m looking forward to finally putting my graphics qualifications to good use! Before joining KTD I only worked in small businesses, the largest of which had 9 employees, it’s been an exciting and interesting transition into a larger company. Whilst I really loved the close-knit feel of a small team, I’m definitely appreciating the security and resources that a bigger company offers whilst still having team camaraderie. Already in my two months here I can safely say I’ve had more in the way of formal training and instruction than I really ever did in my 3 years as an apprentice. Outside of work, when I’m not making websites, you can probably find me making something else! Whether it’s knitting a lumpy hat, baking some bread, making jewellery or playing guitar badly, I’m a creative person who loves to make new things whenever and however I can. I also volunteer with local LGBTQ+ organisations and I’m working on increasing my time spent with them throughout the year. If you’d like to know more about the services we can offer you please get in touch on: 01539 732540