Alexandra Cameron

Get to know Alexandra Cameron

What are you looking for in your next role?

As a software developer, I am determined to build products that are made to help people. It’s important for me to join a purpose-driven company whose mission to help people is central in everything they do. I’d like to join an engineering team that is passionate about what they’re building, and that can help guide and support me as I continue to grow into this new career. I will be relocating to San Francisco after graduating from Launch, so I will also be looking for a company with offices in the Bay Area.

Why did you decide to change career and/or educational paths? What was your prior path and how did you end up down that road initially?

At the beginning of my career, I worked in multiple client-facing roles in CPG and tech. It wasn’t until I was working for my second company, a small ad tech startup in Boston, that I was able to see first-hand the process of building a software product. I took a SQL class in college and absolutely loved it, but I didn’t know how to transfer that rush of excitement and curiosity that I felt while coding into a career. After talking with several engineers and product managers at my previous company and understanding their roles a bit better, I knew I had found the answer I was looking for in college. I felt this deep-rooted urgency to just start building, and finally gave myself the go-ahead to jump into this career.

Where have you been involved in the tech community (events attended, volunteer activities, etc.)?

I have attended events with GirlGeek and San Francisco Tech4Good. I’m interested in getting involved with organizations that help bring more diverse talent into our industry, and am especially interested in helping to encourage and mentor women who are interested in exploring roles in tech, especially in software engineering.

What has been the most fulfilling aspect of your journey towards becoming a web developer? What's been your biggest challenge and how have you overcome it?

The most fulfilling part of this journey has been the people, as it often is with every journey in life. I love the culture and value set that naturally exists within this field, which was clear from the beginning of our cohort - curiosity abounds, the environment is warm and welcoming, there is strong comradery at every step of the learning process, and individual authenticity is celebrated. Realizing that there is no single way to tackle a problem as a developer has been key for me, and learning from one another as we lean into new concepts has significantly expedited my growth. Learning and failing and re-learning with this group of people has been completely game changing, and makes me so excited to continue to meet and learn from more people in the industry. The biggest challenge for me has been to connect all of the dots as we continue to learn new skills at such a rapid pace. Forcing myself to constantly challenge and expand upon what I think I know about web development has been hard. As soon as you think you have the concepts down, something new is added, and finding a way to make sense of where those new pieces fit within the web development puzzle has proven to be incredibly tough. It is thrilling that there will always be something more to learn though, and that grind makes the ‘aha’ moments so much sweeter!

If you had an unlimited budget and resources, what would you build?

Something I have noticed, as my parents, grandparents, and other loved ones have continued to age, is that the technology that is being built today is continuing to alienate these generations. We are developing technology that is complicated, nuanced, and often driven by intuition, and a core chunk of users are becoming more confused and frustrated when using it. If I had unlimited budget and resources, I would build a suite of apps to help solve that problem. I imagine it as an App Store for the Golden-Agers - every useful app (because technology IS useful) will have a simplified partner app. Folks will still be able to hail rides via Uber, but the UI will be clean and simple, and functionality will be completely slimmed down. The same will go for apps like Yelp, Spotify, ESPN, and even Calm. This problem I described will only continue to grow as people continue to age, and as technology continues to advance; building this new suite of apps will help our loved ones feel excited and connected, instead of frustrated, scared and alienated.