Jessica Claire Edwards🇬🇧

About Jessica Claire Edwards

Creative Technologist at Canva

Hello! I'm Jess, a creative technologist working at Canva, with a background as a software engineer in product and creative agencies.

In case you're not familiar with what a Creative Technologist does (who is?): I'm a nerd at heart and my love language is code, but compared to your average developer, I work a lot earlier in the product development lifecycle. I collaborate with designers and product managers to tease out opportunities that can be uncovered with technology - sometimes that's working through interesting UX challenges like building out a video trimming experience, or it could be exploring the possibilities of AI when exploring datasets. My superpower is speaking the same language as whoever's in the room: I want people to get excited about the opportunities of technology, and what resonates with individuals is going to vary based on their skillset, appetite for risk and general long-term goals.

I love helping people learn new technologies - that might be introducing juniors or designers to basic programming concepts, or experienced developers learning how to navigate the wild west of front-end frameworks, or experienced engineers the opportunities provided by new web standards such as Web Codecs that they may not have had an opportunity to explore. I love learning, so I love helping others learn as well!

I'm also aware at how few of us there are, especially working in the product space- as someone regularly interviewing creative technologist candidates, can provide an idea of what I'm looking for when reviewing portfolios and in-person interviews.

Expertise

Sessions with Jessica Claire Edwards

• Mentorship Session (30 min): Mentorship session