Today we’d like to introduce you to Stefanie Fluin.
Hi Stefanie, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
While finishing my MBA I was recruited by a local software company. After five years of moving up the ranks, and being a director, my husband and I decided to move to California. In California, I took the opportunity to shift to what I felt passionate about, which was building technology. I had a minor in graphic design but was missing the technical chops, so I enrolled in a Silicon Valley coding boot camp. I studied web and iOS development and got to practice my UX skills much more.
Once graduating I was given the opportunity to lead the design and help build the Google Angular website. After finishing that project I balanced consulting and running my own tech consulting company that focused on UX design and front-end development. This gave me the opportunity to work with some amazing clients across many different industries and really elevated my skill set and breadth of knowledge. I was building a family and being an entrepreneur gave me the best of both worlds – working on what I was passionate about while spending time with my family and a flexible schedule.
Early last year, I joined 3M as a Lead UX Designer. I had been focusing on design systems for the past several years, and with my children now older, I was ready to really commit and be part of a team long-term. I’m able to work on healthcare applications that really make a difference, for such a world-renowned organization. As the lead for our team’s design system, I’m able to directly impact the user experience and visual, and even technical direction of our digital solutions.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I’ve been blessed to have some great people in my life – this has really helped. Persevering and always staying curious and interested in learning has been my contribution to my success. It has been relatively smooth, but it hasn’t been a straight path.
Leaving the career I had built back in 2016 to pursue my passions, and going back to school, was definitely scary. Learning to code was the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do (besides raising children). I was sometimes uncertain about whether knowing the program would pay off in the creative space as a UX designer. Now I know that it 100% contributes to my success and a better understanding of the ecosystem, but I remember thinking when I was at the boot camp campus late at night trying to get things to work, “is this worth it?”.
The struggles of continuing to build upon my career and running a digital consulting business, while building a family, and dealing with postpartum depression with my first child, also had their challenges.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am both a user experience designer and a software engineer. I specialize in interactive and visual design but am familiar with the range. I consider myself a generalist in the digital space. My area of focus is in design systems – the very foundational building blocks of websites, applications, and digital solutions. I help bring order and process to the creative space.
As a software engineer, I mainly focus on front-end development, as it ties directly to user experience and how users interact with software and digital spaces.
I am most proud of the first project I had the opportunity to work on when I graduated from coding boot camp – leading design and helping build the Google Angular website. Working with the Google team and their rigorous processes taught me a tremendous amount – how to design from a user’s first perspective, how to keep accessibility in mind, and how to write good code. I also had the ability to steer the direction of the brand, which was very exciting. The www.angular.io website currently receives over 1.5 million monthly visits (as of 2022), and Angular is one of the top front-end frameworks in the world. The impact is tremendous, which makes me proud to have been part of it.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I don’t really believe in bad luck, but maybe that’s because I’ve been a lucky person. I think that you have the power to choose your path, open doors, and make changes; even if it’s not immediate, and sometimes it’s not the straight path you thought of (or could have even imagined). I have had certain life events that have really opened up the doors for me, but ultimately it was because I had put myself in those places/scenarios through hard work.
For example, my first big job, and what introduced me to software and digital solutions, was an introduction from an MBA classmate/colleague. I was skeptical to take the role, as I had plans to continue in the financial space (I was a banker at the time), but it ended up transforming my life. There I met my husband – who I moved to California with. I met some great individuals while in California and through my initial big project with Google. I even had the opportunity to film and produce a documentary for the biggest Angular conference in the world (ng-conf). Many clients came from my connections to the Angular community.
I see life as a big snowball effect. You have to be open to challenges – keep trying different things, keep learning, and create your luck.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.stefaniefluin.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stefaniefluin
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefaniefluin
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/stefaniefluin
- Other: https://stefaniefluin.medium.com/
