In honor of Women’s History Month, the blog platform Medium, which hosts all of BigCommerce’s developer blog, featured 5 notable women in ecommerce. One of our own, Ashley Jaynes, talks about her career, mentorship, and her proudest achievements. We’re excited about this article because it captures the attitude needed to work in tech today. With constant innovation and opportunities to solve some of today’s toughest problems, these women are on the front-lines of tomorrow’s ecommerce experience.
Ashley Jaynes, Web Developer at Mercutio
Ashley works at the Seattle based digital agency, Mercutio. Mercutio is a full-service provider that offers everything from content gathering and site configuration to data migration and theme development. We build custom solutions for clients with special business needs.
At Mercutio, Ashley spends her time on theme development and most recently, she’s been building custom solutions with React.
How did you get your start in tech?
I enrolled in the graphic design program at my university. One of the required class for this program was “Designing for the Web.” I learned then that I loved the instant gratification of making a change to some code and seeing it change immediately on my screen. No waiting for proofs and whatnot. I immediately changed my major into a new program with the plan to be a web designer. After a few years of realizing that ambition, I decided I was a better frontend developer than a designer.
What do you love most about your job?
Solving new and interesting problems.
Tell us about a technical project you completed that you were proud of.
I just created a custom bulk order form that uses the search API. It was a pain sometimes, but now that it’s finished and the bugs are worked out (hopefully), I’m really happy with the way it turned out.
Tell us about a career milestone or achievement that you are proud of.
For 4 years, I was the lead developer at a trailer manufacturer. During that time, I got to mentor two inexperienced guys. One was straight out of college and one was self-taught. I was able to help them learn a lot about how to build and manage websites, the principles of development, and best practices. They learned so well that they were able to get better, higher-paying jobs. Helping them remains the proudest moment in my career.
What’s it like for you to be a woman working in a male-dominated industry?
I think sometimes people assume that women are not as knowledgeable as men in this field. Mostly, it seems to be a subconscious thing. In the last 5 years or so, there seems to be a lot more women joining the industry. In the last 2 years, I’ve worked under 2 senior developers who were women. That’s a big change from when I started working 10+ years ago.
Have you had a mentor in your career? How was that experience helpful?
I have had one mentor and she was female. She taught me how to network better and how to speak up more than I had previously. This helps me to have better connections with people in this industry that will help my career grow. Additionally, I now make sure my voice is heard.
What advice would you give to others looking to work in this industry?
It is the industry to be in. Technology is exciting and forever growing and changing. We know what we do today might be completely different in the next 5 years. If you are the type of person who is excited and passionate to see how far eCommerce can take us, this is the industry for you.
Read the full article here
