Why I moved to Aiimi - Senior UX Consultant, Joanne Finch.

I spent 12 years in my previous role at a digital agency in Liverpool. During that time, I worked my way from Web Designer, to Senior Designer, to Lead UX Designer, and absolutely loved the place and the people. For the most part, the culture was relaxed, open, and friendly; they had seen me through two pregnancies and were really flexible around nursery and school hours. I was comfortable – maybe I was too comfortable.

During the last couple of years there, I became restless and wanted more from my role. At the time, the agency was struggling to get a grip of Agile development, whereas I was pushing for us to practise Lean UX and produce solutions in a more iterative manner, with regular testing. Although I wasn’t looking for a new job, on reflection I realise I was feeling institutionalised, being the only UXer and there for so long, and feeling undervalued after receiving a pay rise of less than half of what I’d wanted.

During this time, a friend approached me who was already working with Aiimi. With my head full of Aiimi away days, camping trips, and go-karting, I found myself considering a move. I’d never worked for a company that was so far away. I’d always been an ‘in the office’ person, working 9 to 5, but here I was in Liverpool, looking at working for an organisation ‘down south’. The plus side of that was that the salary was considerably more than what I was on.

After sending off my CV, having a good word put in by my friend, and attending an interview, I realised there were three key things pulling me to Aiimi.

1. Aiimi was friendly, approachable, and had very little hierarchy. They saw the value in a people-focused business, hosting numerous social events throughout the year for employees and their families. Caring about people’s welfare, not just about the work they produce.
2. The UX work Aiimi was doing was the type of work I wanted to be involved in. They were Lean and Agile, out talking to their users and watching how they worked.
3. The salary and benefits were good, much better than where I was.
   

I’ve been at Aiimi three and a half years now, which is hard to believe, and I’ve gained a wealth of experience in that time. I work predominantly with Agile development squads at Anglian Water, tackling large, complex, and challenging projects where I can observe our end-users out in the field. Research can be anything from going out with meter readers to read meters in the street, to project engineers gathering information from retail developers, to sitting with customers while they report issues with their water services. I also get to regularly organise and facilitate Design Sprints and Hacks with up to 100 attendees, which has really opened up my skill set. I love that I made the move to Aiimi and haven’t regretted it for one day.

Interested in finding out more about life at Aiimi or applying to join us? Check out our open roles.