Kickstarting my new job at Brighte during lockdown

While I was fortunate to get two weeks in the office before the current lockdown began, the vast majority of onboarding for my new job at Brighte has been remote. 

Teamwork is a tricky thing to replicate remotely, but Brighte has done a fantastic job of it. The team around me has managed to make the experience feel easy and welcoming, and they’re always happy to jump on a quick Zoom call or spend extra time walking me through things. 

I’ve also really enjoyed the work I’ve been doing so far. Every problem I'm solving as a senior UX designer has been deeply interesting to me, and I'm so excited to be a part of a team that is doing something good for our future.

What my role involves

Being a UX designer is all about being a champion of the customer. My day-to-day typically involves creating user flows, wireframes and UI designs for our products, which I then pass on to developers to build. 

Some of my other responsibilities include tracking and understanding feedback on our products, doing research to understand our customers’ needs and wants and trading ideas with my team's product manager. 

My favourite part of the job is seeing something you've designed being built and released for customers to use. Seeing how it solves their problems and makes their lives easier is just so rewarding.

The people here are an absolute highlight 

The overall culture on my team is very much centred on teamwork. As most of us are actually new to the team, either having just joined Brighte or moved over from another area of the business, we’re all working together to define how we want to work. It’s so nice to all have this shared sense of curiosity and keenness as we move towards our goals. 

I also really love how customer-centred everyone is. Everyone working on the product considers the customer experience to be a top priority, which brings me great joy as a designer! 

I definitely hadn’t expected to end up working remotely. There’s a certain kind of magic that happens when a team is together and able to collaborate in person that is hard to replicate over Zoom alone. However, I've really appreciated how collaborative the experience has been here: we use tools like Figma to run workshops over Zoom, and our amazing EA has created a regular calendar of social games and chats so we can get to know each other. All that being said, I can't wait until I'm back in the office and get to see everyone in person! And of course, sample all the office snacks! 

Learning from the incredible talent around me 

I believe that strong talent is the most important factor in learning and growth, and something that has really impressed me about Brighte is the talent we have here. I've learnt so much from them in this short time, and from being able to work on projects that really challenge the way I think about design.

Brighte offers an opportunity to work at a company that not only deeply cares about the planet but is taking steps to be a part of a sustainable future. I feel really fortunate to be able to use my skills as a UX designer to work towards a world where solar energy is a top energy supply for Australia. With the incredible team around me, I'm certain we can make that happen.