Employee Spotlight: Dan Allen
From full stack developer to Director of User Experience; how Dan finds ways to make design and development a seamless collaboration.
How did you become involved in UX & design given your development background?
“I have always been extremely passionate about software development. In college, I started my own company doing web development. When I look back on it, it’s easy for me to say that I always cared about the design of the end product. I didn’t have a formal design background, but I was already trying to combine development and design to help differentiate myself from the competition.
UX was and still is a relatively new practice and back when I got started with development I didn’t even realize it existed. I stayed true to my development roots as I continued to grow as a full stack developer. I ultimately landed in a senior full stack developer position. It was at this point that I attended a presentation that would drastically alter my career trajectory.
I was attending a developer conference in New York where there was a speaker presenting on career trajectories. I always try to keep a growth mindset and I thought it would be great to hear some opinions from others in the industry. The presentation centered around the idea of being a generalist (Jack of all trades, master of none) or a specialist. It was at this point that I reflected on the work that I was doing and where I thought I had the most passion.
I had naturally become my teams' resident front end developer which alluded to me having a passion for the front end. Specializing meant that I could start mastering the plethora of front end technologies, patterns, and tools. Luckily the company I was working at had a dedicated UX team who I had worked very closely with to ensure that our applications were implementing the company design system and providing a consistent experience to our users. A few of the folks that I had been collaborating with even suggested that I join them as a UX developer. With that, I found a new path…
At the time I remember being extremely nervous about making the career shift away from a full stack into UX development. Would I like design work as much as development? Would there be as many job opportunities in UX moving forward? Would I miss working with databases and building web services? The list goes on. My wife was a huge influencer for me. She knows me better than I know myself sometimes. She has a background in design and helped me see the new challenges and growth opportunities that awaited me. More on her later I’m sure!
I pulled the trigger and started my journey into the world of UX. Finally, I could explain why something looked/felt right instead of just having a sense about it. A bunch of new doors opened for me and I quickly rose up within the UX team. I took this new passion and used it to fuel my growth as an individual. I found my way to Capax and now I am leading a practice area and helping others find their passion for design and user experience.
As they say; The rest is history…”
How did you find Capax Global?
“ Now that’s a fun story!! Our amazing Director of Organizational Development, Jerry Head, called me one day while I was passively hearing out opportunities. He described a fantastic job to me but it had quite a few of marketing responsibilities built into it. That meant it wasn’t the best fit for me, but luckily I had the perfect person to refer him to. My wife and our Director of Creative + Design, Katie Allen. Obviously, she got the job!
So how did I end up here then? To be honest…Jealousy!
It didn’t take long for me to hear about how awesome Capax is. I got to see how enthused my wife was every day. I got to attend the company Christmas party and met all of the awesome folks which made me want to work here that much more. One day I sent a small book of an email to Jerry Head describing what I was looking for in the next move of my career. On some level, it must have resonated with the team and they reached out to bring me on board. Capax cared about making sure I found the role that would make me successful and they empowered me to build a practice. ”
What is it like working with your wife?
“After telling that story everyone always asks that next!
Katie and I have worked at the same company before. It isn’t how we met but we got into this habit of following each other. She joined me at our previous company but the team she was on wasn’t a great fit for her. That was when she left to join the Capax team and this time I followed her.
We have skill sets that synergize really well together and we are able to accomplish far greater heights together than we ever could independently. We have a healthy work-life balance and we know how to turn off work talk at the end of the day.
It also helps that we work on different things. I am client facing while she is internal operations. While I think we could be just as successful on the same team; it is probably for the best that we have that degree of separation!
Working together means that we benefit from a higher quality of life. We get to spend more time together. We get to share the commute into the city and we maintain similar schedules. The hardest part is that if we both stay late in the city then we have to find a dog walker to take care of our dogs.”
Outside of work, what are some of your hobbies?
“ Let me preface this by saying that development and design are my hobbies as well as my job. That's why I love what I do so much!
In addition to UX, I am also extremely passionate about leadership, EQ, and mindfulness. I graduated a six-month leadership program a few years back and it really gave me the drive to improve my own behaviors. I wanted to be a better leader and push myself to the next level. I am always reading new books and materials to expand on this skill set.
I am also a firm believer that it is healthy to disconnect from technology as much as possible. I work all day on computers, building things for computers. When I am not working I try to find things that involve little or no technology.
I am both a blacksmith and a woodworker. I come from a long line of machinists, bricklayers, and carpenters. I even worked construction doing finish carpentry during college. Working with my hands has always come naturally. My dad always jokes about how instead of playing with my toys outside when I was young; he would just give me a block of 2X4, a hammer, and some nails so that I could practice hammering. Metalworking and woodworking is an art and it is incredible to look back at historical weaponry and furniture and think that they did all of that with primitive tools. Nowadays I use more modern conveniences but I still opt to do whatever I can with hand tools. Working with hot steel is almost meditative for me. Nothing helps me practice mindfulness and relieve stress like a day of working in my forge.
If I am not out in my shop you can likely find me relaxing with my dogs Drake and Dax, reading or playing video games. I honestly have too many hobbies to list them all as my wife would say.”
