Meet the Team Q&A | Michelle Barker | Senior Front End Developer

We know that we’re only as good as our people, and at Ada Mode we have an impressive team at the helm. This Humans Behind the AI series aims to highlight the talented individuals that work here. For this month’s edition, we’re featuring Michelle Barker, Senior Front End Developer

‍What’s your role at Ada Mode?

Senior Front End Developer, primarily working on Windscope, a platform for wind turbine operators to manage and maintain their turbines.

What does your average day look like?

My main focus is building the UI (user interface) for Windscope, working on one feature at a time. I’m heavily involved in the design side too, so part of my day might involve wire-framing, mapping the user journey or planning features with the rest of the team. We usually start the day with a team meeting to check in on progress of the sprint and discuss any issues that arise.

What's your favourite thing about working at Ada Mode?

I love that I’m able to use my skills for something that will hopefully have a positive impact on the world, by making the process of generating renewable energy more efficient. It’s really inspiring to work with a team of super clever people who are knowledgeable about the subject.

What has been your favourite project or challenge you've worked on?

Windscope has been my main focus at Ada Mode, and there have been lots of interesting challenges. One of the most rewarding is learning how to build data visualisations using the Javascript library D3. I love challenges that combine design and code, and data visualisation is perfect for that.

It seems like everyone at Ada Mode shares the same passion for tech. What about AI technology are you most passionate about?

I think we have to be careful about assuming that AI is the answer to everything,as it can be applied to some areas of life with disastrous results — such as encoding bias into the hiring process at certain companies. But I think AI will have a huge role to play in reducing our carbon emissions and improving the efficiency of industrial processes.

Where do you see the industry heading in the next 3-5 years?

I think we’ll see a lot of novel applications for this kind of technology in many types of fields, and lots of companies springing up to provide those services.

What's something new you've learned in the past week?

I learnt how to build a pie chart in D3.js.

What are your top three books/podcasts/artists?

This is really hard because my favourite books are usually just the ones I’ve recently read and enjoyed!

Fiction:

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

Non-fiction:

The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) by Katie Mack – about all the ways the universe might end!

Podcast:

You’re Wrong About, a podcast by journalists that tell the untold stories of events in history and pop culture that have been miscast in the public imagination. The episodes are really long, but fascinating!