Jessie Both

Digital & Innovation

Don’t be part of the crowd

‘I used to cycle ten kilometres to school, and back, of course. It gives you time to think. I liked doing that, even though it didn’t lead to a clear-cut choice of study by the time I turned sixteen. It became Media, Information and Communication at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences: eight hundred   first-year students, of whom at least six hundred wanted to become editor-in-chief of the Marie Claire magazine. I didn't. Which is why I and fifteen others chose the profile in which you learned how to build websites, among other things. Then it was on to the University of Amsterdam for the Master's in Human Centred Multimedia: doing a lot of concept development and research. Fun, but so broad that, even with two degrees in my pocket, I still didn't know what it was I really wanted to do.'

Anything was fine... except for a bank!

‘Fortunately, LinkedIn resolved this issue for me. My CV hadn't been live for one day and I was already on the phone with an agency arranging IT traineeships. I said: I’m willing to work anywhere, but not at a bank. They presented me with this option anyway, so I stubbornly refused. One proposal involved an extensive personality test that resulted in a perfect match. They said: just try it.’

From back to front

‘And that's how I started at ABN AMRO, as part of a back-end team carrying out test runs when the bank's filters had been updated. The reason being that there are countries, accounts and people that you cannot simply transfer money to. I had to check whether the same transactions were still being blocked after an update. Quite exciting, but not really my life’s dream. After a year, I got a permanent contract, with the promise that I could work in a front-end team, where you work on the front end of websites and people immediately see the value of what you've come up with. So more people work, which is what I love.’

Lowering thresholds

‘After that, I worked as a developer at Internet Business Banking for almost five years, part of a business line with the motto: friction-free value. As a bank, we encounter a great deal of regulations. Which is understandable, but it does often slow things down a bit. So we tried to remove process thresholds. A little example: if you, as a business client, want to give someone access to your online banking environment, you need a card with e.dentifier. Clients often only discovered this halfway through the application process. And that meant that they had to start over again and request those items using a different form. Once you then received everything three weeks later, you had to go full circle back to that first form. All your data was naturally gone by then. We came up with a smart process in which customers get everything right all at once, instead of having to gather together everything they need. We also paid a great deal of attention to accessibility: guiding people with screen readers or dyslexia through processes smoothly.’

Smart jobs

'After five years I was lead developer and I had a hunkering for a little more creativity. Which they understood; after all, a lot is possible at ABN AMRO, as long as you clearly say what you want, and justify why. 
UX Designer seemed like a nice next step. Fortunately, they use “smart jobs” here, which allows you to do a type of internship in a different position as part of your current contract. And you can go back if things don’t work out. If things go well and there's a vacancy, you transfer. I took the plunge and it worked out well.’

A great place to work

‘Officially, I have been a design and content expert for over a year now, but UX Designer is the accepted term. I work with eight other designers in the Internet Banking Retail circle, and I really think it's a great place to work. First of all, the work itself is very challenging. We design solutions at the request of the business, but you also have regular contact with customers. On Thursday, for example, end users can have A/B tests carried out, or we can spar with them about prototypes. And everyone here is very helpful and tolerant. We support each other and there’s no judgment, so you never hear things like: Thought about Googling it? or I find this design ugly. You get feedback based on arguments: that option is better, because... And when you think about how things can be improved, the tone is: Good point, let’s do that.’

Are you curious about where Jessie works? Visit our Design page.