Welcome to Documill – Natalia Aleksandrikova
UX/UI designer Natalia has quickly become a valued and important member of our team with her ideas and suggestions trickling into our products.
Documill has seen considerable growth during the past year and with new business come new faces. In this series, we will turn the spotlight on those who have chosen to join Documill to further their careers.
From behind her blonde curls, Natalia peers at the screen as she guides us through the (many) mockups she has created in Figma. She walks everyone in the room through why things are the way they appear. And that’s nothing philosophical, just everyday reality for our new UI/UX Designer.
Since we’re working on a redesign of one of our products, Documill Leap, there’s a lot of room for reflection, discussion and opinions. But above all, logic rules everything, from the why all the way to the actual logic provided by code in the famously mysterious “back end.”
From Omsk
But let’s rewind a little. Natalia is from Omsk, Siberia, Russia, a city that’s famous for its metro “system”, which was under construction for 26 years. It currently consists of a single station – which is impressive in its own way. And expansion seems unlikely given that the project was abandoned a few years ago.
Still, despite this minor public transportation (and, no doubt, public funding) mishap, Omsk does have some good things going for it. It’s among the sunniest places in Russia for example, rivaling the likes of Monaco and Morocco.
The sun alone, however, was not enough to keep Natalia in Omsk. As a philology student, she dreamt of moving to the city that was home to all of Russia’s great writers at one point or another; St. Petersburg. However, не пытайтесь покинуть Омск. Don’t try to leave Omsk.
Except that she did. And we’re delighted that she made her way even further West.
To Espoo
Finding a job in Finland proved tricky; not in the sense that there were no opportunities for a talented UX designer, but more that these opportunities seemed to mostly lie in the gaming industry and didn’t cover the complex (useful, even?) software that she’s come to specialize in.
Because Documill isn’t Natalia’s first rodeo; she has previously worked in the medical industry where she dealt with complex and highly specialized laboratory software. It’s exactly this having to deep dive into a software, or really into its use cases and users, that drives her interest in design. And we’re so glad that we can offer this type of challenge to her.
Admittedly, Natalia was used to a bit more data and user testing. Fewer opinions and top-down decision-making. She even called our way of working “hyper agile” which I suspect is a polite way of saying that we’re making changes all the time. Which, she admits, makes sense for the stage that Documill Leap is in; where ever-evolving cases are brought in while searching for a perfect product-market fit. Still, she has found her place – and voice – in the more dynamic environment that is Documill.
A warm welcome
Natalia has quickly become a valued and important member of our team with some of her ideas and suggestions trickling into our products. Working with her feels familiar as she understands what we’re trying to achieve. And it sounds like the feeling is mutual.
”There’s a big difference between how newcomers are treated in Russian companies compared to here. Even after a short while it felt like I’ve been working at Documill for many years and people have been so welcoming and ’loyal to my difficulties.’ To be honest, I was a little worried about my English skills, but people come to talk to me which has given me a lot of practice and confidence to express myself.”
Добро пожаловать в Докумилл, Наташа. We’re delighted to have you on board.