Meet Isabel.

Working in August’s Build team as a Developer, Isabel Silvis brings creativity and academic smarts to her user-focussed work in the front end.

Born the same year the very first website went online—Isabel has long been fascinated by the web and its history. This passion saw her complete a Masters in Multimedia, with a focus (and thesis!) on Information Architecture.

Her knowledge of best practice frameworks, methods and tools combine for great outcomes for our clients, and supports her goal of crafting websites that are intuitive and engaging for everyone.

Before moving to Melbourne in 2016, Isabel spent nearly five years as a lecturer and researcher at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. In her transition out of academia, Isabel’s deep knowledge of digital and love for experimentation found a perfect match in front-end development.

When she isn’t building, Isabel spends her time upside down—and is currently undertaking a certification in an arm balance program. Her ultimate goal is to find the poise to continue teaching , building websites and mastering hand-balancing at the same time.

We sat down with Isabel to chat about her music playlist, browsing habits, and what she enjoys best in Melbourne.

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If you won the lottery would you still work? What would you do?

I would definitely keep working, but I’d use my newfound funds to buy a place where I can foster the doggos of Melbourne that need a home.

What’s one website you can’t go a day without checking?

Quora! I find insight amongst all the silly questions and answers; good and bad.

It’s a strange place to go looking for creative writing, but I also find that there are some awesome writers using the platform to share their insights.

What’s one of your favourite things about Melbourne?

If I had to limit it to one, it would be the incredible food scene. Melbourne isn’t known for specific dishes, and it’s because you can get the very best of everything. Whether you’re hungry for fried chicken, ramen, dumplings, or Korean BBQ, Melbourne does it well.

If you could invent one wearable device, what would it be and what would it do?

I believe multi-tasking (together with all our devices) is killing our ability to concentrate. To combat this, I’d like a device that gives me a teeny shock every time I get distracted. However, I guess inventing another device to help reduce distraction is a little counter intuitive…so maybe I’m better off cultivating good habits instead.

If there was one musician’s concert (past or present) that you could attend, who would it be?

Flight of the Concords.

Do you cook? If so, what’s your specialty?

I prefer my husband’s cooking, so anything I can cook, he can cook better. However, he doesn’t bake, so I would say I make a mean banana bread.

If you met an alien what would you say to him/her/them?

In my mind, I always picture aliens as the strange Sycamore moth caterpillars. So, I probably wouldn’t say ‘hello’: just admire them from afar.

What’s on your music playlist right now?

Kimbra’s new album, Primal Heart. I’m a serial listener whenever I get hooked on a new release, so it’s been playing on repeat.

What would you name the autobiography of your life?

That is a bel.

What is one skill in the world of digital you hope to improve this year?

The front end always has a new, shiny technology to get stuck into, but I’m currently working on learning a new JavaScript framework named Vue.js.