Adam, 35 - Head of Design & User Experience

My job at Funding Circle (which is one of the world's fastest growing companies) spans quite a broad range of areas but at its core is about making sure we create the best possible user experience for our customers. While the bulk of that work involves the web and mobile apps, it bleeds into all areas of the business, even touching things like how our sales and customer services teams speak on the phone.

A-levels

German, Maths, Politics, General Studies

Degree

Software Engineering (with focus on AI)
Durham University

How I got to where I am now

Started creating my own software and websites while still at school

Sold my own messageboard software for $200 per licence and actually had customers

At uni I got a summer job working for a computer game developer on a first-person-shooter game

After university I worked for a couple of small web design agencies in the North East

Moved to London to join a startup that morphed into more of a social network

Spent three years as design lead at Gumtree (part of eBay)

After Gumtree I did a couple of freelance projects: rebranding a documentary film distributor and a secret project for a major bank

Joined Funding Circle when there were only 30 of us and 6 years later there are 900 in 4 countries

My big tip...

Increasingly, your specific degree isn't crucial to your job later on in life — I don't even look at education when reviewing CVs for design and development candidates. If you can, choose a degree that covers a subject you're really passionate about; if you do this, it will feel less like work and like something you want to learn about in your spare time anyway. Also don't forget, you can always change paths later.