On Wednesday the 1st of September 2021, we hosted our QUT Tech Industry Panel & Networking night as a collaboration by Women in Technology at QUT, QUT White Hats and QUT Game Development Club.

With over a hundred student guests and 35 industry representatives across 10 companies, we presented an evening of networking to successfully shed some light on the IT industry for QUT students. These companies included:

• Deloitte [Digital Consulting]
• Suncorp [Software Engineering]
• Swyftx [Cryptocurrency Exchange]
• Amazon [Software Development]
• RecordPoint [Information Management]
• Max Kelsen [AI and Machine Learning]
• NTT Ltd. [Cyber Security]
• Tesserent [Cyber Security]
• Gameloft [Game Development]
• Toast VR [Game Development]

It was a pleasure to interview our panel of 10 industry representatives, who each provided valuable insights into their company, the future of the tech industry, and the importance of diversity in the tech space.

During my time at Deloitte as a Front-End Developer intern, I took part on a project that redesigned the website of Childhood Cancer Support, also known as CCS. We took the currently-existing CCS website and rejuvenated it to create a more up-to-date and modern platform for the clients to share their information.

The website's old structure of a typical form, such as their Donate Now page, is quite outdated. There’s placeholder text that doesn't correlate to the right input fields, the drop down menu doesn’t span the entire width of the input box, and there are inconsistencies in element widths. The credit card module was messy and doesn’t come across as very user-friendly.

With a redesign and improved structure of development, the input fields were transitioned to a more modern look, with less emphasis on the input borders and adding field labels as opposed to placeholder text. The card module has become much more user-friendly and visually pleasing, which allows users to feel less skeptical about inputting their details to donate.

Through this client-focused project, I’ve learned to pay key attention to the small details, and to consider every possible user outcome. With multiple variations of error validation messages, supported by visual clues such as the red bolded borders, I’ve been able to take a step into what the experience would be like from a user point of view, and ensure that the website is structured to suit every need.

Research demonstrates that 58.4% of women hold keys between their fingers when walking alone and 50% of women say physical attack is their second fear, followed by dying, burglary and mugging.

The Lumiere Handbag is a tangible prototype created with the focus on the idea of social distancing and the safety of women, more specifically their possessions.

Lumiere is ultimately targeted at women going to and from selected locations alone. This product encourages users to feel safer about their possessions during moments of uncertainty. As an example, when a woman is out alone late at night, she may start to feel unsafe. The woman turns on the green Lumiere flashing light on her handbag, increasing her confidence in the safety of her belongings and creating a sense of awareness for the individuals that pass by her.

If an individual were tempted to grab her bag or move within close proximity to the user, the Lumiere Bag will immediately change to red, creating a warning signal for the individual. The colour red is psychologically characterised as symbolising 'danger' and 'help', subconsciously signaling to the stranger to keep their distance.

The prototype utilises an Arduino UNO, an external 9V battery holder and a 5 metre roll of RGB LED strip lights. For interactivity, the prototype uses an Infrared Receiver to pick up transmissions sent from a remote, as well as a small Infrared Sensor to detect physical motion from its surroundings.

The program uploaded on the Arduino features a switch statement with six cases to determine what RGB colours to display in respect to which button has been pressed. It also includes a logical if statement to determine if the infrared sensor has detected movement, which overrides whatever colour the LEDs are currently showing and changes it to red.