Skip to main content Daniela Valero

About me

Portrait photo of Daniela
I am Daniela, a web architect, who mixes elements of social and computer science along with design to spark joy when building digital experiences that are usable by all users.

Here is a list of things I believe in:

I am a programming nerd #

I love programming, I enjoy a lot of unit testing, working on the "developer engine" (now called developer experience - DX) that powers up projects, visualizing and planning frontend architectures as well as planning and building customer-centric digital experiences that are enjoyable by all users, not only those without disabilities.

I am a tech lead #

I have been tech lead for big and small development teams and projects since 2015. Some of the products with technical flaws and improvement areas, and because they existed, I have learned every time, and that has made me a better tech lead. It continues happening.

I believe in Equity #

I am an active advocate for diversity, and I do it through kindness and respect to every person, regardless of the group or lack of group they feel identified with.

I make myself accountable for the happiness of my team #

If something is not going well on my team, I hold myself accountable. It is my responsibility as team lead to create a space where people can feel happy, engaged and listened to.

Creativity among all #

My brain is always working and finding connections among domains or areas that are not necessarily meant to be connected. Yet I am not a designer from education, creativity goes beyond drawing or designing.

Peaceful, assertive, and respectful Communication #

I believe in peaceful, assertive, and respectful communication. This involves: Conveying a message as much as Listening.

Practice Self-Insight #

I practiced since I was around 12 years old the practice of self-insight. I reflect on myself, goals, behaviors, etc. I observe to recognize and improve myself. I use tools for that, usually directly related to psychology and organizational science

Use science knowledge to solve problems #

The typical problems I solve are related to building websites or to interacting with humans or just being a human myself. I prefer referring to available knowledge on programming & Co., as well as psychology and organizational psychology, as tools to solve problems because they have been proved to work and be more efficient.

Allocate wisely my memory resources #

I am a forgetful person in my personal life, for example, I love music, yet don't remember names of artists of albums unless I listened to them 100* times than I remember. (* I did not count)

I keep in my mind a big list of pointers to where to find information.

This means: I deliberately try not to remember every single detail that I can look up. By doing this, I am making better use of my memory resources.

I don't engage in debates that won't bring an objective benefit to the parties involved in the debate.I am utterly misinformed about news, politics, sports, Hollywood, commercial music, world history (aka "general culture"), and how to be a pro of social networks.

Meaningful people relationships #

I build meaningful relationships with people around me. I use psychology and organizational development theories to do this, ever since I studied it in my master’s degree, I have continued learning about it, and I am pretty sure I will continue. Computers are actually the "soft", people skills are actually the "hard"

Radical Candor #

Yes, as of in the book. I try actively to behave this way and to create a space where I can share feedback and receive feedback in a healthy and respectful manner.

Build teams or small communities #

I have been actively building small communities for years in my work teams. Ever since I made this one of my roles, I was never part of a team where people felt there was "the wrong energy".I have got this knowledge by practice and have been working that I have done together with my teammates. I believe firmly that to build a strong team or community, is to activate and engage the people in it.

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