PTW Design and Development was a startup created by a dad and son. The son was disabled and the two would make devices to help him interact with technology better. One device they built was a hardware controller to interface with smartphones.
I started off as an intern in my last semester and then switched to full time after graduation. They initially just needed help testing out an Android app that they hired an outside team to build. But while I was testing the app for bugs, I realised that the app could be built a lot more intuitively to use.
So I basically made a new Android version from scratch with all the previous features and new ones. It was my first time making an Android app, but I just picked it up as I made it. I also made an iOS version. It was also my first experience really working with hardware besides a few Arduino projects I’d done in the past.
Since I was the only full time software developer in the team (besides a senior Google developer who would help here and there), I had to be really independent and problem solve. I learned to dig through documentation and specs and identify solutions to niche problems where a simple google search wasn’t sufficient.
It was also interesting to think through UX from a more tactile perspective of making sure the interactions felt natural and straightforward using the hardware controller.
We had a few demo sessions with visually impaired and differently abled people to try out the app and controller in action and get feedback. It felt fulfilling to focus on solutions for people who are often overlooked.
We were also a part of the Berkeley Skydeck incubator program, so I tried to make the most out of it and regularly attending talks they had about Startup related topics which helped me gain perspectives on it from people who had experience in it.
Last modified: 07/2024
Contact: zeyana.a@gmail.com
