Past colleagues + friends’ recommendations

Hola

I’ve worked with J. for over a year at thenetcircle.com and she was really helpful to a guy that came from far away not knowing where he was going.

We worked together both for company projects and for open source ones, when the only reward you get is the satisfaction of finishing your pet project.

She helped me with the FireSymfony project which was a lot technical for someone who’s more into design. She had no problems with that, she got the designs working, she helped me focus on that project, and of course, from a mere 1500 downloads, my little FireSymfony went up to 20.000 downloads after she improved the usability, I think that speaks about the quality of her work.

But forget about how good a designer she is, the fact that she left the company more than a year ago and we are still in touch I think tells a lot about how cool is to work with her.

So, CS, is your call to get just another skilled designer, or to get a skilled designer that you can *work* with

- Alvaro, Development Manager at TheNetCircle.com

Hoi

I have worked with J for about 3 years (2 years as her manager as CEO of The NetCircle). J has an upbeat personality, very VERY good interpersonal skills and has always been a pleasure to work with. Since we were short one project manager on one project for about one year, I also had the chance to work with her and her team in that role. She understands ideas and requirements quickly and is able to transform them into designs that look good and work. Besides her technical, creative and UX skills, J is also able to manage teams and organize/prioritize design and development.

Ah yes, almost forgot. J is also a very good singer, should you plan to go to karaoke

- Claude, former CEO of The NetCircle and current captain of DUQI.COM

People who have a deep understanding of user experience, as well as strong visual design are hard to find. People who can work well with developers and are familar with an agile methodology are harder to find still. I was lucky enough to work with J from 4 years ago.

J is one of the few people I would trust to work on a large-scale website like CS as she has the range of skills required to take input from a range of stakeholders and implement strong, user-centric designs which are based on what actually works.

Jacqueline conceptualised, directed and coded our company website (http://www.lbs.com.hk). On taking on the project, she really took the time to understand our company’s ethos and outlook translating that into a clean, simple and usable website.

As can be the case with working with ‘creative people’, quite often it can quite frustrating due to differences in perception and vision. However, Jacqueline is both adept to both considering all points of view yet still allowing her own creativity shine through.

When you hire Jacqueline, you will get someone who is highly focused – she puts in 100% in everything that she does.

I had the pleasure of working with Jacqueline for 2 years at The NetCircle in Shanghai, China, and here are five fab reasons why I think she’d be a great asset for CouchSurfing:

1. She’s a CouchSurfing addict! (We know because she’s brought several of her surfers to company gatherings)
2. She’s a team player with great interpersonal and managerial skills.
3. She gets things done, and can be a slave driver when she needs to be one!
4. She has a thorough understanding of social media and agile development, and was indispensable in our team’s transition to Scrum
5. She’s just a lot of fun to be around!

I’ve worked with J for 4 years at The Netcircle. In fact I know her since she joined that company.

She was very helpful for the company especially when it came to giving good and professional advices regarding interpersonal or legal issues ( I am sure it was the same case regarding technical issues but I was not a “geek” so I can not tell you more about it ) . The bosses always appreciated her work and advices. That’s the reason why she climbed up the career ladder very quickly.
Everyone in the company liked her including me because of her professionalism, honesty and effort she put in every task she was assigned for.

Indeed it is a big lost for the company when she left. It will be difficult to find someone like her who did not just finish the work, who always think further to help the company’s growth.

During the employment at The NetCircle J became a very close friend of mine. Whenever I need support she is the first person coming up in my mind to ask for help or advices. Besides that she became a good friend of my dogs . They never miss me if I am on trip and J do dog sitting. Hmmm….in fact I don’t like that:P…

- Former HR-Manager at The NetCircle

J is one of the best UX designers I know. Next to excellent interface design skills, a focus on usability and user research, she also has knowledge of the development side – coding herself as well as working close with developers on her past projects.

Then there is her extended experience and knowledge in PMing a project and managing a team. She is not just very reliable in her work – she has the combination of professionalism and charm that make it wonderful to work with her in a team.

Being a web -application company ourselves – J is someone we would hire on the spot- yet she has a passion for the idea behind CouchSurfing and knows what she wants.

Co-Founder and Senior Developer at ReignDesign

Γειά σας!

Jacqueline Wan is a great, person!!! She made me feel like home and tried to make my staying at her place as more interesting as it cld be. I spent 2 wonderful days with her. She offered me muuuuuuuuuch more that I’ve ever dreamt of! I wish I cld stay more.

She’s descent, polite and and hardworking – I’ve visited her in her working place and saw that she also enjoys the respect of her colleagues .

U r warmly wellcome to Greece ANYTIME, J.
My warmst greetings

Dimitri
(CouchSurfing guest)

你好！

Everyone envies J because of her wonderful language skills, who’s fluent with English, Cantonese and Mandarin, and she won’t even refuse to talk with u in some other language like German.
In the office, she is always good designer and director as u could guess.
Personally, she is not only friend but also teacher of mine.

Thanks you J, I feel lucky of being your friends for so many years.
-Web Developer at Tencent Ltd, and ex-colleague of J

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Alvaro Videla, Xihe YU. Xihe YU said: RT @old_sound: If you ever liked how @jacquelinewan designed FireSymfony, please help her land a job at Couch Surfing: http://bit.ly/c7jciX [...]

你好

I’ve been colleague with J for 3 years when she was at The Netcircle.
Her leaving is really a big lost of our company. She showed strong leadership and super ability in design during her work.
She helped me a lot and gave great advices in the work. After work, she is a nice friend.
Till now, we are still good friend, exchanging our ideas about life, psychology(our common interst) and so on.
Whatever, I am sure J is the best of all the applicants. CS, don’t miss her!

こんにちは！
J は私にとってとても信頼できる友達です。また同い年なのでとても気軽に付き合えます。Jはよくパーティを開催して友達と楽しむ時間を作っています。Jはみんなを楽しませてくれます。彼女にはリーダーシップがあり、また語学が達者なので英語圏の人の意見も中国語圏の人の意見も、それぞれの悩み文化も体験を通して理解しています。
一度一緒にプロジェクトをしました。仕事において彼女はつねに高品質を望みます。この業界での知識は世界基準で、まんべんなく理解しており、その視点から提案します。頼もしい存在です。私はとっても勉強になりました。
私の中国語も英語もぼちぼちですが、いつも理解しようと努力してくれます。中国語、英語を教えてくれます。いつも忍耐強く話しを聞いてくれて、理解してくれてありがとうJ！

Bonjour,

Working with J is a pleasure. We arrived at the same time to work at Eno company (Shanghai). As a french design student in a foreign company, she helped me to understand chinese people and work methodology. J is a hardworking person who know how to manage a project and to follow a schedule. She work fast with precision, she advices me during all my internship. I learnt a lot thanks to her : she is curious and she always want to share with people.

We ALL LOVE and RESPECT J!!!

She would be a wonderful addition to CS. She pushes herself, is able to think outside the box and gets along equally well among friends and strangers. I say this as her friend and not a colleague. She is a great supporter of the ideals of CS and has put in a LOT of effort to get this job.

I may not be in her work circle, but I know a cool website (hers!) when I see one.

CS. Don”t miss out on her!!!

Hello,

I worked for J whilst in Shanghai at The NetCircle and i found her a pleasure to work with, both on a professional and personal basis.

She was excellent at handling a mixture of employees from different cultures and backgrounds, thanks to her own broad experiences coupled with her calm manner.

J is also a highly driven woman who is motivated by the personal passion she has for each of the projects that she works on.

I have attended the events (NLP seminars/discussions) that J organized and it was always a great pleasure, since J is always so creative that you will always experience something fun, nice and unexpected.

She is definitely a great person with strong interpersonal skills and a warm heart, also a person of great passion for life!

I’ve had a privilege to work together with Jacqueline on some projects where she was a product interface designer. She’s very prolific and professional at making a quality user interfaces and design that works and makes sense to non-technical users. Her communication style, cultural background, and ability to express herself fluently in multiple languages is a great advantage in any project team as she can be both a leader-organizer and facilitator of team communications and meetings.
I’m confident that she’s a great asset for any project team that values creativity, diversity, originality, and international communication.

J is a very good person and an excellent designer. She is a pleasure to work with and fun to be around. She is patient, insightful and quick on the uptake. During the 4+ years of knowing and working with her I find that she offers perspectives that are interesting and somewhat unique. I also believe she is very good at helping people to be better at what they do.

侬好！
I used to teach Chinese in The NetCircle, and got to know J when she just joined the company.
J has great personality. She is very caring, understanding, warm and smart. To ensure the team works well, you need this kind of people to reduce friction and encourage colleagues. She knows how to find other people’s advantage, applaud for everyone’s achievement, and most important, listen to people.
She is optimistic. Even facing big problems, J doesn’t let anything take her down, she looks at bright side and concentrates in fixing it.
That’s the gal I know, and I sincerely hope J will be in the team of CS as she wishes.

Amahoro,

I’ve had a chance to work with J for about 3 years at The NetCircle. She’s not just a great designer, she’s a good person who knows how to care and work well with people from different cultural backgrounds.

She’s the first person who introduced me to CS, and knowing that CS has people from all over the world, i believe she can do a great job for a project that we all know that she does like pretty much!

I worked with Jacqueline to host a number of events (NLP seminars/discussions) in Shanghai in 2007/8 – she was a joy to work with – highly reliable, efficient and fun!

I would whole-heartedly recommend Jacqueline as a co-worker, project-manager, a friend or all of the above!

Go J!

Mark.

It not easy to find a designer with J’s skill set. Not only she has outstanding design and UX talent, she also has very good organizational skills, both in project management as well as with coordinating people which are equally important.

I had the chance to work closely with her for two years in a large project and I can only recommend her. Would hire her anytime!

Paulo M.
Founder, manager, developer, system administrator and head dishwasher at the Postcrossing HQ.

Hello!

J & I met through a British Born Chinese meet up which she organised and hosted a loooong looong time ago – a sense of adventure even then and so open to new people, new experiences, all of which she both pursued and met with enthusiasm and passion.

You will not regret having J on your team, she’s been on mine (figuratively speaking!) since I met her and though absent by distance, I know she’ll always be there no matter how long the passage of time.

Good luck (BB)J, you deserve this!

(BB)K

Ich durfte auch einige Jahre mit Jacqueline zusammenarbeiten und was mich in all den Jahren am meisten beeindruckt hatte war ihre Art immer nur das Positive in jedem Menschen zu sehen und zu versuchen dieses Positive zu verstärken um dadurch das Team als ganzes in ihrer Rolle als Projektleiterin zu stärken. Klar gab es hier und da auch mal Konflikte, doch sie war immer fähig auf eine glaubwürdige und vertrauensbildende Weise diese Streitpunkte in positive Energien zu wandeln. Sie hat es mit ihrer grossen Geduld und Beharrlichkeit immer verstanden die Kontrolle innerhalb der Gruppe aufrechtzuhalten ohne dabei auf unfaire Mittel greifen zu müssen. Dadurch hat sie sehr schnell das Vertrauen und den Respekt aller Mitarbeiter für sich gewonnen.
Wünsche Jacqueline weiterhin alles Gute und viel Erfolg!

Kon’nichiwa!

J and I have been friends for two years. She is a very open-minded person and has many friends from various countries and different walks of life. For example…. I come from Japan and used to be a kindergarten teacher. We talk about differences between Chinese and Japanese cultures. She asked me of my opinions about a picture book for children made by her friend. She also made friends with my husband who is a local Shanghainese and enjoys talking about the historical background of Shanghai. I think J is a person who pays a respect to the community that she lives in. She is really good at organizing tea parties at her place, through which I’ve got to know many wonderful and interesting people. Not only she has many friends but also she keeps in touch with them well. I am one of them who really appreciate the friendship with her!! Yoko

Hi!

Following on from Yoko’s lovely last comment about me throwing tea-parties – it’s time to throw one!

So after 3 months of hope (application, 3 day test project, 2 skype interviews), 5+ weeks of silence, I finally have an answer! (and I’m sure your comments and support all helped!).

I did not get the job.

The verdict? CS had been very impressed with my skills test but no one is being hired for the position due to some requirement changes for the position, and no one met the requirements of this ‘new’ position.

It is what it is. Naturally I am disappointed, though at least I have an answer now. Interesting though that after 3 months and this webpage, I finally learn that there was a ‘new’ position for the first time! and that is in my rejection email so I couldn’t tell you exactly what this ‘new’ position is and which criteria I didn’t fulfill! Anyway, I look forward to seeing the fantastic improvements of the CS website in future.

Having said that, I’m still a fan of CS and its values and missions. I have already won a big prize – and that is your comments and support! All of you really took time out for me and I’m really touched by it.

Now, let’s turn this negative into a positive!
Tea-party at my house Sunday 8th August 3.30pm – I will provide food+drinks, and I would like to use the tea-party event to raise some awareness and cash to help a brilliant local artist towards her exhibition in September. See her works at PQApartment. Details in your inbox.

Thank you once again to everyone here for your support! I haven’t even seen some of you in 8-10 years?!

このウェブサイトをご覧になる方、コメントを読まれる方、
日本語が分からないかも知れないみなさんも、こんにちは！

Jとは上海で知り合いました。当時　お付き合いしていた方の元ルームメイトの新しいルームメイト、という形で知り合ったのですが、とにかく気兼ねなく本音で色んなお話をできる友達です。友人として以外にも、同僚としても大変付き合いやすく仕事がしやすいというのも、彼女の同僚から常に聞いています。

広東語・北京語・英語全てをネイティブレベルで操り、香港の世界水準ビジネスを理解した上で、イギリス育ちの品の良さと謙遜さや奥深さを持って、目まぐるしく発展する上海で、世界各国の同僚とビジネスの発展をしてきた彼女です。様々な事が規制される中でも発展する中国で、世界レベルのクウォリティーの高さを保って仕事をする彼女は、周りに流されずに自分の信念をしっかりと軸に持って成功させ、それはフレンドリーな性格のプライベートでも大いに発揮されていました。

素晴らしい友人であるという事が、素晴らしい同僚になるとは限りません。しかしJであれば、定めた目標を必ず達成するだけではなく、周りも巻き込んでさらに上を目指す事を、楽しみながら成功させる「才能」を持っています。上司であれ、同僚であれ、部下であれ、やる気のある人であれば必ず彼女との出会いに感謝しながら仕事ができると思います。彼女がCSで共に働くという事は、ライバルとしては一番怖い、クウォリティーの高い「良い所取り」の人材を仲間に迎え入れて更なる飛躍を遂げる近道である、と自信を持ってお勧めします。

J、困った時や悩んでいる時、優しい言葉をかけるだけではなく、その人が、その事態が本当に改善されるようにコメントできるあなたのその性格とまっすぐさ、それを支える優しさは本当にいつも尊敬しているよ！！

Mbote,

I met Jacqueline Wan in one of the CAC (Caribbean Association in China) meeting. She was asked to set a website for CAC. She kindly and volunteered to set up the website for the said association.

Because I had to maintain that website, so it was an opportunity for me to communicate with J. Though I did not spend much time with her, but I found her to be nice and kind, hard working lady, someone who knows what she’s doing and patient too.

She took her time to make sure that I understand the website she created and I will be able to maintain it.

I am convinced you will not regret having her in your team.

If you can’t believe all above testimonies, then I challenge you to try her and be the witness of how she can work.

King