2.1 Introduction to Allison Yakel

What comes to mind when you think of the tech industry?

I imagine you said something like,

• “Apple”
• “Google”
• “Hoodies”
• “money”
• “Bro culture”
• “AI”
• “Start-ups”
• “Hustling”
• “Silicon Valley”

…Did you think of Spanish?

Probably not. But as the third-most-widely-used language on the internet, Spanish is used by a large swath of consumers tech companies aim to reach. Unsurprisingly, tech companies are increasingly interested in developing content in Spanish and interacting with Spanish-speaking consumers, which means there are lots of great-paying, flexible jobs in tech for trained Spanish speakers.

In this chapter, we’ll meet Allison Yakel, a Conversation Designer Engineer with a Top 5 company, who will tell us a bit more about how she uses Spanish in her job. Let’s dive in.