Dr. Cynthia Maxwell

Friday 11 June, 2021

 “We have the opportunity to make people’s lives better today. And apps and operating systems will have to be smarter by steering the experience, not being driven.”

This week's quote is by the Studio UI Engineer at Netflix and a startup advisor - Dr. Cynthia Maxwell

Cynthia has led various product teams that have made it possible to use mobile phones for making video calls, reading books, communicating on Slack, browsing Pinterest, and even producing various shows for Netflix.

With noteworthy contributions from research at NASA Ames Research Center, to leading innovative commercial applications at Apple, Pinterest, Yahoo, Slack, and now, Netflix - Cynthia has been a leader in the software industry for over 20 years now. 

She is also an influential mentor in the startup world and an advisor in an international non-profit organization. Women Who Code provides services for women pursuing technology careers and a job board for companies seeking coding professionals.

She prides herself in "the user-centric details that constitute the engineering side of user experience: smooth scrolling, efficient use of bandwidth, pixel-accuracy design, and deep collaboration across the stack to push the boundaries of mobile technology."

Working in technology for the past 24 years, we have seen first-hand the exponential change and growth in the digital world as compared to the '90s. Nowadays, customers don't just expect more, the expectations also change quickly, radically increasing challenges for businesses today. 

As customer's expectations continue to evolve, apps and operating systems need to continuously transform to surpass those expectations. 

Apps and operating systems have simplified the way we live our lives. Instead of flipping the newspaper, most of us catch up with the latest news online. We have left plastic cards behind and shifted to e-wallets to make easier, faster, and more secure payments. These are only a few ways in which apps have driven our experience. Apps and OS should lead to these changes rather than the other way round. 
When we build new technologies at DDSN we always lookout for solutions to existing problems which were either overlooked or assumed to be unsolvable. For example, a recent app we built for St. John's College for the residential students continues to significantly improve resident engagement and satisfaction and integrates their communication and marketing efforts.

Today's Quote

Graphic depicting Dr. Cynthia Maxwell and her quote  “We have the opportunity to make people’s lives better today. And apps and operating systems will have to be smarter by steering the experience, not being driven.”


Who is Dr. Cynthia Maxwell?

Dr. Cynthia Maxwell has led first-class customer-facing mobile engineering projects for Apple, Pinterest, and Slack.

She has independently advised on the top applications like Apple Pay and Google Play Stores. 

She obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Stanford University.

Currently, she is working as a studio engineer at Netflix. 

Overall, she continues to lead the way in technology by mentoring startups and paving the way for young women interested in STEM.


DDSN is a leading Australian web design and development agency. With decades of experience, we have worked with multiple Aussie businesses & organisations and have been acclaimed as one of the most trustworthy Australian digital agencies.

At DDSN our development team continuously challenges themselves to improve existing digital solutions and create new ones to meet evolving customer expectations.