Transforming Developer Experience at Cisco

Overview
Over six years at Cisco Developer, I helped evolve the developer platform from a collection of siloed documentation into a unified, human-first ecosystem serving millions of engineers. This transformation included redesigning learning systems, establishing a design system, and rethinking how APIs and tools are presented to developers.

My Role

Principal UX Designer across multiple initiatives: learning platforms, design systems, developer onboarding, and API tooling.

Led cross-functional collaboration with engineering, PMs, and brand to overhaul critical workflows.

Evangelized research-driven, developer-centric design principles throughout the org.

Six years in data

226GB
• 13,341 files
12,465 image files 93% • 758 Sketch files• 301 pdfs
223 keynote files • 170 video files • 98 Figma files

API Insights _{API Quality Assurance tools}

Problem: Developers were struggling to understand which Cisco APIs were stable, well-documented, or actively supported. There was no visibility into API quality.

Approach

Conducted deep user research with internal and external devs.

Designed a quality scorecard and badges system that surfaced key signals (uptime, changelog hygiene, SDK presence, support activity).

Collaborated with engineering to ensure automated score generation from real metrics.

Impact

Cisco’s first objective quality framework for APIs, used across API listings and documentation.

Influenced internal teams to clean up and standardize API offerings.

Helped the platform team prioritize improvements based on visibility and use.

Learning 2.0 _{Cisco DevNet’s Custom LMS}

Problem: Cisco’s official LMS (Cisco U.) was paywalled, slow to evolve, and not developer-focused. DevNet needed a free, standalone learning experience tailored to developers—with real-time feedback, simple structure, and minimal friction.

Approach
Designed and built a custom LMS from the ground up, purpose-built for DevNet.

Integrated live terminal sandboxes so users could run real commands and receive instant feedback—removing local setup as a barrier to progress.

Worked closely with engineering and content teams to support over 800 curated learning items, structured for clarity and scale.

Designed a minimalist, high-context IA that reduced overwhelm and improved retention.

Used subtle animation and layout principles to preserve user context, guide progression, and support modular content consumption.

Impact

Shipped a free, open platform that still serves as the main learning entry point for Cisco Developer.

Reduced bounce and dropout by improving clarity, feedback, and content discoverability.

Empowered internal teams to publish and update structured learning content without needing Cisco U.