Meet Our Prodigies: Ryan Bruce

Meet Ryan Bruce - Staff Product Designer. Ryan joined Prodigy in the summer of 2023, and is a staff designer supporting the company’s Ecommerce and Marketing Technology teams. Want to be part of our team? Check out our open positions here!

Hey Ryan! What led you to this career?

It was a pretty direct path. In high school I was very much interested in graphic design. I was into photography, on the school yearbook team, designed merch and websites for local bands, and generally enjoyed playing around with Photoshop. I went to college for graphic design, and then moved into interactive multimedia and web design work. I worked in a digital marketing agency for about 10 years, and then in 2014 I joined Shopify to work on their growth team before moving into a product design role.

What attracted you to working at Prodigy?

What really drew me to Prodigy was its educational mission. After almost 10 years in the ecommerce space, I spent some time thinking about what I wanted to do next. I have ties to education in my family. My sister is a high school teacher and my mom has worked in continuing education in college and EdTech for the best part of 10-15 years. I also have two young kids, and I went through the COVID experience with them and saw first-hand the gaps in online education and how to create a better experience for children. I wanted to do something which would bring value to the world, and Prodigy was that fit.

What makes working at Prodigy special?

I work with some truly great people. We’ve got a small but growing design team and we work very closely together. There are no egos here. It’s really collaborative and everyone is very supportive in helping each other do their best work. So the dynamic is really great. It’s really the team and the company mission which sets this experience apart and makes me happy to show up every day.

What part of your job is most rewarding?

I really love seeing all the work the research team does on speaking with students and teachers so we can understand the positive impact Prodigy has, as well as how we can make it better. I love seeing the little notes that students write and seeing how they experience the game. When you see that experience, you understand how we’re making such a difference for millions of students. It’s such meaningful work.

What are you most excited about for the future?

From a design perspective, I love how closely our creative and product design teams are working together to start developing a more consistent brand across all channels. That’s a lot of fun and I can’t wait to start rolling it out. I’d also say it’s exciting that we’re looking at how game-based learning can apply to other topics. We’ve already launched English, and there’s really no limit to where we could go next.

What advice would you give to someone considering joining Prodigy?

You have to show Extreme Ownership in everything you do (one of Prodigy’s core cultural values). Because we are a smaller team, it means being responsible for your work and not being afraid to roll your sleeves up. You also get a lot of autonomy here. The company’s mission is clear and having the freedom to figure out how to get there is empowering.

Interested in joining Ryan at Prodigy? Check out our open positions!