My Journey to User Experience Design

I took a round-about path to User Experience Design. My career path started in a lab studying microbiology, biochemistry, and genetics. Soon I started training other technicians, which taught me a lot about how people think. I took those training skills to the finance world to build interactive training programs. Those programs sparked an interest in UI and UX, which led me to where I am today.

Head of Training in a Genetics Lab

I became the head of training at Neogen GeneSeek. In that role, I learned a lot about how people think. I learned that people often needed explanations in different ways before something clicked in their mind. I learned that some people are wired differently, and something that was intuitive to me might need repeated explanation for them. The biggest thing I learned was how to adapt my communication style for the learner.

eLearning

I switched from science to finance to continue working on training and adult education. With Fiserv, I started developing online training programs and curriculums. I learned how to translate my in-person training experience to an online medium. I also learned how to broaden my approach to reach multiple audiences at once.

Gamification

I started getting more and more interested in gamification as a method of learning. I started researching user interface designs and intuitive navigation to make my courses more engaging and effective. I began using common UI elements such as progress bars in my training.

It was at this time when I really began thinking about how the user interacted and engaged with the screen and the elements on it and less about how the learner engaged with the information.

User Experience Design Certificate from Google

I had a practical understanding of user experience at this point, but I didn't have the vocabulary to express it or the resources to learn more. I completed a seven-part certificate program from Google to expand my understanding of UX and UI. In that program I learned the foundations of user experience design and created wireframes, mockups, and prototypes.