ABOUT ME
I currently work at Apple in User Studies. My profession and passion is UX Research. Looking back at my own life I see the seeds of my fit for this profession in the early years off my life. I preferred the company of adults as a child and always wanted to understand what made them tick. I was always investigative and curious.
I grew up to obtain two master’s degrees. I earned my most recent one last year(2023) at the University of Texas at Austin where I specialized in User Experience Research. Previously I had earned a master’s degree in History (2019) from Texas State University.
Historian researching in an archive.
OBTAINING THE BEST DATA
UX Researcher conducting a usability test.
During my time obtaining my first master’s degree in History. I learned skills that I would one day apply virtually intact to UX Research. For example, like UX Researchers, Historians research people to try to gain a deep understanding of them. Both professionals know to keep a wary eye for how biases and cultural norms, among other factors can distort our data or our interpretation of our data. Thus both UX Researchers and Historians are trained to counter these distortions by researching ample data and using our empathy and intuition about people to try to gain fresh and valuable understandings about the people we study.
GAINING DEEP UNDERSTANDINGS OF PEOPLE
To the left, A seventeenth-century court case in which an indigenous man in New Spain is accused of witchcraft.
Historians who research the seventeenth-century Hispanic world have analyzed witchcraft court cases to better understand indigenous people because these records provide rich data on their subjectivities, which is harder to find in other types of records.
This is like the UX Researchers at the right trying to gain a deep understanding of a target audience through ethnographic research.
PRESENTING TO STAKEHOLDERS
Being trained first as a historian, and then as a UX Researcher served me well. On the left you’ll find a historian presenting his research findings to colleagues at a conference. I did presentations like that as a historian and this was ample preparation for when I would present research findings as a UX Researcher as the photo on the right demonstrates. It often feels as though I am transferring the exact same skills I mastered as a historian to a new context… A tech context that is enriching our present and future.
