Discuss your general career path since graduating from UT.
Following my passions to the confluence of design, interaction, technology, and new media has led me to Visual, Product, and UX Design roles on the visualization innovation cohort of Mass Relevance’s Consumer Experience team, to an extended contract role on a product team within the digital agency Razorfish, to my most recent position as a UX Designer/Consultant at projekt202 – a software application design and research consultancy.
How did your BDP experience influence your career path and interests?
Through the BDP I was introduced to UX design which had a huge impact on my career trajectory and helped solidify where I saw myself fitting into the discipline of design long term. I was also able to take fine arts, computer science, and graduate-level classes in the School of Information that helped to further build my interest for the role of design in the increasingly digital product landscape.
What do you value most about your BDP experience?
I most valued that fact that I was able to get access to a truly interdisciplinary education while at UT, which, in my opinion, is a very difficult place to do that. Through the BDP, I was able to take classes outside of my major and college and further explore interests that grew into my current career and outside hobbies.
In what ways did an interdisciplinary education prepare you for what you are currently doing?
It helped me to view problems at both a macro and micro scale. By that I mean that it helped me see how my role as a multi-disciplinary designer fits into the larger ecosystem of a business or a passion project. It also helped me become more comfortable with collaboration and the fact that many big ideas can’t be realized individually.