Between the Pages
I am a multi-talented and innately curious person whose top leisure activities are reading, writing, and playing video games. I have two children who love to do those activities with me, and we even play the occasional game of Dungeons and Dragons.
I am also a musician. I sing, dance, and I am learning to play the violin. I believe that learning new things should be a lifelong pursuit. If you visit our home you are likely to find an eclectic variety of music playing. Anything from Broadway tunes to hard rock. If I leave my books behind on the weekends you can find us at renaissance fairs, musical performances, or wandering local paths taking photos.
Professional life – UX by Way of Curiosity
The path of my professional life hasn’t followed what most would consider a “typical” path. I’ve had many roles in many different industries. I am a certified massage therapist, and I went to college originally for a degree in Graphic Design, and ended up switching to Psychology because I discovered that I love research. I spent my undergraduate years assisting a professor who was conducting research on Massage Therapy, and I am listed as a co-author on one of his published papers. My undergraduate capstone project was eventually published in an international journal for massage therapy research, with me as the lead author.
This passion for research led me directly into a Master’s of Applied Psychology, with a concentration in Research Evaluation. The year was 2011. During this two year program, I learned how to properly evaluate the success of a program or intervention, and those skills are directly embedded in UX Research. I firmly believe that if UX Research was a common term at that time, we would have been discussing it in many of my courses.
I may not have started out knowing that I wanted to do UX as a career, but I am incredibly glad I found it. I could not be more excited to be a part of an industry that not only allows me to foster many different kinds of skills, it demands it of me. In this industry, my multi-interested nature isn’t a drawback, it’s a gift. It allows me to draw from my diverse experiences to create a stronger, better product for the users for whom I am designing.
Meg Burkett 