I became interested in usability, human factors, and information design in a roundabout way. I’ve worked in the software development field since 1983, doing quality assurance, data analysis, technical and help-desk support, a little programming, and, most recently, technical writing and editing. I remember saying to myself, quite early in my first job and probably after a frustrating day of quality assurance testing, "I don’t care how this program is coded, I care how people use it!" Those were prophetic words that would bear fruit 16 years later!

In the early 1990s, I wanted to change careers. I liked working in software development but was tired of software testing.

I decided to get a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) and become a business analyst working in software development. For three grueling years, from the summer of 1993 to 1995, I worked full-time and went to school part-time at the Simmons College Graduate School of Management, Boston, Massachusetts.

After getting my MBA, I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I tried technical writing. (I’m not sure what happened to the business analyst idea.) Earlier I had pursued a Programming certificate at Northeastern University, so I transferred my credits to Northeastern’s Technical Writing certificate program, which I completed in the summer of 1996. In October of that year, I got my first technical writing job at Lotus.

Around that time, I attended a technical writing conference and heard about usability. I was hooked! I immediately started an Information Design certificate at Bentley College, Waltham, Massachusetts. Concurrently I completed a certificate in Web Production and Management at Emerson College, Boston, in 1998.

Then, one course away from completing my Bentley certificate, I decided to pursue usability and information design in more depth. In the fall of 1999, I joined Bentley’s first Master’s program in Human Factors in Information Design (HFID).

I just completed the requirements for this degree. I loved every minute of my Bentley experience! I read extensively —covering human factors, usability, graphic and information design, psychology, education, prototyping, internationalization, accessibility, and the Internet. I heard wonderful guest speakers—practitioners in human factors or information design.

I had wonderful, inspiring professors—Bill Gribbons, Chauncey Wilson, and Joe Dumas. I had the best classmates—remarkable, talented people with whom I’ve developed a network of colleagues and dear friends.

I gained excellent practical experience. In a semester-long project with three classmates, we analyzed the user interface of a major financial institution’s Web site, conducted focus groups, created paper prototypes, wrote a report, and presented the results to management. In a student internship at Verizon Laboratories, I worked for Demetrios Karis and Bob Virzi and got great experience running usability tests, participating in pilot tests, analyzing data, and writing reports.

The Bentley College HFID program expanded my work horizons and immediately put my information design skills to use producing more user-focused, visual documentation. During the program, I had two jobs combining technical writing and usability testing/information design. During one job, I coordinated the user interface design of a new sales compensation application with a software-development team consisting of software engineers, subject-matter experts, a graphic designer, and technical writers. During the other job, I designed and ran usability tests, wrote HTML Help, and revised the user-interface text of a new consumer software product for digital pictures.

My current goal is to be the best technical writer that I can be and use all that I’ve learned to produce excellent, user-focused software documentation. I hope to find a job doing usability testing, user interviews, and requirements gathering.