Allie Miller, HFID ’14

User Researcher, Twitter

With a background in new media and information technology, Allie Miller was looking for a graduate program that blended product design and research with advanced theory into human behavior. She found it in Bentley’s Human Factors in Information Design program, and took advantage of the university’s satellite campus in San Francisco to complete her degree remotely.

What were you hoping to get out of your graduate degree?

I wanted to study from people who had been in the industry a few years and learn from their experiences. And for me, having the degree opened the door to future opportunities.

Where exactly does your role as a UX person come into play in the product development cycle at Twitter?

User experience is at the front of every decision we make. In my role, I am brought in early and collaborate often with my stakeholders. It is not uncommon in a meeting to hear someone asking what value a proposal will have for our customers. And the research I conduct helps to inform those decisions.

What do you do on a day­-to-day basis?

No two days are the same for me at Twitter. One day I might be running a brainstorm with different stakeholders, and the next I might be planning my next research project or running a pilot session of an upcoming study.

What do you love about the UX field?

One of the factors in why I chose to join the UX flock was because of the customer and product-driven thinking we do on a daily basis. Our products are for people and they inspire me to design awesome things.