Discovering and translating user needs into visually appealing and intuitive products
Summary
- Direct experience with stakeholders in defining product scope, business model, customer requirements and features from inception to implementation
- Expertise in front-end development and design of websites and mobile applications using responsive web design and user-centered design principles
- Research experience in experimental design: conducted experiments on over 200 participants, analyzed and interpreted results
Work Experience
May 2015 – August 2015 (co–op term)
Program Manager
Microsoft, Seattle, WA
- Wrote detailed functional specifications, defining the functional and technical implementation of Xbox One features
- Independently managed a feature from concept to production
May 2014 – August 2014 (co–op term)
Designer
Microsoft Canada, Vancouver, BC
- Designed a mobile meeting scheduling application in cooperation with the Office team to reduce the number of steps required to schedule a meeting by 50%
- Completed user needs analysis to define and prioritize features
- Created technical documents outlining the functional behavior and design of features
- Acted as scrum master ensuring that application shipped within a four-month period
August 2013 – December 2013 (co–op term)
Front-End Software Engineer
Yelp.com, San Francisco, CA
- Redesigned blog and business page: implemented features focusing on semantics and cross-browser compatibility using data driven development
- Improved user experience by assisting with the development of a style guide to bring a consistent visual language
- Introduced and defined user research processes into the development cycle
January 2013 – April 2013 (co–op term)
UI/UX Developer/ Information Architect
Rokk3r Labs, Miami, FL
- Gathered user requirements, analyzed use cases, wrote functional specifications, and test plans for start-up clients
- Redesigned and implemented a front-end development process by leveraging Bootstrap, responsive design, LESS and node.js; reduced development time by 50%
- Led a team of front-end developers to design and develop multiple mobile-responsive web applications for both internal and client projects within project deadlines
May 2012 – August 2012 (co–op term)
Advanced Interface Design Lab – Research Assistant
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Supervisor: Dr. Catherine Burns
- Designed an adaptive tablet device interface based on user's state measured by a biosensor
- Developed and conducted experiments in the field of auditory displays utilizing music; analyzed and interpreted research results
- Developed fully functional back–end and front–end system, HTML5 mobile web application, and MySQL/Java application that communicates with a biosensor
September 2011 – December 2011 (co–op term)
Advanced Interface Design Lab – Research Assistant
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Supervisor: Dr. Catherine Burns
- Collaborated with Defence Research and Development Canada to conduct an experiment with more than 150 participants
- Designed sonifications as part of multi-modal interface for improvement of future Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Ground Control Stations
- Prototyped and implemented new audio user interface concept
January 2011 – May 2011 (co–op term)
Math Developer
Waterloo Maplesoft Inc., Waterloo, ON
- Developed over 110 new applications demonstrating various mathematical and physics concepts as seen in Maple 16 and the Maple Player iPad application
- Redesigned new feature for Maple 15 which includes over 40 new sub–features aimed at enhancing student learning
- Developed teacher content worksheets to demonstrate mathematical concepts and promote Maple 14 and Maple TA
Publications
Chilana, P., Alcock, C., Dembla, S., Ho, A., Hurst, A., Armstrong, B., Guo, P. (2015). Perceptions of Non-CS Majors in Intro Programming: The Rise of the Conversational Programmer. Proceedings of the IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC '15). [to appear]
Ho, A., and Burns, C.M. (2013) Music as an Auditory Display: Interaction Effects of Mode and Tempo on Perceived
Urgency. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 1, 1149-1153.
Education
Masters of Applied Science
Systems Design Engineering: Focus in Human Factors / Human Computer Interaction (HCI)
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON
- Ontario Graduate Graduate Scholarship (OGS)
September 2010 – June 2015
Bachelor of Applied Science
Honors Systems Design Engineering with Management Science Option
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON
- Graduated with Distinction and Dean’s Honor’s List
- President's Scholarship of Distinction
- UW Alumni @Microsoft Engineering Entrance Scholarship
Extra–Curricular Activities
11th Toronto Scout Troop Leader, Scout Canada
- Encouraged 30 members to participate in Scouting Program to establish value system based upon spiritual, social and personal principles through volunteer experiences
November 2013 – Janurary 2015
Co–founder of Final Revision
- Founded a product to bring code review process to design projects: a winning application of 2013 LAUNCH Hackathon competed against 1600 developers
- Won Dropbox API prize: presented product to Dropbox team