Me on the beach in Georgia at sunrise
Becky Hargis
I received a degree in Interactive Digital Media with a Computer Science concentration from Northwest Missouri State University. This is an interdisciplinary major that is half computer science, a quarter media and a quarter art. I left college with basic java knowledge, and understanding of web user experience and the principles of the design.
I have been at the same company since I graduated in 2007. I started as a java programmer and quickly moved to front end and cms work. We had no designer, so I started designing then writing the html templates and css. Eventually I transistioned away from coding and doing UX and design full time.
But one UX person can only do so much in a company of 1000 people and 300+ IT people. So, with the help of my team, we hired a second UX person. Then I was moved to a brand new project where I was eventually able to increase my UX team to 4 with another on another project. I was able to be involved in the hiring process and love screening for new team members, UX or developers.
There aren’t a lot of UX people in this area and getting people to move to the middle of Missouri is…a struggle. So I’ve taken on a teacher/mentor role and it has been great building this team and watching them learn.