Mandi Gonzalez

How has your career progressed since you graduated SILS?

After graduating from SILS, I immediately went into graduate study at the University of Michigan School of Information, where I got my master's degree in Human Computer Interaction, which in turn provided me with the necessary soft and hard skills to obtain an awesome UX job at a top video game company.

In your current employment, what are your job duties and responsibilities?

I work on a variety of projects that represent our internal applications used at Blizzard, following the UX process (in an agile environment) very closely, which includes planning and executing user research, moderating usability tests, wireframing and prototyping, along with working with program managers, engineers, QA and stakeholders.

What were some of your best experiences at SILS??

My best experiences at SILS were the times where I was excited to do homework. There were only a handful of classes at Carolina where I was excited and proud of the homework I'd complete, and SILS courses were almost always those classes. It helped me realize that IS was going to be the right field for me.

How did your time at SILS prepare you for the future?

SILS helped me find a passion within information science, in turn helping me see all of the opportunities in the field that I could take advantage of, including being incredibly well prepared to enter graduate school at another top tier public school at the University of Michigan. I took such a diverse set of courses that helped me get the multidisciplinary background that I use and have today as I work with others from multidisciplinary backgrounds.

What inspires or motivates you?

Helping others is what motivates me the most. If I know I can make a difference for people, that's all the motivation I need.