Mikaela Thompson
UX Design
Technology Architecture Analyst at Accenture
Describe your potential job duties
Design and build new technology products, services, and systems for complex business transformations using AWS, Oracle, Salesforce, and other technologies across various industries.
Utilize strategic thinking, data, and insights together with technology to solve global challenges through a career in technology consulting.
Collaborate with stakeholders, clients, and industry leaders to gather user, business, and technical requirements for system development.
Perform project management duties through updating and monitoring of project requirements in Jira.
Conduct systems analysis through analyzing existing IT systems and modeling new functionalities.
In what ways did the Polytechnic and/or Purdue help make you uniquely qualified for your new job?
Purdue's Polytechnic Institute helped me become uniquely qualified for my new job by providing direct work experience with various industry professionals. The UX Experience Studio courses did a phenomenal job of preparing me for the real-world by providing the opportunity to work on 6 different human-centered design projects during my undergraduate degree alongside industry professionals at various organizations. These projects taught me the importance of teamwork, problem-solving, and leadership, alongside key technical skills that are essential to a successful career in tech consulting.
How has the college or someone in the college (feel free to name them) helped you achieve your goals?
Professors Nancy Rasche and Anastasia Kouvaras Ostrowski both have served as incredible mentors for me and enabled me to achieve my goals through their continued support in the UX program. Professor Rasche helped me strengthen my leadership, communication, project management, and design thinking skills through the three Experience Studio courses I took under her guidance. Working with Professor Kouvaras Ostrowski as an undergraduate research assistant on two HCI research projects has also been an incredible experience as she has mentored me to become a well rounded researcher.
What specific classes (titles are more helpful than course numbers) helped prepare you for your new job?
CNIT 280 Systems Analysis and Design helped prepare me for my new job by allowing me to learn about how IT systems analysis and design processes work in industry. This course helped me develop a stronger understanding of software development including requirements gathering, functional modeling, behavioral modeling, and various development frameworks.
If you had a favorite class, project, experience, or professor, what/who was it, and why?
My favorite project was a human-centered design project collaboration with Microsoft's Experience Strategy and Design Studio (XSD). I got to research and design a consumer-facing digital finance tool with my team that integrates AI into financial services. This project gave me the opportunity to learn about AI design ethics from industry researchers and how to utilize AI within a complex problem space. Both my project sponsors and teammates were incredibly supportive and provided invaluable feedback that shaped me to become a better designer.
My UX Experience Studio courses did a phenomenal job of preparing me for the real world. Plus, Nancy Rasche and Anastasia Kouvaras Ostrowski both have served as incredible mentors for me and enabled me to achieve my goals through their continued support."