Hello there!
My name is Mikey and I appreciate you taking the time to read a little about me.
To give a quick summary, I am UX researcher with a psychology background that currently resides within the Bay area. Before transitioning into User Experience, I worked with special needs children and at risk youth doing therapy/counseling
I have also freelance consulted for a range of different companies including a social media channel, an executive coaching platform and a growth investment firm.
UX Research at Google
The last couple years I have spent on a team called the Rapid Research team within Google. We are essentially an internal consulting group that would lend aid with rolling research needs. We would primarily assist with research needs for teams that did not have enough man power to carry out research on their own, or did not have an embedded researcher on their team. Moreover, as the name suggests, we carried out research from start to finish very ‘rapidly’.
Types of Research
At Google, I was able to learn and use a wide breadth of user methods to I applied to a from a diverse set of products/services, from end-to-end. I’ve also had the privilege to conduct research on internal tooling for recruiters, designers and researchers.
Primarily, the research I contributed came from the Search, Geo (Maps), News and Google Assistant . I would say 65% of my time was spent on evaluative research, examining different designs, testing new ideas, getting specific product feedback and even just a general pulse check for teams that were unsure if they were headed in the right direction.
While the other 35% of my time was spent doing more generative/foundational research such as basic user interviews, market research or literature reviews to understand potential areas of need or new product opportunities.
Some Notable Projects
Due to being on the Rapid Research team, I was able to contribute to a plethora of unique products led by amazing teams of researchers, engineers, designers and PMs! Here are some of the products I helped conduct research for:
Google Maps
Android Auto
Google Translate
Settings for Assistant
Jobs on Google Search
Google Home Hub
John Legend cameo for Assistant
Dark mode on Google App
Entities on Google Search
Iconography on Gboard
Pronunciation on Search
Research Van
Definitely one of the coolest parts of being on the team was that we were also known for having a research van that had a usability lab inside! We were able to drive it all over the Bay area for better access to participants with various backgrounds! Better sweet huh?
UX Research Tours
We also took the van across the country to many cities including Kansas City, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Boise and Boston to conduct research with a much more diverse set of users!
I was fortunate enough to be part of two seperate UX Research tours while at Google!
Outside of Work
Traveling
With and without friends!
Hiking and Exploring
Longer the hike the better!
Playing Music
Mostly guitar and piano but also electronic!