Jeff Gates

Background

About Jeff Gates

I am a UX Designer and recent graduate with a master's in Information Technology and Design along with a specialization in User Experience and Usability. They say if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life. For me, I love being a creative lifelong learner and finding solutions to problems. Most of all I love helping people, so when I found the world of UX Design I knew instantly that's what I wanted to do with my life. Before becoming a UX Designer, I was an 8th grade English and History teacher. Many of my students were ESL (Non-native English Speakers), and some didn't speak more than a few words on the first day of class. I feel like this experience has helped me greatly because it put me in a situation where I had to redesign all of my lessons with my students (users) in mind. I had to be creative to think outside the box, and even learn when it's time to tear up the box and start fresh taking complicated tasks and simplifying them. I take pride in my work and have fun disproving the phrase,"That can't be done." I brief story about me is that when in my graduate program I was assigned to design a video game in 30 days. I'd never made one before, didn't know any of the programs or how to code. I worked very hard and learned the design program in two weeks. I had everything made except I was struggling to figure out how to import a dialogue system into my game. My professor assured me that my game was already ahead of the rest of the class. I had my A. I could relax and stop. There was no way I could add on a dialogue system without knowing how to code. And no one could learn coding in 3 days. I nodded, thanked her, but said I was still going to try. She was right. I couldn't learn coding in 3 days. I didn't have to. Knowing how to manipulate the logic systems of the game engine I was able to create a fully integrated dialogue system without code in exactly three days. That game is now used in her class as an example. Oh, and I learned how to Code that next semester. I simply love learning and hope that I can use my skills to design web pages, apps, and products that will help people.