All language subtitles for 02 - Jason - My journey to UX.en

I head up a team.

We have a product lead,

we have a business
systems analyst,

UX engineer, UX designer,

UX researchers as well.

What we do is we define this
as equity-focused research.

What this consists of is trying

to speak with users from these

underrepresented and sometimes
marginalized groups to

understand basically their
experiences and their needs.

I grew up in Oakland,
here in California.

I come from a lower
socioeconomic status background.

I understand what my folks
had to do to get a degree of

social capital and
resources to be able

to give us a reasonable
quality of life.

But I think of the
struggles my folks had,

the struggles being a Black man,

the struggles that
I've gone through

in terms of access to resources,

access to education,

straight on discrimination
because of

the color of my skin and
my background as well.

Having that lived experience,

I realized I want to be
able to advocate for

people that are from my
background and my community,

but there are tons of
other backgrounds and

communities that are
struggling in that same way.

I think that's what drives
me to do the work, is

that lived experience and

understanding that there
are people in need.

I studied medicine
at UCSF and I did

my clinical rotations
at SF General Hospital.

As you transition from

the pre-clinical years
to the clinical years,

these are the moments
in which you're

actually talking to people.

SF General being a
county hospital,

it was the first time
essentially that I got to start

to work with people that
were from my own community.

I was working with a
number of Black folks that

were from lower socioeconomic
status backgrounds,

and there were patients

there that were
going through really,

really horrible, horrible things.

But I would sit down and
I would talk to people,

sometimes for 45
minutes or an hour,

to understand what
their backgrounds

were and what their needs were,

at least in the clinical space.

It was those moments of

understanding their needs
and understanding where

the system had broken down for

them that I think I
learned the most.

I could see the points

at which these
patients-physicians,

we're missing the mark,

they weren't getting
the information that

was necessary to
help these people.

A lot of that is why I left

the field of medicine
because I wanted to do

something that would be scalable
and had a lot more to do

with education and access for

folks that had not had
it up till that point.

I actually left UCSF
early before finishing.

I got three out of four years

in and I went to Stanford instead

and got into a doctoral program

there in learning sciences
and technology design.

I got exposed to UX and

general product design,
and UX research.

While I did my doctoral work,

I was focused on
understanding the experience

of Black plus students

at Historically Black
Colleges and Universities,

these students that
were pursuing degrees

in computer science and
electrical engineering.

My work there was focused on

understanding the
challenges there and

understanding their ideas of

their own identity as engineers.

I went through the
doctoral program and

got into an internship
here at Google.

I had a chance to then be able

to convert to a
full-time position after

the internship and I landed on

a wonderful team, Chrome UX team.

I came onto that team
to get my chops,

to understand what
UXR really meant,

and to understand how to
work in product design.

But at the same time
when I came in the door,

my intention was to be
able to do equity work.

Since hitting the ground,

I've been in programs and

created my own programs
that have focused on

equitable access to education and

specifically equitable
access to education in UX.

I think my favorite
part about my job

is the ability to
focus on equity.

I think for me what that
means is being able to

advocate for groups that

are underrepresented
and marginalized,

and groups that don't have

as much agency or access to
a voice in the industry.

Being able to speak with folks
from these backgrounds and

elevate their voices
and elevate their needs

is the thing that

keeps me going through
the job day-by-day.

I'm Jason, and I am

the Head of Equity
Engineering at Google.