IBM Accelerate
S24 Design Program Experience, UX Learnings
Product Design
Enterprise Design
IBM Open Source Project
"Good Design is Good Business"
Thomas John Watson
Chairman and CEO of IBM
🔒 My projects at IBM is currently in development. If you’d like to know more about my fellowship experience or the project I worked on, feel free to schedule a call with me!
Overview
During the summer of 2023 I placed in the top 5% of over 10,000 applicants to participate in an 8-week design training and mentorship program IBM Accelerate that covered the design on a intermidiate scale from industry professionals with over 10+ years of experience and mentors
While being on a study term that summer I could not do a internship and so I wanted to brush up my skills and this program ended up being the perfect opportunity.
My Role
Product Designer - ManageIQ project (IBM Open source community) & IBM Accelerate Fellow
My Team
1 Chief Architect & 2 Product Designers
Timeline
8-weeks
My Responsibilities
From starting the program to the very everyone was so kind especially the IBM employees running the program they pushed for all fellows personal growth. My responsibilities for the program were attending weekly meetings hosted by professionals at IBM on a specific topic on design, complete design challanges/ tasks, at the end presented a term end design report to managers and directors including learnings with IBM Design principles, design methodologies, accessibility guidelines, wire framing, prototyping and more .
While my responsibilities with the Managed IQ team were to help facilitate weekly design scrum meetings, document any ux bugs, find ways to improve current system outdated design and any bugs.
IBM Accelerate
Highlights
☁️ Designing for Enterprise Scale
Working on the ManageIQ open-source project taught me how to design for large-scale, complex systems. The focus was on building user-friendly solutions that could scale seamlessly across diverse user needs in an enterprise environment
👨💻 Collaboration with IT / Chief Architect professionals
This program gave me my first chance to work closely with a Chief Architect, rather than just developers and PMs. This shift helped me understand how architecture impacts design decisions, and how to align design with long-term technical strategies.
🧑🏫 Leveraging the IBM Design System
I quickly learned to leverage the IBM Design System, integrating its pre-designed components to ensure consistency while customizing them for specific project needs. This experience reinforced the importance of systemized design in creating cohesive user experiences.
📏 Navigating Outdated Systems
One of the biggest challenges I faced was working with outdated systems. Integrating modern design principles into legacy platforms required creative problem-solving and an understanding of technical debt. I learned the importance of balancing the need for innovation with the constraints of existing systems, ensuring that designs were both feasible and forward-thinking.
⚡ Leveraging your Resources
Putting yourself out there and staying curious is so important. That's how I learned about the program in the first place. Also, led me to volunteering for the IBM open-source community which turned out to be a invaluable experience.
Overall; a wonderful summer experience
This summer was an incredible learning journey, where I had the privilege of working alongside industry professionals, particularly a UX expert with over 10 years of experience at IBM. Their guidance and insights were invaluable in shaping my understanding of user experience design. IBM, a pioneer in human-computer interaction, design, and technology, provided me with a unique opportunity to deepen my knowledge in a company that has played a significant role in shaping the design landscape. It was truly inspiring to learn from both the leaders and the history that has made IBM a key player in the design and tech world.
~A product of countless yuja honey lemon teas, touching grass, and the kind of clarity that comes from solo traveling. ☕ 🗺️
Get in touch
Send an email or DM, if you think I can be a good fit to your team!
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