I was excited to see Google's recruiting for a new user researcher. The job looks like fun, because I like challenging, open-ended problems and working on them with other creative people. Software interfaces particularly interest me, because they sit at the border of two exciting fields: computer science and cognitive psychology. Working in UI development on innovative projects will be a great opportunity to pursue challenges in these areas. Exploring cognitive control, and how it guides us through daily tasks, is very rewarding to me, and this informs my decision to pursue interface development.
My experiences and skills make me a strong candidate for the position. In UC Berkeley's interdisciplinary cognitive science program, I focused on courses about the applications of cognitive research to computing. For one of these classes, covering interface design on mobile devices, our team developed a project throughout the semester, sketching out designs and testing our ideas against real users. Exercises like this taught me about the ingenuity required to build usable software, especially under severe constraints like a phone's limited display and input. Beyond the classroom, I volunteered in neuroscience and psychology labs, where I got a chance to design, perform, and analyze experiments in developing fields of cognitive science. This research experience proves valuable in considering the human aspects inherent in any design project.
I look forward to hearing from you. If you have any questions or wish to schedule an interview, please call me.
Sincerely,