Ever since I was a kid I have always been interested in creative ventures. Towards my middle school days I found a passion for technology but besides the design and feel of the product I wanted to know how and why the technology behaved the way it did. High school is when Apple started to take over the mobile phone industry but even though I owned an iPhone I was not satisfied with the limited design and customization of the old IOS system. To my surprise there was a way to "unlock" the full potential of the iPhone called jailbreaking.
While most people were interested in the illegal aspect of it like getting paid apps for free, I was completely focused on designing a better experience for me. These jailbreak features called tweaks could make your iPhone do things you only dreamed of. For example AppLocker could lock apps that you wouldn't want people to open like your text messages with a passcode. Winterboard was an tweak that could control the look and feel of app icons along with the home screen.
I could go on and on about the hundreds of useful tweaks that allowed me to customize my phone to my personal preferences but I am sure you get the idea. When it was time to choose my major for Rutgers, like most people I went through a crisis. It was very challenging for me to find a major with the perfect blend of creativity and technology. Knowing that I would have to choose between the two I went with the passion that I valued a little more which was technology. Towards the middle of my journey through the Information Technology & Informatics program I came to the realization that I couldn't see myself sitting in a cubicle writing code for the rest of my life. Choosing to minor in Digital Communication Information & Media sparked my love for creativity again and I began to look into different careers. After months of combing through the thousands of potential jobs in IT, I finally found one with the blend of creativity and technology I had been searching for since being a senior in high school. This dream job I am referring to is User Experience Design.