Usability Engineer

Not everyone is a computer genius. That’s why computers have to be user-friendly. And the one who’s in charge of taking all of that incredibly complex computer and coding information and boiling it down to an easy-to-use interface is the Usability Engineer.

Most people have to interact with computers to some degree, in their work or at home. And it’s a Usability Engineer’s to improve that experience. If you’re a Usability Engineer, you work closely with researchers and test groups, analyzing data so that you can find out how to best configure a website or program. And you use high-end software, CPUs, servers, and databases to do so.

You’re an integral part of the creative process as well, because you aren’t just there at the finish line to clean up the “look” of something. You’re also a participant in the early planning stages of a program, helping to research needs and wants of users. And you’re the last line of defense against bugs and user inconsistencies.

As a Usability Engineer, you can work either as a full-time employee or as a Consultant. If you come into a company as a Consultant instead of a full-time employee though, you end up doing more research during the planning stages, and you also have to be more flexible in the scope of the work that you do.