John
[jän] – noun
1. Product Manager
2. UX Strategist
3. a toilet
UX Portfolio
Trainador (most recent)
Exploration of the usability-functionality trade-off
Founder | 2020
dubizzle
Exploration of creating a category taxonomy in an international community
Product Manager | 2017
Hinge
Exploration of making people fall in love
Applicant to work at Hinge (sent this unsolicitated pdf they didn’t read) | 2020
Cool, John. Tell me more…
Well, it started with monkeys. I began my career studying rhesus monkeys and their peculiar monogamous bonding behavior. During these 4 years of research, I learned how to scientifically make hypotheses and test them by analyzing data.
After deciding academia wasn’t for me, I joined a startup and became captivated by the ways technology can reach people on a mass scale.
I was hooked. I left the company to try my own hand at doing a startup. However, I got stuck because I needed a product designer and I couldn’t afford one. So I decided to learn UX myself. I signed up for UX classes at UCLA Ext. and put myself on craigslist to “learn by doing.” I fell in love with product and have not stopped designing since those craigslist days.
Since 2015, I have worked in product for companies across the globe, from Disney to the UAE Government, from Manila to Medellin. I have worked across diverse industries, G2C, B2C, B2B, two-sided marketplaces, on-demand services, and more.