Hong Qu

MIMS 2005
User Experience Researcher, YouTube

Why I chose the I School

For UC Berkeley’s reputation, its proximity to Silicon Valley, and the opportunity to learn from professors who are information pioneers.

What I’m doing now

I work at Google as a user experience researcher for YouTube. My job is to help every YouTube user find videos that will entertain, inform, and enrich their online experience. My research helps enable users to interact with other YouTube users in a meaningful environment, as well as with issues in society. YouTube’s rapid growth has generated a lot of data, enabling us to take a systematic and quantitative approach to design.

How I’ve used what I learned at the I School

My I School education helps me address questions that come up in my work every day. How do technical design decisions affect people and society? How is the economics of information goods different from the economics of physical goods? How can communication design technology optimize the conveyance of emotion? These are just a few of the issues that the I School prepared me to address.

I School advantage

A MIMS degree opens many doors. A lot of companies have had great experiences working with I School alumni and appreciate our strong background and grounding in social media and user-centered design.

How I see the future

In 10 years, we’ll all have many tiny computers a tenth the size of an iPhone, and they will answer all our questions — except those regarding human values and wisdom.