Maria Rubio

Maria Rubio Learns to Promote User Experience Practices at Cross Country Healthcare

Maria Rubio, User Experience Architect
Cross Country Healthcare
Attended UI9 and UI10

Can you tell us about your work at Cross Country Healthcare?
My organization works to match healthcare professionals to jobs throughout the country. I started at Cross Country Healthcare as a Web Designer and more recently moved into a User Experience Architect position. The User Experience team evaluates the usability of Cross Country Healthcare's web application portal sites.

What did you like most about the UI Conference?
The presenters at UI10 were experienced, knowledgeable, and offered real-world examples I could learn from. I also found Jared Spool's presentations very entertaining -- he was willing to be very open with attendees about his experiences in the field.

What was the most valuable part of the conference?
My head was full of new knowledge after attending the UI9 and UI10 conferences. By attending the conferences, I gained the vocabulary and methods to effectively describe the value of my work within the organization.

One of my biggest challenges is how to communicate the value of User Experience (UX) practices and the work I do. In my current position at work, people often think of me as Web Designer and they don't really understand what I do as a UX Architect. The conference sessions helped teach me how to take advantage of User Experience techniques, such as usability testing and interaction design methods, to better demonstrate the impact UX has on the success of our web application portal sites.