Philip Begel

👋 Hey, I'm Philip.
– From neuroscience to tech, I’ve pursued design in a way that looks unconventional on paper, but giving me a uniquely broad and indispensable skillset.
– I'm a graduate of Indiana University, Bloomington acquiring a master of science degree in human-computer interaction/design. I've worked as a full-time UX Researcher now for: IBM on their cloud and AI products, Meta Reality Labs on their VR product, and now Whole Foods Market/Amazon on smart grocery shopping.
– I definitely don’t know everything, but I’d love to share what was shared with me.

⚡ Fees: Unlimited access to chat or to jump on a call with one fee for everything. I'm not here to nickel and dime you. I want to help you with your questions or needs as best I can while I'm working full-time simultaneously.

A little about what I can offer...

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1. Tailored UX research services to help you understand your users and build better products and services for them. Good design = Good business.

With a master’s degree in human-computer interaction/design from Indiana University as well as conducting in-depth, extensive user research studies on the experiences of people using our cloud and AI products at IBM and virtual reality and voice assistant products at Meta, I have:
✅ developed a strong research background and understanding of the design and research process,
✅ communicated insights that advised and impacted product strategy and decisions,
✅ focused on human-centered design approaches and methodologies in the pursuit of asking questions ultimately intended to expose the essence of the human condition.
✅ acquired deep expertise in a range of emerging technology products such as virtual and augmented reality, blockchain, cloud, voice assistants, artificial intelligence, and smart grocery shopping technology.

Some of my strengths lie in:
✅ purposeful uses of visualization/materialization techniques for both communicating research insights (such as storytelling or frameworks during presentations to convey insights) and as props or artifacts for research studies that deliver relevant user-centric insights
✅ adopting co-creative approaches that incorporate end-user perspectives with stakeholders or participants
✅ distilling complex ideas into simple, actionable insights that inspire design while balancing customer insights and business goals
✅ having an entrepreneurial and innovative spirit (I’m in love with experimentation and have a passion to communicate design through immersive experiences that utilize technologies such as virtual/augmented reality or the future of human experiences enabled by blockchain technologies. In that same vein, I really dig speculative design and design fiction.)

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2. Crafting successful UX design and research resumes and portfolios for UX pros!

✅ As a Career Services Counselor, I counseled 2000+ graduate students through resume critiques and portfolio reviews.
✅ As a senior UX professional working throughout Fortune 100 companies over the years, I've reviewed and participated in hundreds of resume and portfolio reviews, job interviews, and case study presentations as part of the hiring process.
✅ I am able to leverage my experience to help you ❗land a job interview❗ in the tech field whether you're a fresh grad or a seasoned professional looking to make a career change or just optimize your application -- I'm happy to help!

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TESTIMONIALS

“Philip has been intrinsic to our success as a team. He is also one of the fastest, most agile, and overall one of the most I-know-the-output-will-be-quality ("reliable" didn't fully articulate it) people I've ever worked with (research or otherwise). I'm actively orienting the team around his contributions. His work has been so undeniably strong that we would be foolish not to rally around it. I want the execs to be singing from his hymnal."
~ Senior UX Design Manager for IBM Cloud Infrastructure

"Overall, Philip is one of the best researchers I know. He's an expert in all things user research related, is always looking to improve research processes, and has a great sense of humor. I'd be Extremely Likely to recommend Philip to a friend or colleague for any user research needs (NPS score = 10)."
~ UX Designer for IBM Cloud Infrastructure

"It was incredibly helpful to get to chat with Philip about my resume - he provided a number of concrete changes that I could make and explained why these changes might be helpful for the roles I was applying to. I came away from the session feeling like I had a number of next steps/directions to look into, and I really appreciate how thoughtful and direct Philip is as a mentor."
~ Kim, Graduate Researcher