Welcome

I have had some things that have bugged me just a little bit ever since I decided I wanted to come to IU.

The first is what if I get up there and hate doing usability testing?

Well I did my first formal usability test today with the camera, microphone and a working site to test. I was the facilitator and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I can't tell you why but I just thought it was so great. This is definitely what I should be doing. I am really interested in digging into the observations from the rest of the group. We tested the IU accounts system, http://itaccounts.iu.edu. If you have used it you know how lovely it is. You can't even log out after you get into the site.

The second was what if I have made a huge mistake by quitting my job and no one will be interested in me?

I went to the job fair today and had a lot of good conversations with employers. One of them told me that with my experience I would probably be high on the list of a lot of companies for internships. This made me feel good. I didn't really find anyone that I am very excited about since many of them didn't know anything about usability and were looking for coders. I did have to explain usability to a few people. Some called it QA which it could be I'll have to see if I get any QA intern offers and then see what they entail. One thing I did decide is that I am not accepting an unpaid internship or an internship that is not what I want it to be. I don't need the work experience like I did as an undergrad looking for an internship.

I did get some decent tchotchkies. Target gave me a set of cool magnets and a foldable Target Frisbee. General Mills gave me a box of granola bars and a microwave cake. I also have a collection of pens and other stuff.

As someone said it was a good place if you were looking for consulting work but not quite as much if that wasn't what you wanted to do but it was a good boost for me during a rough first semester.