J. Ben Sykes | Resume

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Ben Sykes

(650) 681-9016

Ben.sykes@gmail.com
http://twitter.com/bensykes
http://linkedin.com/in/bsykes
http://coroflot.com/bsykes


DIRECTOR OF USER EXPERIENCE

+ OVERVIEW

• Dev design hybrid with 14 years experience designing human experiences, based on story and biological neural processes. NEURO DESIGNER - ARE YOU CLICKABLE?™


+ CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

• Using JavaScript frameworks, created a way to “Drag & Drop” in Microsoft SharePoint for the GFS Ignition Portal at Microsoft.

• Conceived, Created and designed the search engine Information.com. (Global top 500 sites on the web – Alexa Rank)

• Successfully led the creative UI vision of the music website American Idol Underground from conception to over 1 million unique hits a week.

• Designed Siderean’s Seamark UI which was named by KMWorld, as one of the Top Trend-Setting Products of the Year! (2006).


EVANGELISM

IRISH MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE
Dublin, Ireland 2008

Lecture: What Species Is Your User The underlying biology of creating rich interactive experiences, and a strategy to bring your Silverlight applications to life.

NEXTGEN USER GROUP
Coventry, England October 20th 2008

INTERNATIONAL COGNITIVE DESIGN CONFERENCE Karlsruhe, Germany February 3-5 2009


PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

CISCO SYSTEMS
Manager User Centered Design Voice Technology Group (VTG) 1/2008 - 2009

+ MANAGEMENT

  • Hiring manager
  • 7 direct reports
  • Career goals and evaluation
  • Team morale motivation.
  • Disparate vendor management

+ PROJECTS

  • Conference Clients
  • Enterprise IM
  • Web 2.0
  • WebEx

+ CONTRIBUTION

  • Project Management
  • UI Spec Development
  • Contextual Inquiry
  • UED/Interaction Design
  • Rapid Prototyping

+ TECHNOLOGIES

  • Adobe Suite (all)
  • Visio
  • MS Project
  • Expression Suite
  • Visual Studio
  • XAML

MICROSOFT
Product Manager / User Experience Lead
8/2006 1/2008

+ MANAGEMENT

  • Team morale motivation
  • Disparate vendor management
  • Present Concepts to Executives
  • UED Lead
  • Coordinate with disparate dev teams

+ PROJECTS

  • Ajax into SharePoint
  • Microsoft Ignition Portal
  • Web 2.0
  • TSP Plug-in for Visual Studio (VSTF)

+ CONTRIBUTION

  • Requirements Capture
  • UI Spec Development
  • UED/Interaction Design
  • Rapid Prototyping
  • Project Management
  • Marketing Strategy Plan
  • Contextual Inquiry and Test Plan
  • Front End Web Development (CSS, JavaScript, C#)

+ TECHNOLOGIES

  • Adobe Suite
  • Visio
  • MS Project
  • Expression Suite
  • Visual Studio / XAML
  • JavaScript DOJO Frameworks
  • CS 0

AMERICAN IDOL UNDERGROUND
Associate Creative Director
9/2005 8/2006

+ MANAGEMENT

  • Design team hiring manager
  • 10 direct reports
  • Career goals /evaluation
  • Vendor management
  • Fremantle engagement

+ PROJECTS

  • RIA's E-Commerce Music Website
  • Print collateral (Rolling Stone/Music Connection)

+ CONTRIBUTION

  • Online market strategy
  • Visual design & direction (site and collateral)
  • Requirements capture
  • UI spec dev & style guide
  • UI hotspot tracking / testing
  • UED/Interaction Design
  • Rapid prototyping

+ TECHNOLOGIES

  • Adobe Suite
  • Visio
  • MS Project
  • ASP.NET
  • CSS
  • JavaScript
  • Data driven Flash AS2

OVERSEE.NET
Product Manager Search Engine Information.com 9/2004 4/2005

  • 2 reports
  • Presented to stakeholders
  • Strategic partnerships
  • Marketing strategy
  • Revenue modeling
  • Search Engine
  • Product conception
  • Market / user research
  • Requirements documentation
  • Analytics tracking
  • UED/Interaction Design
  • Rapid Prototyping
  • Usability testing
  • Adobe Suite
  • Visio
  • MS Project
  • WAP/WML

DIGITAL EVOLUTION
Client Services Multiple Roles
5/2002 1/2004

Role / Project

  • Project Director EMTM (Interactive Training)
  • Sr. Web Developer Digev Corporate Web Site
  • Project Manager / Dev Corporate Intranet
  • Sr. UI Designer Sony APG Intranet
  • UI Designer Nissan Brand Performance System
  • Flash Developer The Zenith Insurance
  • Lead Developer Hewlett Packard CRM Site.

SUPERFLY INDUSTRIES, LLC
Founder & CEO
Web Development, Design and Usability / Heuristic Evaluation Consulting. 1996 2006

+ MANAGEMENT

  • Company direction and market strategy
  • Business relationships
  • Corporate budgeting
  • Team building
  • Disparate vendor management
  • Technical / artistic staff interviewing
  • RFP/RFI Response & Bid

+ PROJECTS

  • 200 plus client base

+ CONTRIBUTION

  • Proposal Drafting
  • Project Management
  • Spec Development
  • Contextual Inquiry / Usability Testing
  • Usability participant recruitment
  • UED/Interaction Design
  • Rapid Prototyping
  • Visual design
  • Hypervideo and interactive flash video
  • RFID Video

AFFILIATIONS
  • UPA Usability Professionals Association
  • AIGA American Institute of Graphic Arts
  • ACM SIGCHI - Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction.
  • HFES Human Factors & Ergonomics Society
  • STC Society for Technical Communication

MILITARY

Combat Veteran
U.S. Marine Corps Infantry
G. Co. 2/23 RCT-1

  • Operation Iraqi Freedom
  • Provided humanitarian support.
  • Part of the "21 Days to Baghdad" documentary.
  • Made decisions under extreme pressure and noise
  • Combat Leadership
  • Took part in numerous press interviews from agencies all over the world.

Film


American Beauty Camera PA - Video Assist (non-union) Sam Mendes
Money For Nothing Casting Ramon Menendez
Blind Spot Casting Hallmark Hall of Fame
The Cemetery Club Casting Bill Duke
Hoffa Casting Jersey Films / Danny Devito
Citizen Cohn Casting HBO Pictures / Frank Pierson
Innocent Blood Casting Warner Brothers / John Landis
The Fire Next Time Casting CBS Entertainment
Striking Distance Casting Rowdy Herrington

Television


Melrose Place (93) Assistant Production Coordinator Spelling Ent. - Darren Star

Performer Skills


  • Performance Skills: Host, Teleprompter

Employment Details


  • Work History: User Experience, Product Manager, Usability Testing, Information Architect, Film, Internet
  • Job Categories: Cinematography, Production, Writing, Casting, Producing, Editing
  • Are you willing to work unpaid?: No
  • Authorized to work in United States: Yes
  • Primary Citizenship: United States
  • Valid Passport: Yes
  • Prior Job Title(s): Manager User Centered Design – Voice Technology Group (VTG) , Product Manager / User Experience Lead, Associate Creative Director
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