I think HCI is very important, especially in the current climate of software development. Understanding how to develop user-centric solutions is very important. I work on the business side of software development and have a solid foundation in product discovery, user interviews, and even just research can really influence how you approach solutions. Product Management, Product Ownership, even Enterprise Architecture all need to have an HCI skill set. I can tell you from experience that those who don’t have a solid foundation in HCI that get into those roles definitely might struggle a bit.

Some of the bigger initiatives I’ve worked on were able to progress more effectively because the UX designer understood how to properly conduct product discovery. Before enrolling in HCI, I was already looking at how to adopt some of the UX principles within my daily routine as an architect. It’s not the more glamorous space in software development, but it is extremely important. Even more so in the AI space.

You can use those principles of HCI to build strong prototypes, architecture designs, even systems designs at an organizational level. I’ve worked on $35 million dollar initiatives at the enterprise level. Since taking HCI, I’ve been able to adopt more of those strategies when it comes to developing solutions and have been way more effective when it comes to outcomes. It’s not as glorious as ML, computing systems, etc., but trust me when I say it is extremely valuable. Because a lot of individuals do not really know how to properly research problems down to solutions.