Finding High-Tech Anthropology®
My eyes glazed over as I scrolled through job post after job post, searching for something that felt like a good fit after graduating from Michigan State University, with a degree in User Experience. I was hoping to find a job where I could combine my background in both user research and design, but I was becoming skeptical that this type of position existed. Then, I came across something different—a job title I hadn’t seen before: High-Tech Anthropologist®.
After a bit of investigation, it seemed like this job was exactly what I had been looking for. The High-Tech Anthropologist® (HTA) role combined user research and design, as well as the roles of consultant, business analyst, and tech lead. Conveniently, Menlo happened to be participating in Ann Arbor Tech Trek the next month. This was great because I was able to connect with Menlonians and hear about their experiences working at Menlo. After chatting with them for a few minutes, I still felt that spark I had been looking for. This was it. I handed over my resume and eagerly awaited a response.
A couple of weeks later, I was invited to an Extreme Interview, followed by a 1-day interview, and finally the last step of the interview process: a 3-week trial period working as a High-Tech Anthropologist®. Leading up to the trial, I was nervous, as there was no way to fully prepare for it— all I could do was bring a lot of curiosity and a desire to try my best. I knew I would be pairing with different HTAs to work on client projects, but beyond that, I had no idea what to expect. The ambiguity was intimidating, but also exciting.
Week 1: Diving into Data and Client Work
The first day of my trial arrived, and I was ready to jump into whatever came my way. After finding my way to the office, I was greeted by my first pair partner for the week, Lindsey. She explained the current Voice of the Customer project that we would be working on, giving me background on the project and preparing me to join the Zoom meeting with the client. It quickly became clear that when Menlo says you’ll be “jumping in” and working as part of the team, they really mean it. I was immediately involved in client interactions and contributing to the project.
As the first week progressed, we were diving deep into customer data, organizing it into categories, and identifying patterns across user stories. It was a relatively smooth transition from some previous internships I’d had in data analysis. Throughout the week, I rotated pair partners a few times, which gave me insight into their experiences at Menlo and what had drawn them to the company. By the end of the week, I felt good about the work we had done. Data synthesis was an area where I had previous experience, but I was eager to get my hands on other aspects of the job—things like user observations, interviews, persona creation, and design iterations. Hopefully, I’d be able to try my hand at some of them in the next two weeks.
Week 2: A Change of Pace and Space
Since I had been working on the client project in a conference room during the first week, I hadn’t really experienced the main office area where the rest of the team worked. Week 2 changed that. I was now working in the heart of the office, pairing with Mollie and Angela to work on interview synthesis for a project in the transportation space. We set up at a large table and within a few short hours it was already covered in papers and sticky notes from our synthesis process.
The energy in the main office was a big change from the quieter conference room I’d been in the previous week. At first, I found it a bit difficult to focus with all of the noise around me, but I soon got the hang of it, learning to tune out distractions and focus on my pair partner. Halfway through the week, there was a change in plans. I was to switch to a new project that involved working through design assessment feedback for a new algorithm to calculate labor costs in the automotive space. Since I had no prior knowledge of labor planning, this was a whole new world for me. I had to ask a lot of questions to build a mental model of what we were trying to accomplish, and at first, I wasn’t sure I would have much to contribute. However, all of those clarifying questions ended up being really valuable. They helped refine the planning method and even uncovered some gaps in the logic, which we were able to address. It was a perfect example of how a beginner’s mindset can add value at any stage of a project. By the end of the week, I was tired but excited by the new things I was learning. I wasn’t sure what Week 3 would bring, but I was ready to dive back in.
Week 3: Tackling Technical Challenges and Solidifying my Foundation
The final week of my trial started by being re-introduced to a project focused on designing software to analyze data from a spacecraft that NASA will be launching to measure solar wind. I had been initially introduced to the project during my 1-day interview, so I was excited to learn more and dive a bit deeper into the workflows we were designing. It was by far the most technically challenging project I had worked on, as I had to learn enough about the analysis methods in order to design workflows that addressed the various needs of the scientists doing that analysis. Working with Annika this time, I was excited to be diving back into design, which is where my primary background lies.
Later in the week Menlo was teaching a public High-Tech Anthropology® workshop, where participants spend two days learning about the HTA methodology and putting it into practice. The team asked me to join, so I could get a more in-depth look at aspects of the process I hadn’t had a chance to experience yet. I knew that I would be learning a lot during these last days, but what I didn’t expect was how much I would learn not just from the pair leading the workshop, but from the other participants as well. Hearing about the challenges they were facing in their own organizations, and how they were thinking about adapting Menlo’s methods to fit their needs gave me a deeper understanding of how the HTA process can be applied across different contexts, as well as the fact that you don’t have to be well-versed in design and research to utilize the process. This was especially inspiring to me as someone just starting out their career.
As we worked through the different activities, I appreciated the ability to try out some of the less frequent aspects of the process, like conducting observations, creating personas, and facilitating design assessments. Something unexpected to me was that we would be working on these activities in a real-world context, as Menlo had partnered with the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum. This allowed us to conduct observations at the Museum and work through the process to identify and start to create solutions for problems that we uncovered through our discovery. I really enjoyed being able to get a feel for the process in a real yet lower-stakes environment than the client projects I had been working on during the rest of the trial. Additionally, I got to practice my consultative skills, as a stakeholder from the Museum came by to hear us present our final designs, which added to the “real-world” feeling of our work. By the end of the week, I had experienced every step of the HTA process, and I felt like I had a solid grasp of the role. The workshop felt like a fitting end to my 3-week trial, and I was still very excited about the possibility of officially joining the team.
Officially a High-Tech Anthropologist®
The week after my trial had finished, I received an email offering me the position of High-Tech Anthropologist® at Menlo. I was thrilled! I had built a solid foundation over the past few weeks, and I was confident in my ability to jump right back into the work. Though the trial period is over, my journey as an HTA is just beginning. I’m excited to continue exploring the HTA process and to deepen my understanding of how it can be applied to solve complex, real-world problems.