Alumni Feature: Meet Allison Chen

SFU Degree(s): Bachelor of Arts – Interactive Arts and Technology (Design Concentration, Co-operative Eduction), 2019

I work at the City of Surrey as a User Experience Designer. I help bring services online for residents and businesses to request information, complete transactions, access information and otherwise interact with their city. I am grateful to bring thoughtful designs to the civic space.

I worked on Traffic Camera Footage Request, Special Water Meter Reading, Report a Problem, Online Tree Sales and more. Traffic Camera Footage Request is helpful to those who get into a car accident near one of Surrey’s 500 major intersections. Residents may request to see if one of Surrey’s traffic cameras captured footage of the incident. Those processing the request make sure all personally identifiable information is obscured before they send footage to the requestor. All the other services I’ve worked on help residents and businesses in specific areas that the project calls for.

What advice do you have for SFU students going through their degree? 

Interactive Arts and Technology was my second degree. It’s difficult to know what you will do for the rest of your life right out of high school. So don’t worry too much about picking the right degree right away. Let your passions and interests guide you towards the right career path. I think making mistakes along the way helps direct you towards where you should be. For me I knew I wanted to design, but I was also very interested in Psychology and how people think and work. After more than a few years I found UX design as my calling.

Connect with Allison on LinkedIn.

Our alumni go on to engage their community in a variety of ways. Read more alumni stories here.