Curiosity is my compass.
I like figuring out how things work and why people do what they do. I've spent more than 15 years doing that for a living, first in academic and market research in Romania, then in product research.
Day to day, that means talking to users, running studies, and helping teams decide what to build next. I'm most useful early on, when the problem is still fuzzy and nobody has agreed on the right question yet.
Lifelong learning
I've kept taking courses since university. A few that stuck with me:
Lately mostly AI and product design.
How I work now
At Instructure I've been using AI a lot more in the actual research work: getting through notes and transcripts faster, drafting and poking holes in study plans, and building rough prototypes quickly enough to test.
I also build. This portfolio is vibe-coded, static HTML I put together with an AI coding agent, source on GitHub. Doing it myself keeps me honest about what designers and engineers are actually dealing with.
When I'm not working
Most weekends I'm out climbing, skiing, or hiking, usually with my family and our dog. I'm a certified International Mountain Leader, so sometimes I guide other people through the mountains too.
It's the part of my life that has nothing to do with a screen, and I like it that way. Snow especially.