What is your name, current location, and current occupation?
My name is Patrick Little and I’m currently a Senior User Experience Designer at Microsoft, based in Seattle, WA.
What was your affiliation with MIT?
I graduated with a Master of Architecture degree from MIT in 2016.
What was your thesis title?
Inhabiting the Cloud: Architectural Excess to Surplus
What are you doing today?
While working in the Microsoft Edge Design Studio I’m leading an effort to make collaborative web browsing possible. If you’ve used live collaboration tools before you know how powerful they can be when working on a team. We hope to unlock new web browsing habits and hacks for our millions of daily users.
Do you think your career path has been unorthodox or nontraditional?
Microsoft was my first non-architecture job. I was planning on being an architect in a big city like all my friends and then the summer before my thesis I got an internship at Xbox Design with two MIT Architecture alumni. I learned so much about UX (user experience) and fell in love with solving real world problems in creative ways for diverse people around the world. The skillsets translated surprisingly well, making my transition from architecture into tech easier than I initially expected.
What are you excited about in your career field today?
The pandemic separated everyone physically and a desire to connect and feel close to others digitally became a new social necessity. Through my team’s work in collaborative browsing, investments in AR/VR, and the growing metaverse, I think technology will bring more people together mimicking architecture’s role in the physical world.
What is advice you would give to a new alum coming out of MIT?
Don’t limit yourself to just the field that you studied. MIT prepares you for a vast array of disciplines and provides you with so many skills that other professions find incredibly valuable. If you’re given an opportunity into the unknown, take it!
How can fellow alums reach you if they want to speak further?
Please reach out at my personal email: plittle89@gmail.com