The goal of this interview series is to inspire and help people to transition their career into a new or next experimentation related role. In this edition Tibor Sisarica shares his journey. You can contact Tibor via his LinkedIn or Instagram.
Dare to be bold. Most companies are hiring on soft skills and attitude. Hard skills are mostly easy to learn. Most of the tools are similar in use, but knowledge is hard to get.
Tibor Sisarica
Please introduce yourself to our readers
Hej, I’m Tibor with difficult surname Sisarica, although it means Pinecone 🌲
With 25 years of online experience I have seen a lot of trends, techniques and especially a lot of innovation online. I have studied graphic design at Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. In the second part of the nineties I started first with online experiments in art & design and later, just a few years before the dot-com bubble, also as a professional web designer. Throughout my career I have worked for almost every segment of the online market; among others from charities as Oxfam, public TV broadcasters as VPRO, ministries as RIVM, IT as Sun Microsystems to the finance as de Nederlandsche Bank.Starting in an online environment with only a few standards and patterns I have experienced my job changing through the years not only in titles, tools and medium, but mostly in complexity of human-machine interaction and design maturity. At this moment we are again witnessing a new era approaching.
In my private life I love bicycles, snowboarding, books, comics, LEGO, cooking, canned fish, beer, music, outdoor, analog photography, polaroid and I’m wannabe nerd in no particular order.
What is your current experimentation role and what do you do?
Currently I’m working as a Principal Designer at ABN AMRO bank and I’m responsible for the design strategy and innovation based on rapid experimentation and growth hacking.
Beside that I’m certified LEGO Serious Play facilitator. For me it’s a great application of LEGO as a design and innovation methodology. As a Creative and Behavioral Designer I’m working in design sprints on different innovation experiments for new revenue models, products or services.
Beside being responsible for the design I’m inspiring the team in a creative way of thinking by taking a completely different approach to ideation and concept development.
How did you enter the experimentation space? What was your first experimentation-related role?
As a student of art academy in the 90’s I have started experimenting with computers and online as a new expression medium. Exploring and experimenting with new medium with new possibilities applied to the art and design I have started working on the projects for de Waag – at that time “Society for old and new media”. But soon after finishing the academy I started a professional career as interim designer.
My first assignment was designing and building Internet Banking for ABN AMRO bank. At that time it was something completely new. Through this assignment I came for the first time in contact with user research in the usability lab. It opened a new world for me. Aesthetics and gut feeling learned at the academy and applied to my designs were tested with real people. The results were surprising – the real world is different!
How did you start to learn experimentation?
In 2009 I started at ABN AMRO bank as a UX designer. Coincidentally I was assigned to work as a part of a new team together with Jorden Lentze, Bart Schutz and Ton Wesseling. The goal was to approve that CRO can bring additional e-commerce value. Applying principles of persuasive patterns in experiment and A/B testing of it was completely new for me.
For the first time (again) I got the explanation what good or bad design is based on human behavior – not only aesthetics and gut feeling is what counts. After that at a fast pace I have started learning new methodologies, my job has completely changed. After that I was the designer of the first banking app as an experiment with a new medium – mobile phones. The results were booming.
Few years after that I got a new position as a Lead Designer of New Digital Business and Experiments. After a few failed start-ups we hitted the sweet spot – Tikkie!
How do you apply experimentation in your personal life?
Having a family with two boys requires a lot of practical experimentation in daily life. I love cooking and if you are familiar with the tastes of the ingredients and you know cooking techniques, you can experiment every day with direct validation and feedback.
Beside that I love analog photography and polaroids, which requires a lot of experimentation with shutter speed, aperture and film sensitivity. But, don’t forget, only when you know the rules you can break them.
What are you currently doing to keep up with the ever-changing industry?
Working in the industry from the early beginnings requires a lot of adaptation, discovering and learning new stuff. Most important to me is going to conferences and talking with all those smart colleagues coming there as well. Reading books and learning new methodologies is kind of a hobby. And, of course, working with multidisciplinary colleagues at work broadens your horizons.
What recommendations would you give to someone who is looking to join the experimentation industry and get their first full-time position?
Dare to be bold. Most companies are hiring on soft skills and attitude. Hard skills are mostly easy to learn. Most of the tools are similar in use, but knowledge is hard to get.
Which developments in experimentation excite you? How do you see the field changing in the next 5 to 10 years?
We are in the dawn of the AI era. If you sum up the 90ties revolution of internet and desktop computers with zeros with upcoming mobile phones and touch screens – that’s just a small breeze compared to the impact of AI on our field.
Is there anything people reading this can help you with? Or any parting words?
Thanks for the opportunity to share my part of the experience-story.
Keep up the good work!
Which other experimenters would you love to read an interview by?
Definitely Jorden Lentze and Bart Schutz.
Thank you Tibor for sharing your journey and insights with the community.
