Software Engineer · UI Designer · HCI Researcher
I'm Shawn Farnum - a software engineer and UI designer with 12+ years of experience, currently on the Advanced Projects Team at Zoot Enterprises and working on a Master's in Human-Computer Interaction and Design at UC Irvine.
Open to Interaction Design roles · Bozeman, MT, open to relocation (West Coast preferred) · Remote or hybrid
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Companies and clients I've built for
01Work
Each project is shown the way it shipped - a real product with real features. Tap through the highlights to see how the experience comes together.
AI Application Assistant
ShippedA self-directed tool that keeps one factual base résumé, tailors it per job posting through an analysis-and-matching wizard, and answers a recruiter's questions live - right here on this homepage - grounded in the same facts.
SoundCloud UX Research
ResearchA five-person graduate research project pairing heuristic analysis and tree testing with a moderated usability study and a quantitative A/B test - to prove which fixes actually work before recommending them.
Help Infrastructure System
ConceptA scalable design system and pattern library powering consistent help and support across the entire product portfolio.
Conversational Triage
ConceptA mobile triage flow where an AI agent diagnoses intent, attempts resolution, and transfers to a specialist with full context preserved.
02Approach
Design didn't come from one continuous track - it came from graphic design, freelance client work, a startup, and years running IT operations under pressure. I'm formalizing all of it now with a Master's in Human-Computer Interaction at UC Irvine.
A BFA in Graphic Design and years of freelance client work taught me typography, layout, and visual communication - the craft everything else builds on.
Front-end development and a coding bootcamp mean I design with the build in mind - I know what's expensive to change once code exists.
Co-founding DropTrip showed me how messy a real product gets past the original pitch - user research and usability testing aren't theoretical, they're how a startup survives.
Managing SLAs and coaching a team through outages means I design for the support burden first: clear status, a graceful escalation path, and enough context that whoever picks it up next isn't starting from zero.
03About
For nearly eight years at Zoot Enterprises, I was the one picking up the phone when a system failed under pressure - first as a service desk technician, then overseeing an operations team that grew past 20, with direct responsibility for developing a core group of eight. That's not the usual path into design, but it's why I design for failure first: what happens when an agent is unsure, when a handoff loses context, when someone is already frustrated before they open the app.
Design was always running underneath it, though - freelance client work I've kept doing since 2013, a design degree I finished while working the service desk, and DropTrip, the startup I co-founded early on, where I learned how messy a real product gets past the original pitch. I'm back in it full-time now, as a Software Engineer on Zoot's Advanced Projects Team, and completing a Master's in Human-Computer Interaction and Design at UC Irvine to make that instinct rigorous instead of just hard-won.
Education
UC Irvine, Donald Bren School of ICS
Montana State University-Bozeman
Montana Code School
Career Timeline
May 2025 - Present
Zoot Enterprises
Translate business requirements into responsive, user-centered interfaces informed by UX research and design thinking, reducing client revision cycles. Build and maintain client-facing applications for financial institution clients using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Git.
Jun 2022 - May 2025
Zoot Enterprises
Oversaw a service operations team that grew past 20 tier 1-3 technicians, with direct responsibility for the career development of a core group of 8, maintaining 95%+ SLA compliance while representing the team's priorities to leadership. Applied project management to reduce average ticket resolution time through proactive pattern recognition.
Jan 2022 - Dec 2022
Montana State University-Bozeman
Led web design lab sections and workshops on color theory, typography, and HTML/CSS for 40-50 students over the year, mentoring many one-on-one through project development.
Oct 2017 - Jun 2022
Zoot Enterprises
Performed Linux and Windows system administration with sysadmin-level access across 50+ production and test environments for external financial services clients, resolving production outages under pressure.
Aug 2016 - Apr 2023
Susan Wicklund Fund
Executed responsive WordPress redesigns and used Google Analytics to guide performance optimizations, while maintaining themes, plugins, and security for the organization's site.
2016 - 2017
Murdochs
Led web page and e-commerce redesigns grounded in user research and usability testing, and produced digital and motion graphics for marketing campaigns.
2013 - 2016
DropTrip
Co-founded and led design for a startup web application - conducting user research, building wireframes and prototypes in Sketch, and working closely with engineers to ship a cohesive design system.
Oct 2013 - Present
Self-employed
Nine-plus years of independent client work spanning startups like IgniteFeedback, CrossTx, and Verafi - WordPress builds, custom themes, and website refreshes aligned with brand strategy.