Mick Morucci on Working at the Intersection of People and Tech

Mick Morucci from the US has been nominated for a 2020 Noonie in the Back the Internet Award Category for an uncanny ability to occupy (and write about) the space between people and tech, powered by the unique perspective of a user researcher, anthropologist, economist, and creative.

Thank you to our 2020 Noonies partners: Sustany Capital, .TECH Domains, Grant for the Web, Skillsoft, Flipside Crypto, Udacity, and Beyondskills! The Noonies are Hacker Noon’s way of getting to know — from a community perspective —  what matters in tech today. So, we asked our Noonie Nominees to tell us. Here’s what @metamick had to share.

1. Which 2020 Noonie have you been nominated for?

Hacker Noon Contributor of the Year - Internet

2. Tell us a bit about yourself.

I'm a UX Researcher with a background in Anthropology and Economics.

So, I work in the space at the intersection of people and tech.

I realised the full extent of the impact on technology on human lives while working for a non-profit in Kathmandu, Nepal. Here I witnessed poverty-stricken rural populations with no water systems using smartphones and communicating with relatives across the world. This further led me down the Bitcoin rabbit hole in early 2017.

3. Tell us about the things you make / write / manage / build.

I now work as a contractor in the FinTech space.

So I help traditional banks go digital by building innovative new mobile and web-based applications.

But I also work with start-ups: helping them define their products based on user pain-points, find value propositions, define product designs, and so on.

4. What are you most excited about right now?

The possibilities of greater digital penetration in society following Covid Lockdown, and the expansion of remote working - which I believe can lead to better lifestyles.

5. What are you worried about right now?

The fractured societies we increasingly live in: political extremisms arising, economic inequality amounting...

6. What's the most useful advice you've ever given somebody?

Listen to your gut.

7. How has the pandemic changed your life and/or career?

Working from home, less commuting, working on other side projects.

8. If we gave you $10 million to invest in one thing right now, where would you put it?

Our monetary system is broken. I think we need to fix this before we do anything else.

9. What's an opinion you have that most people don't agree with?

One thing I struggle with as an Anthropologist is the idea that we need to always stand on the side of the marginalised, but in so doing we have relegated objectivism aside and made our discipline less relevant on the global stage. One might also argue that we've made it more difficult for marginalised people to fit in after all by increasingly making them differentiated through identity politics from global society at large.

10. Which apps can't you live without?

Sidekick, poolside.fm, Whatsapp

11. What are you currently learning?

Visual Design, prototype building, mushroom foraging.

VOTE for Mick Morucci as Hacker Noon Contributor of the Year - Internet before voting closes on 12 October, 2020! 🚀

With gratitude to Hacker Noon's 2020 Noonies Partners: Sustany Capital, .TECH Domains, Grant for the Web, Skillsoft, Flipside Crypto, Udacity, and Beyondskills!