The People Behind The Bots — Christy Torres
Christy Torres is a freelance Conversation Designer. Christy shares her experience on how she got into Conversation Design, what resources helped her and what she enjoys most about this industry!
Let’s get started.
Q1 — What drew you to the Conversational AI industry?
Christy: I was a freelance digital strategist who fell into conversation design through one of my clients… who not too long after became my boss. When they first approached me with the opportunity to become a conversation designer, my initial thought was that I’d get the chance to build some of the technology that already exists in a lot of science fiction. With the way that conversational technology is evolving, I think it’s safe to say we’re headed in that direction!
Q2 — What skills or transferable skills helped you when entering this space?
Christy: Understanding the human elements of technology. As a conversation designer I feel that I am at the center of what humanizes technology. The work that I do is what brings a voice and personality to the tech. Through my own experiences, and while comparing notes with other conversation designers, many of us have high EQs and our previous work relied heavily on that skill in some way, shape, or form. I’ve met people who worked in theater, were sociologists, anthropologists, comedians, linguists, and much more. Being inquisitive about how or why humans interact with things the way that they do, paired with a curiosity for understanding technology, is what makes for a great conversation designer.
Q3 — Were there any specific resources, tools, industry experts, that helped you along the way?
Christy: There is seriously so much information available online that I had to make a spreadsheet to keep track of it all. I would say the easiest way to get started is to join and follow as many groups/meetups as you can. Especially now that everything has gone virtual during the pandemic, there are SO MANY events that you can attend where you can hear from industry experts, as well as meet other people who are also interested in conversational technology. The speakers at these events will often mention different books, articles, podcasts, websites, tools, etc — so, as they casually drop these tidbits of knowledge you can take notes and look it up later. And, you can also start following those people online. From there it’s just a domino effect and all of the knowledge will start to magically find you. Off the top of my head here are a few groups to look up: The Conversational Collective (full disclosure, I help organize this one), Women in Voice, VoiceLunch, Voice Tech Global, Conversation Designers Internet Club, the VoiceFirst slack channel, and the Voice Devs Mighty Network channel.
Q4 — In a sentence or two tell us what your role entails
Christy: I work with different clients to bring their Conversational AI to life. Currently, I’m helping a Fortune 500 company ensure that their end user’s experience with their digital agent is consistent across platforms. I work alongside many talented people as a member of a cross-functional team that is constantly looking, researching, and testing how we can make this digital agent a useful and approachable tool for their clients to easily find what they’re looking for or do what they need to do.
Q5 — What do you enjoy most about your role?
Christy: I enjoy problem solving. When a piece of technology is still considered to be fairly new there are a lot of unknowns. I appreciate that I am working with a team that is ready to dig deeper and continuously ask questions to see just how far we can take it. There is so much potential and we just want our work to reach it to the fullest.
Q6 — What is the most challenging part of your role?
Christy: All of the unknowns! It’s kind of like the wild wild west. We are exploring new territory, which means that oftentimes there is not something that you can just point to or use as a reference to guide you through how to do something the “best” or “correct” way. This technology is continuously evolving and the industry is still in the process of figuring out what sticks.
Q7 — What excites you about the future of this industry?
Christy: I briefly mentioned this before, but when I think about the future I think about what exists in science fiction. I grew up watching Star Trek Voyager and I remember just being in total awe of “The Doctor” (he was an EMH — short for Emergency Medical Holographic program). When I think of characters like him, or Rosy the Robot from the Jetsons, or Tony Stark’s AI J.A.R.V.I.S, I think, “Wow, wouldn’t it be cool if I could help build something like that.” I believe I am doing just that, and THAT is extremely exciting!
Q8 — What is one piece of advice you would give to other people looking to enter this industry?
Christy: This industry is multifaceted. There is no “one size fits all” personality to conversational technology. People of all talents and backgrounds can find a place in this space. Sometimes, when people think about technology they get pigeonholed into picturing only one type of person working in this field. It’s simply not true. You just have to put in the work to figure out which piece of the puzzle best fits your strengths and skills. Teams don’t just consist of software developers and engineers. They are interdisciplinary and cross-functional. Collaborative and diverse teams are a crucial part of what bring about innovation. Oh, and one more thing! Don’t be afraid of asking for a quick 30 minute chat. Surprisingly enough, there are a lot of people out there who are willing to lend you their ear and give you advice if you show that you are passionate and eager to learn.
Techires’ takeaways:
- There’s no one size fits all approach into Conversation Design, meaning the industry embraces all different backgrounds and expertise!
- There’s still so much to learn about Conversation Design, but everyone is learning together
- There are so many resources available to help you learn more about this industry
Thank you for reading! A special thanks to our guest, Christy. We really enjoyed hearing Christy’s insights, and hope you did too! Click here to follow Christy on LinkedIn!
If you’re keen to hear more insights and advice from industry experts in the Conversational AI space, don’t forget to click the follow button to be notified of future posts!
You can also head over to our socials for more tips and advice from the team at techire ai and if you’re looking for roles within Conversational AI check out our jobs page and website.
And if you’d be interested in taking part in our blog series get in touch, we’d love to hear from you!
Allys Parsons — Conversational AI Recruiter @ Co-Founder @ techire ai
Leigh Smith — Conversational AI Recruiter @ techire ai
