Her Story
About Amanda
Amanda Tian is a Senior Product Designer based in Chicago, Illinois, with nearly a decade of experience in the medical device industry. She currently works at a company focused on diabetes management technology, where she designs user interfaces and experiences for insulin pumps and glucose monitors, ensuring products meet patient needs through research, testing, and documentation for regulatory compliance. Previously, she served as a product development engineer at another medical device firm, contributing to orthopedic products and securing a patent for her work. Amanda earned her master's degree in bioengineering from UC Berkeley and her undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Rochester, where she also received the Cooper's Fellow Scholarship awarded to just 2 percent of her class. She credits her professional drive to her family background, with parents, a brother, and a grandfather who are scientists, and a mother who is a math teacher, all of whom encouraged her to pursue excellence and continuous learning. Amanda advises young women entering engineering fields to build confidence and take charge, drawing from her own experiences in male-dominated environments.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Amanda
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my family. My parents always pushed me to reach for the stars, work hard, and keep learning and growing. My brother is a scientist and I've always looked up to him as someone I want to become like. My dad and grandpa are also scientists, and my mom is a math teacher, so our whole family influenced me.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
My mentor Mike Johnson taught me that anytime you go to an event, attend a seminar, or take a class, as long as you took one thing away from that, it was worth it. If you could learn one interesting lesson from it that you could take away for your life, it was worth it because it could take you far in life.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
As a woman it's so important to bring that confidence to the table. It's hard when you're in a field that's male-dominated and you might get imposter syndrome, but just having confidence and being able to take charge of a room and knowing what you bring to the table is important.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The greatest challenge is making sure you have a safe and effective product. In the medical device industry, making sure the product is safe and doesn't accidentally harm the patient is the highest priority. You have to make sure whoever's using it knows how to use it and isn't going to accidentally mess anything up.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Professionally, it's making sure I really understand what the patient or end user wants. It's important to listen to them, talk to them, and perform research or testing to understand what's a burden to them. Personally, I like to achieve and work hard, push myself to keep learning and expand my knowledge.
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