© Copyright 2025 | by david nguyen
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July 1998 – April 2012

I began my career at Blizzard Entertainment in a Customer Experience role and was promoted to Software Engineer, one of the first non-game engineers at the company. In that role, I designed, developed, and launched enterprise tools as well as consumer-facing web applications. Several years later, I moved into one of Blizzard’s earliest dedicated User Experience Designer positions. There I helped lay the foundation for modern UX practices, including user research, design systems, and usability testing, while working closely with engineering and cross-functional teams.

By blending my technical engineering background with strategic design thinking, I took on increasing responsibility. I partnered with executives and senior stakeholders to turn complex enterprise systems (CMS, LMS, CRM) and web platforms into simple, intuitive experiences that served the entire company.

Outlined below are the significant contributions and achievements I made during my tenure at Blizzard Entertainment:

Company Brief

  • Blizzard fosters creativity and encourages innovation from its 5,000+ employees
  • Premier developer and publisher of entertainment software
  • Iconic game franchises played and enjoyed by millions of players around the world
  • Players gather on Battle.net to connect, purchase games, and engage in multiplayer experience

highlights

1998
Map Design
Map Design

The Next 70 Levels is an add-on pack to the highly popular game Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness. I designed several published maps and a few were featured on the back of the box art!

1999
Starcraft Ladder
Starcraft Ladder

The phenomenal game StarCraft launched in the summer of 1998. Its success led to thousands of players challenging each other online through our Battle.net service. The game featured a ladder system, and we planned to invite the top players each season to an official Blizzard tournament with cash prizes. Unfortunately, some players sought to gain an unfair advantage in the ladder system. I co-developed StarCraft’s ladder abuse detection software. Running on a dedicated server daily, it ensured fair play among competitors. Fun mention: During our first major tournament, I was honored to serve as one of the official referees.

2002
Support Website
Support Website

The previous static support website was functional but maintaining it became burdensome. Along with the opportunity to improve our support content publishing workflow, I developed a dynamic website where it supported our localization needs of customers from around the world. A unique feature for its time was sharing the same database our Customer Service reps used internally to suggest solutions to customers. This allowed for efficient training on our technical support knowledgebase and quick publishing of solutions to the public.

2002
Phone Client
Phone Client

This phone client (Inquest) is one of the many other suites of n-tier applications I solely developed for Blizzard Entertainment’s Customer Service Department. This application was used by the Phone Group within the Customer Service department to log phone calls. It allowed the representative to look up customer information and put in a new Ticket (issue) or reopen a Ticket. The data was stored in a central location and it let other support personnel look up customer information that was entered via Inquest.

2003
Email Client
Email Client

Sonda is an internal email application primarily used by Blizzard Entertainment’s customer service department. After reviewing similar applications with customer support management, we concluded it was best to develop our own solution for handling customer emails. The email client was database driven, enabling us to compile various statistical information on email data, such as the types of emails we receive and respond to. One unique feature allowed representatives to recall a sent solution email within a configurable time frame.

2004
Knowledgebase Macros
Knowledgebase Macros

As our video games gained global popularity, we began establishing regional headquarters in various countries. To enhance our customer service, I started localizing the applications used by our support representatives. Clipper, an application I developed several years earlier, was an ideal candidate for rearchitecting and localization. This tool enabled support representatives to search for and view solutions to customer inquiries. It was used for replying to emails and served as a knowledgebase to assist in communicating solutions to customers over the phone

2004
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft

I was fortunate to have been invited to augment the World of Warcraft (WoW) development team who were working on the server code area of the video game. There were a few projects I had a hand in but one that I’m super proud of was contributing to WoW’s in-game help database and user interface.

2006
Typing Proficiency
Typing Proficiency

Staffing our Customer Service department to support World of Warcraft and other games was a significant challenge. Hiring managers noticed that recent hires weren’t meeting expectations in chat or email responses, mainly due to typos and time spent typing. To address this, I took on a side project to develop a typing proficiency app. Within a few days, I had a rough prototype, and with additional testing and refinement, it was enthusiastically adopted and integrated into the hiring process. This app helped ensure potential candidates met the typing requirements set by the team.

2008
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

I initiated the development of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform named Atlas by conducting technology research and creating proof of concepts. As a key software engineer on the Atlas team, I contributed to the project’s growth to support a large feature set and meet the launch date. This application supported AAA title games such as StarCraft II and World of Warcraft, billing activities, public facing online store, and was fully localized. It was used by thousands of customer support personnel in the United States, Europe, and Korea.

2009
Employee Search
Employee Search

There wasn’t a convenient way to access a directory with employee information such as full name, title, department, and organizational charts.  I developed a website called PeopleFinder, providing a centralized and convenient platform for viewing and locating fellow employees. Administrative features were also launched, enabling Human Resources to update employee information efficiently. An innovative part of this project was where I developed the map system using Adobe Flash (CS3), allowing zooming, panning, and other interactions to help locate the seating area of an employee.

2011
Library Management Platform
Library Management Platform

A physical library of books, magazines, games, movies and other media was built at the office. It provided a central location for employees to access various resources and information for research and leisure. I developed a web-based platform accessible from desktops and the library kiosk, enabling users to search for items and self-checkout. If an item was unavailable, users could join a waiting list. The platform also offered notifications for recent additions, ratings, and overdue book alerts via the interface and email. One standout feature allowed Administrators to quickly scan new items using ISBN or UPC bars, with the application

2012
Learning Management System (LMS)
Learning Management System (LMS)

As the company has grown, so has its employees’ thirst for knowledge. A Learning Management System (LMS) provides a great service to employees, allowing them to strengthen their skill sets and acquire new ones. I was the Product Owner and UX Designer for the project and it launched successfully, providing a one-stop shop for learning materials and classes employees can partake in.


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