UX Research Career Starter Guide
This article was originally published on UX Planet
Launching a career in UX Research can seem fairly ambiguous and intimidating for most people. Being that UX as a field is so multidisciplinary, there is no singular path or definitive guideline for becoming a UX Research professional. Unlike other tech roles in fields like software engineering and data science, UX Research isn’t something one can learn from books and courses in isolation. Although books and lecture material can give a person a solid foundation of theory, learning by doing and receiving senior mentorship is the best way to hone your skills and mature.
In this article, we’ll take a deep dive in unpacking actionable steps you can take to build your career in user centricity. If you’re looking to launch a career in UX Research now is a great time. There is a wealth of high quality material out there and many great organisations looking to hire intelligent, motivated people. With that said, there are also some landmines to watch out for when getting started. Some of the topics this article will touch on are issues most folks don’t know about when first starting out. In many ways, this is the article I wish someone wrote when I was first getting up and running. And with so much great content for learning and upskilling, as well as the rising number of companies hungry for user research talent, it’s a great time to be working within the field of user experience. But before we jump into advice and content for getting you started, I’d like to briefly share my story of how I began my career in UX Research and some insights I found along the way that are more than likely relevant if you are looking to get going in a career in user-centricity.
I’ll never forget the day I was introduced to the field of user experience research. It was September 2007 and the first-ever iPhone had recently been released. I was soon to turn 16 at the time and was about to enter my Junior year of high school. An acquaintance of my father dropped by the house one afternoon and during their conversation, the topic of the new iPhone was brought up. He started talking about how the iPhone was going to change everything and that Apple was making a smart investment by focusing on user experience.
I didn’t know what he meant by “user experience” but it sounded interesting and I was intrigued. My dad’s friend had been working as a usability consultant since the early 90s and held a highly credentialed background in ergonomics and human-computer interaction and had worked with top Fortune 500 tech companies throughout his high profile career. After having a lengthy chat with him and picking his brain I was hooked. He opened a door into tech for me which I didn’t even know existed. Since that day I’ve never seen human interaction with software and services the same.
My path to working professionally in the field of user research has been fairly traditional since then. I enrolled in a Human-Computer Interaction program in university, worked UX internships and co-ops, and received mentorship along the way eventually leveling up to working full-time over the years and having the privilege of working on interesting projects with mature, well-resourced teams. I don’t say this to be boastful; I share my story because many great people working in UX professionally don’t always start on a structured path.
Some people don’t find out about UX as a field until they’re done college. Some people execute a career pivot into UX after working unfulfilling unrelated jobs, some people start their careers in academic research and look to jump ship to work in user research for large tech companies, some people are completely self-taught and kick ass at what they do. Over the years I’ve come to realize that almost everyone working in this field has a different story of how they got started.
People eager to jump-start a career in UX Research may not have the time or financial resources for a related university degree or an expensive and sometimes risky time-boxed bootcamp. However, there are ways to get on the career ladder, but it might take a considerable amount of hustle, determination, and a certain amount of self awareness when it comes to marketing yourself on the job market. Although I came from a fairly traditional background into industry, I’ve seen people manage to land fulfilling and well paying UX Research roles despite coming from untraditional backgrounds.
This article will break down methods that may be useful for people looking to work in UX Research but are not sure where to start. Circumstances and context are different for everybody, but I hope these tips help you in building a career you’ll find rewarding.
Building the right foundation
As with any profession, you’ll need to build a solid foundation of knowledge before jumping into real-world problem-solving. If you’re not in the position to make the time and monetary commitment to formally go back to school, the best way to learn the fundamentals of UX Research is from MooCs (Massive Open Online Courses), online video lectures, senior mentorship, and books.
But before you hunker down into learning new material, you’ll probably want to know if UX Research is the right career path for you and what duties and day-to-day activities a user researcher deals with. In this video series from Khan Academy, User Experience Researcher Aidan Bryant of Google breaks down her overall responsibilities, gives insight on salary expectations, and unpacks the steps she took to land a UX role at Google.
Another good starting point to give you a flavor of user experience as a field and profession is The UX Careers Handbook by Cory Lebson.
In his book Cory offers an insider’s look at how to be a successful User Experience professional from comprehensive career pathways to learning, personal branding, networking skills, building of resumes and portfolios, and actually landing a UX job. This book goes in-depth to explain what it takes to get into and succeed in a UX career, be it as a designer, information architect, strategist, user researcher, or in a variety of other UX career specialities. It gives a wealth of resources designed to help readers develop and take control of their UX career success including perspectives and advice from experts in the field. I would highly recommend this book for folks interested in finding out what UX is all about or to people just starting out in a junior position but are struggling to find their speciality. I’ve recommended this book to many folks just starting out. It is an invaluable resource for gaining a more in-depth understanding of UX as a field and understanding different specialisms.
Here is some other high quality content from industry experts to help you in shaping your understanding of UX Research: