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I suggest you look into “UX Research”. That’s precisely the role described by the parent comment. They work on a product team with designers, engineers, and PMs

I suggest you look into “UX Research”. That’s precisely the role described by the parent comment. They work on a product team with designers, engineers, and PMs to help everyone else understand the needs of the user. They also help define who the user should be based on the needs of different kinds of users. It’s a pretty important role in most user-facing tech companies.

germinalphrase 4y ago
I absolutely will. I’ve looked at UX more generally as a possible career alternative and believe I would be good at it. Can you speak at all to the career prospects/lifestyle of UXR?
- MailleQuiMaille 4y ago
  In terms of career prospects, you'd work with a lot of designers and product managers, so you could expect similar growths. I personnaly find this work very fulfilling, as it blends my social science expertise and my tech passion. And if anything, this thread and the answers are the living proof that the job will be needed for a while !
  - germinalphrase 4y ago
    Glad to hear it. Thank you. As a follow up: my intuition is that a UX Researcher would first enter as a UX Designer. Is this accurate in your experience, or are there paths for direct entry into UXR?
    - goldenchrome 4y ago
      In design school, they briefly teach you how to run user studies. And, in very small companies, they sometimes get the designer to run user studies so they don’t have to hire a separate researcher. However, UXR is really a separate discipline and every larger company I know (>a few hundred employees) hires dedicated UXRs. Most UXRs have a natural interest in people. Often they come from PhD programs in psychology or sociology (easiest route). But I’ve seen plenty come from a bachelors program, or other “people” fields like sales and marketing. With your background I’m sure you could tell a compelling story about why you’re a fit for the role. If I were you I’d try to learn as much about UXR methodologies from books or online, and then try to get a job doing UXR at a small company. No need to do UX Design first—that’s a separate skill set.
- hn_ltl-ftc 4y ago
  You might find the following experiential program of interest: https://www.bentley.edu/centers/ux-education https://www.bentley.edu/centers/ux-education Or something more academic: https://www.bentley.edu/academics/graduate-programs/masters-human-factors https://www.bentley.edu/academics/graduate-programs/masters-... https://www.hcii.cmu.edu/ https://www.hcii.cmu.edu/ To answer your specific question re: "career prospects/lifestyle of UXR"; I used to do that work full-time, and even founded a consulting business around that. FWIW, I also chaired one of the largest local chapters of the relevant ACM special interest group (SIGCHI). However, I don't work in that field anymore, by choice. And I'm somewhat pessimistic about it, even though I still think it is a critical discipline. My reasons for leaving are: -- Smaller companies can only afford one person, so they typically hire someone with an art school background; and expect that person to also be able to do UX work well. They are really distinct (but slightly overlapping) skill sets, so it is hard to find one person who is competent at both! Especially on a small company salary... -- Personal to me: I don't have that art-school background, so that puts me out of contention for a lot of jobs. -- Most 'tech' companies, from giants like Apple, to small start-ups don't seem to value high-quality UX work any more. At least not as much, and as generally, as was expected in the dot-com years. More typically, nowadays, they seem more interested in visual appeal, and being 'on trend'. -- I've also heard that UX is not really important because new users are 'digital natives'. -- I can make a LOT more money, and find more jobs, slinging web front-end code (Vue/React/JS/TS/etc.), than I can doing UX work.
  - germinalphrase 4y ago
    Thanks for the comments and references. While I have a creative background (previous life as a Local 600 cameraman on features/commercials/music videos/etc, father was a design professor) - I am not an illustrator or designer by experience. If I make a jump, I would aim for tech in some capacity (UX/UXR, Sales, PM are current focal points), but between now and June - I’m just gathering information.

germinalphrase 4y ago

I absolutely will. I’ve looked at UX more generally as a possible career alternative and believe I would be good at it. Can you speak at all to the career prospects/lifestyle of UXR?

MailleQuiMaille 4y ago
In terms of career prospects, you'd work with a lot of designers and product managers, so you could expect similar growths. I personnaly find this work very fulfilling, as it blends my social science expertise and my tech passion. And if anything, this thread and the answers are the living proof that the job will be needed for a while !
- germinalphrase 4y ago
  Glad to hear it. Thank you. As a follow up: my intuition is that a UX Researcher would first enter as a UX Designer. Is this accurate in your experience, or are there paths for direct entry into UXR?
  - goldenchrome 4y ago
    In design school, they briefly teach you how to run user studies. And, in very small companies, they sometimes get the designer to run user studies so they don’t have to hire a separate researcher. However, UXR is really a separate discipline and every larger company I know (>a few hundred employees) hires dedicated UXRs. Most UXRs have a natural interest in people. Often they come from PhD programs in psychology or sociology (easiest route). But I’ve seen plenty come from a bachelors program, or other “people” fields like sales and marketing. With your background I’m sure you could tell a compelling story about why you’re a fit for the role. If I were you I’d try to learn as much about UXR methodologies from books or online, and then try to get a job doing UXR at a small company. No need to do UX Design first—that’s a separate skill set.
hn_ltl-ftc 4y ago
You might find the following experiential program of interest: https://www.bentley.edu/centers/ux-education https://www.bentley.edu/centers/ux-education Or something more academic: https://www.bentley.edu/academics/graduate-programs/masters-human-factors https://www.bentley.edu/academics/graduate-programs/masters-... https://www.hcii.cmu.edu/ https://www.hcii.cmu.edu/ To answer your specific question re: "career prospects/lifestyle of UXR"; I used to do that work full-time, and even founded a consulting business around that. FWIW, I also chaired one of the largest local chapters of the relevant ACM special interest group (SIGCHI). However, I don't work in that field anymore, by choice. And I'm somewhat pessimistic about it, even though I still think it is a critical discipline. My reasons for leaving are: -- Smaller companies can only afford one person, so they typically hire someone with an art school background; and expect that person to also be able to do UX work well. They are really distinct (but slightly overlapping) skill sets, so it is hard to find one person who is competent at both! Especially on a small company salary... -- Personal to me: I don't have that art-school background, so that puts me out of contention for a lot of jobs. -- Most 'tech' companies, from giants like Apple, to small start-ups don't seem to value high-quality UX work any more. At least not as much, and as generally, as was expected in the dot-com years. More typically, nowadays, they seem more interested in visual appeal, and being 'on trend'. -- I've also heard that UX is not really important because new users are 'digital natives'. -- I can make a LOT more money, and find more jobs, slinging web front-end code (Vue/React/JS/TS/etc.), than I can doing UX work.
- germinalphrase 4y ago
  Thanks for the comments and references. While I have a creative background (previous life as a Local 600 cameraman on features/commercials/music videos/etc, father was a design professor) - I am not an illustrator or designer by experience. If I make a jump, I would aim for tech in some capacity (UX/UXR, Sales, PM are current focal points), but between now and June - I’m just gathering information.