What I learned after 5 years being UX Researcher
This is the fifth year since I’m working as UX Researcher. Why do I feel like time is moving faster? 5 years ago, I remember I wrote lessons learned after 90 days as UX Researcher on a train to work after I passed my probation period. Who would have thought it’s been 5 years already?
This medium post is not about the cool methods/frameworks. This is about us and situation in tech industry right now.
Massive tech layoff is happening, and I was the one impacted. I used to make my job my identity, everybody knows how passionate I am about being a researcher, I love researching and I love observing people, finding out new things made me keen to dig more. But that Friday morning when my manager told me that my entire research team was being laid off. I took time to process all of the things happening.
If I could be brutally honest, UX Researchers are the most vulnerable position to be laid off. Because the business could run without us (yes, they could just run, might not run properly, but at least they could run). Stakeholders could just do an A/B testing, or just throw whatever ideas they had in mind into the app and roll it back if the features does not fit into the users (not effective but at least they could run the business, once again).
It’s not about our performance, it was all by design. If there is a layoff, we are going to be on the front queue. I’m not saying all companies are like this, but for the company that focus on fast iterations, this could be true.
How to avoid it? There is no way you could avoid massive layoff, everybody could be impacted no matter how long you’ve been working there, or how good is your performance. It’s the classic “it’s not you, it’s me” type of breakup.
What should I do after being laid off? First of all, take your time to process things. And when you’re done processing your emotions, make sure all of your rights are being fulfilled (like severance pay, health insurance, last pay, etc). Don’t rush to find the new job. Take your time to process. Make a timeline and a really good plan on your next job search. Ask a friend to review your portofolio or CV. Do a mockup interview with friends. Don’t be ashamed to ask for help because valuable input might be very helpful for your next career.
After the layoff, I also noticed that some things changed in me:
- I started to separate my jobs and my identity: Yes, I am a UX Researcher. but that definition alone does not define me. I am passionate about whatever I’m doing (not just about research), and I wanted to have a good relationships with my coworkers. So that they will eventually remember good memories about me. I don’t want to be remembered as the great UX Researcher Olivia, I wanted to be known as Olivia
- I started to have more work-life balance: After being laid off, I felt like I was being reminded that family is one of the important aspects in our life, I think there is no reason to not prioritizing your family because of your work. As long as we do our responsibility at work responsibly.
What can we do differently after these massive layoff? I think all of UX Researchers should go beyond the interfaces and research, we have to involve and include ourself in all the product decision making process, helping the team to direct the product so that the business and users needs are covered. I used to think the job to direct the product team the lies on the senior researchers or managers only. But with this massive layoff happening, I think all of the researchers should have that ability to be the voice of users and be the enabler of the team.
The last thing you might asked is: How is the future of UX Research? Should I switch career? My answer is, there are so many UX Researchers job still in the market right now. The company that laid you off might not need a researcher anymore but other company might need you. Yes, the hard truth is the job market might not as massive as previous years, and I know the market is pretty saturated now that everyone is getting laid off. But UX Research is about the basics. Try polish your UX Research basics to perfection, from research planning, conducting, synthesizing, analyzing insights and research reporting. You don’t have to use the fancy methods or frameworks, you should knew when to use the methods instead.
Strengthen your basics and find your biggest strength in that mundane basics, for example, if quantitative analysis is your biggest strength, try to bring that narrative to the interview table. Don’t rush to change the career just because the layoff, make sure that you are really passionate about what you will be doing before you finally decide to switch career.
And finally, good luck!
