Looking for UX Research position in Seattle/Redmond area
My wife is looking to transition her career into UX Research. She has a BS In Human Development and MA in Occupational Therapy with lots of clinical research experience and some transferable skills She’s currently taking classes on coursera. We’ve reached out to several recruiters but they are not interested due to her OT background. Would appreciate any tips, insight, or a referral for an entry level position or apprenticeship in the Seattle/Redmond area.
HCI is relatively new (maybe about 15 years now since the fist PhD in HCI was awarded) — which is why you don’t see as many of them in the field yet. Additionally, those with an HCI degree are just as likely to become a UX designer / IxD. And a UX designer is usually expected to carry out the same tasks as a UXR. But on the note of finding your wife a position. She needs to get actual product experience — meaning find a startup, non-profit, etc where she can apply what she is learning and show real outcomes. And document the crap out of it and really hone in on storytelling skills. Nothing worse than a researcher that gives a presentation or doc that says 4 out 5 participants did X. Cool story 🤦🏼♂️. Doesn’t motivate or inspire me. And if she really wants to stand out learn some quant.
Are you a UXR? whar companies' UX Designer / IxD also act as UXR?
I started out as a UXR but now I’m a Product Design Lead. Need to check my credentials ? Can’t create exhaustive list to answer your second question and it sometimes depends which org and/or team you’re on. For example some teams at FB require the product designer to do end-to-end design work which will include user research or at least collecting feedback on their design work. But other teams within FB have dedicated researchers they are collaborating with. And then if you look at design orgs that are not as mature or don’t have a large headcount, those product designers should and most definitely do act as the UXR for their product.
I’d hit up some of the consulting agencies like Aditi. They’ll sometimes take non traditional candidates.
DM me I’ll give some pointers
Why not just go get a degree in UX?
She already has a MA in a field that has a psychology, cognitive science related background. Just no explicit experience in HCI. We’ve been reading that a lot of UX researchers don’t have UX/HCI degrees but come from psychology, cog sci related field. So trying to build up experience first before heading down the path of going back to school.