Why to become a UX Researcher?
One of the best ways to add value to a company, even if it is not exclusively dedicated to user experience, is understanding users and knowing their expectations to better adapt products to their real needs.
This makes UX Research a continuously growing work field, having also taken into account that user experience is a new SEO requirement to improve visibility in Google.
Just as in every other field related to user experience, there is not just one way to become a UX Researcher, and people who end up working in this environment come from many different educational backgrounds just as sociology, psychology, marketing, design and, of course, technology.
Since there is no fixed path to become a UX Researcher, the introduction to it can be harder than in other professions, but it is not impossible. You just have to know how to find the appropriate training to clear your mind, as there is no specific college career to this field, just like Daniel Torres Burriel reminded us in the interview with Antonio Rull in his podcast Yokoten (in Spanish).
Why should you become a UX Researcher?
You may have studied something mentioned in the previous paragraph, but you may also have the feeling that there is something left to find your ideal work path. Perhaps what you really want is to become a UX Researcher, you just do not know it yet.
Throughout these years we have found out how someone has to be in order to become a UX Researcher:
- Observer. If you are always taking note on how people interact with products and you continuously want to know more about that concern.
- You are capable of understanding people’s behavior. For instance, if we are testing some information architecture and users do not complete their tasks as we expected them to, we should be able to understand the causes so we can suggest the appropriate solutions.
- Fast learner. In this environment you will work with people from different areas, so you will always have to learn new things to further understand the business you are about to research, and being up-to-date with the latest innovations on the field.
- You would rather listen than speak. And, in addition, you know how to mediate and drive conversations through the right path so you can gather the information you are looking for.
You may have already noticed that we are speaking about some of the soft skills we have already discussed earlier.
How is the UX Research job?
If you want to become a UX Researcher you may want to know how daily life is during research. Roughly, and not getting into too much detail, your job would consist in:
- Understanding the business you are going to do the research about.
- Carry out the research process.
- Analyze and share the research results.
Obviously, you will need to know the methods and tools to apply on each phase of the UX Research process, understand which is the best option and know how to fully develop it. For that matter it is vital that you apply critical reasoning.
This will allow you not only to question why things are the way they are and to find out the actual reasoning behind it (which is the main task to your job), but it will also allow you to choose between those methods and apply the one that best suits each client and project.
If you want to study to be a UX Researcher, other than looking into the different formative offers that are currently available in UX Learn (where the Advanced Research Specialization Program might be a perfect fit), it may help you finding a community of your own, people with your same interests and who are already in this field. Networking will make it a lot easier to know which step you should take next so you can achieve your objectives, and also you will learn from people who are already engaged in this world.
Advanced Research Specialization Program (classes in Spanish).
This article is a translation of the following one published on our corporate website:
