How I won the return offer after my UX Research internship at Sogou
It has been one month since I finished my internship as a UX Researcher at Sogou. I was part of the Sogou Search design team in Beijing, China. Sogou Search is the second largest search engine in China. The products range from the web search to multiple mobile applications. Due to the increasing demand for UX research in the team, I was able to conduct UX Research on various products collaboratively and independently. What I learned from the internship is more than how to be a good User Experience Researcher, but also how to be a good follower, teammate, and leader.
There are some valuable lessons I would like to share with you. The article is for people who already got an internship or are currently looking for an internship. It is also helpful to see the company’s expectation for an internship. I am always writing to learn and hope you can learn by reading it.
Mindset: Don’t treat yourself as an intern. You’re more than that.
How?
1. Do more work than they ask
Build trust with your mentor by showing them you are able to complete the assigned task. Earn a reputation in the group by doing more than what he/she asks. Interview recruitment was one of the most common tasks for me at first. But saving the users’ contact information and creating a social media group for further research is beyond what I was asked to do. In addition, we were supposed to audiotape the interview and summarize the main points. I ended up with interview transcription and key insights by synthesizing the data points from the user research. The outcomes enabled our research team to prioritize problems and opportunities for product managers, designers, and engineers.
Whereas less is more can be applied to a research report, bringing fewer data points from a credible source is better than bringing more information from a questionable one. Research is most valuable in a specific context. The number of the interviewees, the time period, and the goals for the previous report are slightly different from yours, so don’t give others the chance to doubt your research findings.
2. Identify what you are good at, what you can’t do well and improve it.
My background in interactive design enables me to create visualized information and easy-to-read layout for a research report. I am also good at conducting qualitative research, such as observing human behaviors and capturing their emotions by listening to stories from the interviewees. However, the internet company like Sogou has a bunch of data for the researcher to dig into. One of my mentors has a background in mathematics, which led us as a perfect team. Each time we had a new project with data analysis we went to her. I suddenly realized the importance of telling a story from quantitative data. Data, on the one hand, cannot tell you the root cause of human behavior. On the other hand, data is powerful enough to evaluate the current design solutions and persuade product managers, designers, and engineers by seeing what users do instead of just hearing what they say. I would be able to work on the whole project by myself in the future. So I volunteered to analyze data for a new project. Analyzing data and gathering information to create an actionable report gave me the chance to learn more from my mentors and the chance to improve my personal competence.
3. You are not just a UX Researcher, you are part of the design team, part of Sogou Search, and obviously part of Sogou.
There was a good opportunity for every designer in the team to brand for Sogou Search Design Center. I wasn't planning to join it until my mentor encouraged me to do so. Since I designed a logo and powerpoint template for UX Research team. I learned logo design and branding from scratch. Fortunately, I was able to win the branding award out of 40 works. I did an extra motion graphic as part of the branding process. The reason behind the success is not just about the learning process and the time you spend to refine it, but also the contribution you made for the design team. You are part of the family, you are not just an intern. So it represents you have the responsibility to make the team better.
If you are also interested in branding, I found the following online resources very helpful.
The Science of Logo Design, Branding for Designers, Logo Design: Techniques
4. The internship process is a loop of learning, taking and giving.
First, learning from the people around you. One of the reasons why I loved my internship at Sogou was the Sharing Session every week. It provided opportunities to learn from mentors, designers, and leaders. Everyone is unique. There must be a reason that they were hired as a full-time employee. I learned grid layout and motion design from UX and UI designers, I learned the role of the designer in the era of Artificial Intelligence from the Project Manager. I learned advertisement strategies, business formulas, and product innovations from leaders of other divisions. Taking is not just about the process of taking knowledge from others, but also applying the tools or methodologies to your following project. The process of giving is to make contributions to your team and apply what you have learned to the project. Giving by learning from others is also a good way to show your respect to others’ works.
The End
Special thanks to my mentor who told me that don’t treat myself as an intern. Keep the mindset for the next internship and let others see your potential to be a full-time employee are the keys to win a return offer.
