Meet Chegg’s UX 2021 Interns
Students interned with us across departments at Chegg once again this summer. With COVID-19 still being part of our lives, we offered remote internships based on our successful remote internship program in 2020. Our very own UX team had two fabulous interns and we asked them to share words of wisdom about their experience.
Anna Trakhman, UX Research Intern
- Located in Seattle, Washington
- 2nd year graduate student
- M.S. in Human Centered Design and Engineering (MS HCDE), University of Washington
Elise Taylor, UX Research Intern
- Located in West Lafayette, Indiana
- 4th year graduate student
- PhD in Communication,Purdue University
Why did you decide to intern at Chegg?
Anna: I loved the idea of working with students. They’re direct, critical, and at times, impatient. From experience, I know that being a student can be both an incredibly difficult and rewarding time, and I wanted to work on products and services that support this journey.
Elise: I initially applied because I’ve been interested in UX since undergrad, and Purdue suggested Chegg as a good place for an internship. I decided to accept the offer because the team really impressed me during the interview, and I thought that I’d be able to learn a lot from them. I was also hoping for an internship that was remote; since I have a spouse and a teenager, it would be tough to relocate for the summer. Fortunately, this is Chegg’s second year of doing remote internships, and they have it down to a fine science by now.
What did you do as a UX research intern at Chegg?
Anna: I use a variety of qualitative research methods to conduct both exploratory and evaluative work. The main two were an eReader preview modal, to determine how best to design a preview experience that might help students decide whether to purchase an eTextbook or a physical one, and testing newly branded landing pages with students to see whether our updated messaging was coming through as intended for our audiences.
Elise: In terms of research, I worked on a handful of studies where we interviewed and surveyed our students for feedback, and then presented our suggestions to the stakeholders involved. It was great getting to talk to our target audience in real time. I also worked on developing a system to help us organize our research more effectively (who knew that the classes I took in Information Science would be used so quickly!).
How was conducting research in an industry setting like Chegg different than what you’ve done or learned in school?
Anna: I was able to quickly see the impact of my research when I made design recommendations. Things move quickly at Chegg, and the insights from your research are taken seriously. You can see the work you do make its way into designs quickly, and that’s something you don’t get through most school projects.
Elise: There’s a lot of terminology that’s similar, but the tools we use are different. For example, academics would say that once you’ve interviewed “enough” people, you reach “saturation,” because the goal is to get absolutely all the information it is possible to get, then write up your paper. In UX Research, the standard is closer to 5, after which time you refine the thing that you’re researching based on that feedback and test five more. This reasoning makes a lot of sense, and I think that academia could learn a lot from that approach. I’ve also found some tools that I want to bring back to school with me, and one of them is already helping an academic colleague with her dissertation. Finally, it’s way easier to recruit participants, so we’re able to move faster on our projects. Whereas an academic project can take months (or more), I can have a UX Research project conceptualized, conducted, and reported upon within a week.
What did you enjoy most about your internship?
Anna: The opportunity to work on huge value-add projects. Everything I touched felt important, and I could easily see the connection between what I was researching and what the impact would be on the student. And the authenticity of the people I work with. You don’t get that everywhere.
Elise: I really was amazed at the degree to which Chegg respects its employees — wisdom, intellect, experience, and education are all valued and treasured, but you’re never made to feel dumb if you don’t know anything. The overall company is “student first,” but it’s also “family first,” and I loved that our CEO (Dan!) tells us to define our family as we see it. So, my family includes my cats as well as the humans who live with me. It’s a perspective that I’ve always personally had, but I’ve never seen a CEO share. I also loved that although the internship was remote, I got to really connect with my coworkers. I’m big on building relationships, and I knew I had succeeded when a coworker and I got together for a coffee chat via Zoom and ended up having a deep heart-to-heart.
What skills did you develop in your internship that you didn’t previously have?
Anna: Multitasking — from the beginning, I had a lot of projects going on at once and balancing this on top of meetings and intern-specific requirements helped me hone my time management skills.
Elise: I was able to learn a lot of UX-specific software and services, such as Usertesting.com and Figma. As I was investigating information management, I was also able to learn about building taxonomies and working with Insights Management software solutions, which will be useful as I start writing my dissertation.
What was a major takeaway you’ve gained from this internship?
Anna: I was on the fence about design versus research going into this internship, but I’m now 100% certain that research is the right fit for me, and I am grateful to Chegg for the opportunities that helped me affirm this.
Elise: I’m on the job market this year, so a big part of this internship was deciding whether to become an academic or a researcher in the industry. At this point, I still don’t know! But regardless of which way I go, I believe that it’s vital for the folks in the proverbial ivory tower to remain connected with the real world, and I hope that I can help bridge that divide.
What advice would you give future interns in UX research?
Anna: Stay organized, energized, and curious. Your internship might feel stressful at times, but keep in mind that you’re there for a very short time to contribute, but also to learn, and to showcase your ability to do so — this can be just as important as your deliverables.
Elise: Much like there are different research methods in school (interviewing, ethnography, focus groups, etc.), there are a lot of different methods of UX Research (field research, competitive analysis, diary studies, etc.). Do as many of them as you can, because that skillset will help you both learn more about the business and add the maximum number of skills to your resume.
Want to learn more about working at Chegg? Check out our website.
