On transitioning careers and continuing education with Anindya Basu
Meet the members of DocuSign’s Product Experience team who are shaping the future of agreements
Hi Anindya! Let’s start with the basics. What do you do at DocuSign?
I joined DocuSign this year as a UX Researcher. I work with two teams here. The developer programs and product support team where I help answer questions about usability. So far I’ve done research to help improve the new Developer Center and the API dashboard that launched earlier this year.
How did you get your start in UX Research?
I’ve had a very non-linear journey into UX research — which I’ve come to understand is not unique! I did my undergrad in computer science from the University of California San Diego (UCSD). During undergrad, I loved solving complex problems and the classes that focused on theoretical aspects of the field. Yet something didn’t feel right. I decided to take a break from school for an extended software engineering internship. While there, I found myself pulled towards the folks who were doing user experience work. Watching them advocate for user needs and customer experience struck a chord in me. The empathy and advocacy they brought to their jobs resonated with me.
I decided to complete my computer science degree while looking for a way to do the UX work I found so interesting. A friend connected me to my first internship as a human factors intern with Sony. There, I did research ops work full-time during the summers and part-time while in school. I recruited participants for studies, maintained participant databases, and took notes. Over time, I was given many opportunities to conduct research of my own and even travel to do some ethnography research. It was rewarding and I felt a passion to grow as a researcher.
After graduating from college, I accepted a role as a human factors engineer at a medical device company. It was a paradigm shift to go from working on products in the consumer space to those that are critical for medical treatment. I constantly had to keep patient safety and experience in mind.
Working as a Researcher for DocuSign’s Developer Tools, how has your background in computer science influenced your work?
My computer science background helps me connect with DocuSign users at a deeper level than I’ve been able to in prior roles. When working on medical devices, I relied on subject matter experts that were nurses, doctors, and anesthesiologists to understand use scenarios, environments, and context. Even with their help, I felt like I never understood the difficulties faced by those users because I had not worked with them or as one of them.
I understand the journey developers have taken to learn their craft and can better advocate for them as a result. Developers have a unique experience of seeing many extremes in UX. In school, we’d study the latest, greatest UX work in the industry then jump into code using text editors with minimal user interface that only works with text commands.
At the same time, something I remind myself of is that while I do have a CS background, I am not the user of our products. My background as a front-end developer does not map in a linear way to the full-stack work that DocuSign developers do. I am mindful of using my past experience to help connect with and inform questions I ask people in usability studies while remembering to not assume I know what is best for our users. I do this by spending time at the beginning of my conversations with users understanding their commonly used tools, frameworks and job history. I utilize this information to set the context and boundaries of the conversation. If I see a tool mentioned often I’ll make a note of it. Then I’ll spend some time familiarizing myself with it so that I can have deeper conversations with participants during the next study.
What advice can you share for people looking to make a lateral career transition?
When trying to make the lateral shift, there were several things that I struggled with. Earning potential, the amount of time already invested in my current degree, and whether I was sure UX research was what I wanted to do. I asked myself, “What if I want to change again in a year? In 5 years? What if I find myself wanting to come back to coding and I’ve wasted all this time?”
Sheryl Sandberg, author of “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead” said in her book, “career journeys to jungle gyms, rather than ladders.” I learned that regardless of the specific job I was performing, the experience I was getting was valid. It would help me in the future regardless of what I decided to do. In fact, the lateral career transition prepared me in ways I would never have expected. Having worn both hats in the past makes me a better collaborator and communicator.
Managers and mentors can encourage and enable people to make lateral shifts by helping people in pursuit of their curiosity. At my first job, my manager encouraged me to sit with the UX folks. That exposed me to their day-to-day work and helped me actualize my interest in UX. Another mentor shared learning resources including textbooks, conferences, and free online resources.
As a community, we can all act as mentors. Answer questions and share resources with folks looking to make the shift into our field. I’ve personally been gifted textbooks that were invaluable to me when I first started out and I like to send them to people who are interested in UX research. It helps me keep my own clutter down while passing on the kindness I was given.
“ I learned that regardless of the specific job I was performing, the experience I was getting was valid.”
Shifting gears to your current studies, you’re currently getting a Masters in Human Factors Engineering. What inspired you to pursue a Master’s in this area?
Something I struggled with was the feeling of being an impostor in my jobs, even though I’ve done work I’m proud of and love. I always felt like there was information out there I needed to do better at my job — be it experiment design, knowing about research methods, or being able to defend my findings and research.
My mentors have been a supportive resource to help me push through my impostor syndrome. Seeing their work and achievements is an inspiration and I admire them greatly. One mentor, Tressa Daniels, had a heart-to-heart with me about what I’ve learned and what I want to learn to operate at a deeper level. That conversation influenced my decision to pursue a master’s degree.
At the time, I wanted to focus my professional growth around synthesizing research, applying new research methods, and building complex experiments. As I learned more, I felt more confident about my education and job qualifications. It has been a tough and rewarding experience.
“Managers and mentors can encourage and enable people to make lateral shifts by helping people in pursuit of their curiosity.”
I’d love to hear about how your studies have shaped your practice as a UX researcher.
My studies focus a lot on the research and design of complex systems. I attend a university focused on aerospace engineering and my classes have exposed me to complex systems. These systems need extensive consideration of anthropometry, ergonomics, human cognition, artificial intelligence, automation, and adaptability.
While it may not seem like aircraft cockpit design applies to the work we do at DocuSign, there are a lot of principles and concepts that can transfer over as SaaS systems become increasingly complex. Today, I include these elements when I design my studies. That way, the studies better reflect authentic user experiences and increase the usefulness of our research insights.
At DocuSign, we look at ways people learn and how brains organize information. We then apply it to how we adapt our systems in the interest of resilience and great user experience. Considering how people learn, how the brain organizes information, how systems adapt and build resilience over time are all things that can be applied to DocuSign’s developer space to build better experiences.
Want to get in touch with Anindya? Connect with him on LinkedIn
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