Do you need a PhD to become a UX researcher?
There are many paths to starting a career in UX research.
Several weeks ago, a reader left a comment asking for advice. They wanted my perspective on whether they needed to get a PhD to pursue a career in UX research.
The short answer is: No.
The longer answer is much more complicated. For some odd reason, the answer to this question seems to always be a bit contentious and some UXRs get very emotional about it. I get the sense that for some UXRs the answer to this question gets very personal — almost as if the answer itself is a condemnation of their life choices. But the reality is that there are many paths (some conventional, some not so conventional) to starting a career in UX research.
I personally don’t have a PhD, though I was Phd-curious for a long time (and even applied unsuccessfully during grad school at Michigan). While I may not have personal experience of getting a PhD and transitioning to industry, I can give you the perspective of someone who’s been a UX researcher for nearly fifteen years, managed and mentored other UXRs of varying backgrounds for about five years, and interviewed over 100 UXR candidates at Google.
In this post, I’ll describe what I believe is the shortest path to getting started in UX research…
