Things I’ve learned from my first week as a UX Researcher
Take a moment to recall your first week at work. What was your on-boarding session like? Was there a lot of waiting around for your first task to be assigned, or did things quickly pick up? Did you warm up well to the new faces around you?
The truth is, even if two people are in the same industry and at the same level of expertise at their job, the first week of work is entirely different for everyone.
I recently kicked off a career in UX Design, so my first week was a completely new experience for me. For a long time, as a copywriter, writing for brands was all I knew. I simply had to dive right into a research role, armed with all the skills I picked up during my time at General Assembly. As such, I’m grateful to be warmly accepted into the Partipost team, where there’s a mutual understanding of the worth of growing alongside the team.
Here’s what I learnt during my first week of being a UX researcher at an ad-tech startup in Singapore:
How to be scrappy
As a researcher, getting participants and users to attend my sessions posed as my biggest challenge so far. This is when I had to learn how to work with what we’ve got — dig up any existing data, reach into the darkest corners of the company database, or even do it guerrilla style by contacting existing social networks.
A scrappy attitude will serve you well, and this sentiment runs especially true if you’re working in a startup where resources might be scarce. You don’t always want to be reaching out to your co-worker when you need something, so building your own community from the start will go a long way in reducing your recruitment efforts.
Have a learning mindset
Who wants to remain in the same position or keep doing the same thing throughout their entire career? There’s always a new skill to pick up, an essential design book to read, and a perspective to uncover. With UX design, new tools are frequently being introduced and trends are emerging every other day. It’s definitely hard to keep up with, but simply being open to constant growth will keep you from a jaded attitude toward the industry.
My first week of work introduced me to SQL, a language I’ve heard in previous workplaces but have never bothered learning. The simple step of starting a tutorial or two back then could have provided me with a good foundation for using Mode Analytics. Being new to the product team, I also struggled with grasping some of the more technical engineering terms thrown around during daily stand-ups. Instead of being intimidated, keeping a learning mindset will allow me to face these learning curves head on.
Balancing a hybrid role
As a UX researcher, I’m in the product team, but in a way I’m also kind of on everyone’s team. Essentially, my role spans across all the different teams in order to drive decisions made within the product team. For example, customer satisfaction surveys can be reported to the product team to improve in-app support processes. It could also be the other way around — user behavior analyzed through app statistics lets the sales team know when certain campaigns aren’t being engaged.
Stakeholder management will always be an important part of a UX practitioner’s job description, as you have to be able to communicate with all parties effectively. I try to practice this in my work by striving for transparency, clearly stating objectives and goals, and getting buy-ins from everyone regardless of their role.
Keeping a strong support system
As with everything new or challenging that you face in life, generally having someone to share it with adds to the joy. In terms of your career, it can even help you with growth and professional connections even years down the road. My classmates from my cohort at General Assembly remain in touch for career opportunities, while a select few of us stay in group chats for general UX updates and chitchat.
Since I started work, I learnt that it helps tremendously to have a mentor or a good friend in the industry — one who understands what you’re going through and can tell you in all candor, “been there, done that.” These are the people who will hold you accountable in working towards your goals and can always give you some much-needed advice.
Always be reflecting
The work day can fly by pretty fast, especially if you’re absorbed in a spreadsheet with rows and rows of data to interpret. The days then turns into a week pretty quickly, and a week can go to waste if you don’t reflect upon it.
Considering my new career, it’s imperative for me to keep a work log to note down all the tasks I’ve done and how it added to my learning. At the end of my career, I don’t want to look back and wonder where the time went — I want to be able to declare with conviction that everything I did was purposeful and worthwhile.
If you’re already a few years into your current role, I encourage you to take some time to reflect on how your first week of work went by, as well as how your roles and responsibilities have developed since then. It might shed some light on how you feel towards your career!
