Member-only story
A day in the life of a UX Researcher
From Fortune 500 to Startup Life.
Are you considering a switch to UX or looking for your next role? I’ve been fortunate to work across a variety of company types and sizes, and the following is my path and experiences thus far. I started my UX Research career at a large Fortune 500 company. After two years of soaking up all of the information and mentorship I could, I set out to establish the research team at a medium sized start-up. After almost two years there, I longed to collaborate with fellow researchers, so I joined a medium sized scale-up to help build out their new research team.
My Experience at a Fortune 500 Company
At this large company my role was pretty narrowly defined, and I focused mostly on running qualitative research studies. I was on a team with 8 other researchers, and we each had 2–3 products we supported. I led projects across all stages of research (exploratory, concept testing, and usability testing), however we had one researcher dedicated to end-to-end usability testing across all of the products.
My day-to-day work was focused on running research projects, including scoping, planning, executing, analyzing, and sharing the research. I mainly worked with Product Managers and UX Designers, as well as with other UX Researchers.
Overall the company understood and valued UX Research. They dedicated significant resources to research, and they valued our expertise and work.
Typical Day
- Meet with Product Owner and UX Designer to review scope, research goals, and prototype for an upcoming study
- Put together a research plan for the upcoming study based on the discussion with Product and Design
- Send screening criteria to 3rd party recruiting company
Benefits
- Structure
- Security
- Mentorship
- Collaboration with other researchers
- Resources (large recruiting and travel budget)
Drawbacks
- Bureaucracy
- Slower moving
- More narrowly defined…
