This article is the first of a series of articles on the essential skills to be a promising UX Researcher. If you enjoyed this article, stay tuned for the next ones!
A core quality of every UX researcher is to be curious and open to learning, to be able to adapt to the (ever-changing) needs of users.
I wrote this article following a question that has been addressed several times to me in mentorship sessions. The goal is to help aspiring UX Researchers in identifying what skills and qualities they must have to enter the field of UX Research However, I am not a recruiter. I am just a senior UX Researcher who will speak from experience regarding what is needed on a day-to-day basis.
This set of qualities is not intended to be exhaustive, and the field of UX Research is always evolving. What is true now might not hold true soon so… you might have understood already that one of the required qualities is… Keep learning.
And on that, I hope you are hungry for knowledge because I am taking you on a 3-course meal on what it takes to be a Junior UX Researcher
One first tip I can give you to have an idea of what is in demand for a UX Researcher role nowadays is simply to scan UX Researcher roles and make a list of in-demand skills. Then list the skills you have and the skills you would need to develop. It is as simple as that.
Although job offers will differ depending on the industry, size of the team and UX maturity, they will show some commonalities. I must mention one consideration here: of course, you should consider your level of expertise.
And this is the tricky part: There are not a lot of Junior UX Researcher jobs out there.
I remember having seen on LinkedIn a trend of sharing the competency level framework of some companies. Sadly, it seemed this trend is not pursued. I would love to see that going on by the way!
Although design in itself and the philosophy around it are unchanged, a lot of things are changing over the years. We are now talking about design systems, accessibility, and artificial intelligence (I may be wrong but I am not sure it was the case 7 years ago). As you may have imagined, a core quality of every UX researcher is to be curious, open to learning, to be able to adapt to the (ever-changing) needs of users.
Find a mentor
A great way to learn and make our way in the jungle of resources available is through mentoring. This is, by the way, what led me to write this article. “What are the core qualities a UX Researcher that should possess to enter the field” is one of the most recurring questions I have been asked. So, I decided to write an article about it to help anyone who would be interested to enter the field. If you are already following mentorship sessions, what I am about to say in the next paragraph might not be new to you. But if you are not, well you might want to know that the following quality goes hand in hand with learning and you can develop it seamlessly through mentorship: be open to receiving feedback.
Feedback is a great way to learn a lot, in a minimal amount of time. By gathering feedback on any part of your process (your work, your thinking process, your way of working), you grow instantly. Some feedback will come from seniors, others from less experienced peers. It doesn’t matter. Be open to receiving it, discussing it, acting on it.
I like to think of feedback as the golden resource to grow. I can learn so much more and more quickly when I receive feedback, than by reading a 300-page book or following a bootcamp. Because, if feedback is well done, it will be relevant, timely, actionable and specific.
So you will know directly what you should improve, why, and how.
Being a designer and a researcher must first and foremost come from a place of humility.
In the end, although we are trying to solve users’ problems, we are first trying to identify their problems. By doing so, it means that we admit that we know that we do not know everything. Starting from a place of humility is crucial to growing as a UX Researcher or Designer.
And this is why I often include feedback and mentorship in my 3-pillar process to learn anything: starting with some theoretical knowledge, evolving with some practical experience, and growing through mentorship.
You would tell me now (and you would be right): ok, Jeremy, but this is no different than with other knowledge industry jobs… and you are right. So let me now address the competencies and soft skills I believe are core to UX Researchers.
Stay tuned for the part 2 on the must have skills of a UX Researcher, coming soon 👀
Read the full article here
