#3: Breaking into UX Research from Instructional Design (as a humanities PhD)

How do you break into UX research with a humanities PhD?

Honestly, there isn’t one generalizable or correct path.

Each of us probably has to zig-zag a bit and no journeys will be identical.

But here’s how I did it...

TLDR up front:

• Double-down on whatever advantages you have. In my case, it was having a (non UX) industry role already.
• Build relationships in order to learn and understand. Don’t aim for these to lead directly to a job. However, in hindsight, you will see how important these were in your career journey. Find mentors and friends! HOT TIP: Build relationships with the UX / design team that is closest to your current role.
• Study. Learn. Implement. Create unfair advantages for yourself through side projects. It doesn't matter what role you are in, there is UX research that needs to be done. Go do it!
• Prepare for applying and interviewing like you would for any high-stakes performance. Be ready if opportunity knocks unexpectedly.

Preparation: Get into the right mindset

I knew that it would not be a speedy process. As a history PhD, I needed to fill gaps and gain credibility. I did not have a degree that qualified me for the role in a self-evident way.

I was willing for the process to take time. I also embraced the idea that along the way I might discover that UXR wasn’t the right field for me. This was going to be a long experiment.

I did have the privilege of already being inside a large company. My non-academic role both gave me industry contacts and showed that I could succeed outside the ivory tower. Also, my PhD gave me some research credibility, even if it wasn't from an obviously relevant field.

The basic components of my strategy are applicable to any career pivot: networking, upskilling, side projects, and crafting application materials and applying.

I began this attempt to break into UXR in December 2021 and started my first UXR role in late October 2022.

My mindset entering 2022 was both intentional but playful. What would work? How far could I get? Would I like it?

My plan was to lean on my current advantages while upskilling - and then see what happened.

Networking: Leave no stone unturned

I reached out to people in my network who were UXRs with humanities PhDs. Any time I came across a humanities PhD in UX research, I followed them on LinkedIn and asked to connect. If anyone was particularly receptive or curious about me, I asked for a coffee chat.

I attended webinars and signed up to talk with UXRs on ADPList. I joined Facebook groups. I received some golden advice and encouragement through these.

I reached out to UXRs within my company. The fact that I was an "insider" made me feel safer to these people and increased the likelihood that they'd speak with me.

I found internal Slack channels focused on UXR topics and even found a UXR “coffee chat” group that met monthly. I became a regular. I tried to absorb their language while listening to their challenges and successes. The leader of the coffee chat group became a mentor and friend and I observed my first usability testing when she let me shadow her.

My company has an internal mentoring platform. I signed up as a mentee and found some UXRs offering mentorship there, too.

Through general networking plus this internal platform and the internal coffee group, I slowly established a mentoring relationship with several UXRs.

These relationships provided essential advice, resources, and eventually — as you’ll see — opened the door to my first UXR role.

Don’t rely on any one avenue for your networking. I diversified across many different mediums and groups and the result was many different, fresh voices and viewpoints that helped me on my way. Not all advice will fit you or your case, so it's important to have a "team" rather than just rely on one person (it also reduces the labor for any one mentor, too).

Upskilling: Learn all the things!

I read UXR books. I binge-listened to UXR podcasts. I signed up for UXR-related email newsletters. I filled my LinkedIn feed with UXR-related people and posts.

I also pitched to my instructional design leadership that we had a specific need for user research due to a couple team initiatives. These initiatives were going to serve either new internal customers or existing customers in very new ways.

I said I wanted to run some research projects, but I would benefit from some structured training. My team leadership was convinced and sent me to the Nielsen Norman Group conference where I earned a UXR certificate.

I don’t think the certificate was a game-changer on its own, but it became one more piece of credibility.

Daily reading and listening plus my conference attendance brought me increasing comfort and understanding with UXR approaches and methods. Some of these were very new to me while others were quite familiar from my PhD.

Before long, I started to feel at ease with the field's language and like a real member of the UXR world, even if I didn't have the role yet.

Side Projects: Build your own credibility

I began putting everything I was learning from my networking and upskilling into action in my current job. Among these research efforts, there were three particularly useful projects.

First, I conducted a series of in-depth interviews with my team’s (internal) users. This project allowed me to make a series of well-received recommendations around a feature’s implementation.

Second, I shadowed a UXR on my organization’s design team. We had the same users (internal employees) and I had already built trust with her through multiple conversations. This turned into an opportunity to collaborate rather than shadow.

We took turns running journey mapping workshops and I took the lead on writing the report. The UXR then generously asked me to co-lead the readout to our stakeholders.

Finally, when I asked this same UXR if there were any other projects I might help with, she got permission from her leadership to hand off a project to me. This one was with external customers. I ran the entire project and presented it to the relevant product and engineering stakeholders.

All this was possible because I was in the same org, had the same customers, and had built relationships over months with my leadership and the leadership of this design team as well as member of that team.

Suddenly, I had real projects for real product teams done with real users. I was circumventing the "it takes experience to get experience" dilemma.

My #1 piece of advice to anyone looking to make an internal move into UX: Find the closest UX team(s) to you and build relationships. You'll already have some domain knowledge, which will enable you to build trust and jump in and learn a ton about UXR without the other slowdowns of ramping up. And who knows what doors may open.

Application materials and “Applying”: Get ready before you feel ready

I spent about 10 months networking, upskilling, and then starting to do research projects in my current role. Progress was very gradual, but I noticed the tone in my coffee chats slowly shifting.

It started with “It’s hard to break into UXR and you’ll have to figure out ways to bridge many gaps.” Then it became, “You have many foundational skills, but you need to figure out ways to demonstrate them.” Then finally I started hearing, “You’ve honestly got the skills and some experience, it’s just a matter of continuing to develop yourself and then finding the right role or hiring manager.”

I knew I was making progress.

I began working on my resume and also planning for a portfolio presentation and whiteboard sessions. These materials were in various draft states when a door suddenly opened for me.

A generous anthro PhD who was UXR at my company suggested that I reach out to a particular research manager (head of a research team, in fact). That manager unexpectedly turned my request for a short coffee chat into a long conversation.

When they asked me what I would present if I was giving a portfolio presentation, I was prepared to answer. I succinctly talked through my three favorite projects and their impact. My answer seemed to land well. Without having realized I was going to have the opportunity, I had just given an off the cuff (high level) portfolio presentation.

Though this was a very informal moment, all my work in the previous months came together in this chat. My casual walkthrough of my portfolio had months of absorbing the language and ideas of the field behind it (plus doing the actual projects). Afterward, this person reached out about me to one of the managers reporting to them. This kicked off an internal and informal interview process.

In the end, I was offered a job. I began that role just before my company entered a hiring freeze and internal transfer freeze. If things had been just a week or two slower, I would not have landed the role.

Luck is always involved.

So have your bags packed for when luck arrives.

Wrapping up my career pivot

So that’s how it happened for me. Each of the elements above (networking, upskilling, side projects) was crucial to breaking into UXR. They acted as a flywheel with each adding momentum to the others.

As a humanities PhD, having practical evidence of doing UXR research is key. While I would never declare that internal moves are the best or only way for us, I will say that humanities PhDs can benefit from breaking into industry in another role first (in my case instructional design).

Then, while gaining industry experience, we can hopefully access design teams and/or UX research projects to get that elusive "real-world" experience.

Other fields can jump to UXR directly from a PhD (or even being ABD). Not so for us. That’s ok. The road may be a bit longer or circuitous for us, but we can get there too.

A bit of zig-zagging can be fun.

Find whatever gives you leverage (in my case being in industry at a big company) and double-down on it.