How a Pandemic Pivot Led This PhD to Master UX Research and Storytelling
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Complete interview transcript & analysis below
Enhanced transcript with interviewer insights
INTERVIEWER
So I wanna switch gears here and focus now on just kind of you and, and what you things you find interesting. Uh, so in the last 12 months, right, uh, COVID has made life interesting for, well, everybody, uh, and I'm curious, I'm always curious, but this is almost a, a great time to ask this question. What, what is the most interesting thing that you've taken on independently learning in the last 12 months?
CANDIDATE
Um, so I've, I would say, again, uh, like UX research is something that I've decided to, to learn more about. So I have a, a research doctorate, but again, uh, UX research is a little bit different. So, uh, with that said, I've been taking some courses. There's this, um, This website called the Interaction Design Studio, I, I believe it's called Internet Interaction Design Foundation, um, and I've been taking their UX courses. I also, um, took a course, um, through this platform called Maven where I connected with people that were previously working in UX research or currently working in UX research and learning how they, um, are able to engage in storytelling and, um, Other soft skill techniques in order to um have their findings resonate with cross-functional teams so that way the research findings are implemented and so I found that to be really valuable that just ended about a month ago um. And so yeah, so I think, uh, yeah, engaging in those different learning opportunities has led me to really discover that the work that I'm doing in research is actually a whole field. So rather than me kind of doing this independently on my own, one of the reasons why I'm wanting to make this transition is to be able to join a larger team with a larger set of resources to be able to do this to its maximum potential.
Interviewer Insight
this is a reasonable answer, though better answers would present something that is not so adjacent to the work progression of the candidate.
INTERVIEWER
Uh, OK, um, so I can, I can definitely see the connective tissue between, you know, a, a, a large majority of your adult life, PhD, thesis defense, etc. uh, and kind of UX research. I get that, but, um, what I, I guess what was the The the thing that kind of pushed you over the edge to spur you to take action.
CANDIDATE
Yeah, so I would say the, the pandemic. So, uh, when the pandemic started, I was actually in Mexico City and I was preparing to do a postdoc at UC San Diego to, um, to do work on what my dissertation was about. My, my dissertation followed a group of Harvard undergrads as they went through all four years of college and Um, sought to make meaning of their experience and so I was going to work with a person at UC San Diego who is an expert in that area. The pandemic struck, um, because UC San Diego is a public institution, they froze all of their hiring and my, my postdoc was delayed, but one of the benefits was that Harvard, um, gave all graduating students, uh, a, a pandemic postdoc, for lack of a better term, and so I could have stayed in academia. And then I realized, um, Like this would actually be a great time to transition into tech, and so that was actually one of the reasons why I made the transition from academia into tech, um, because I saw it as a way for me to be able to learn valuable skills. And now with the world kind of being turned upside down, I, I think that if I ever did want to go back into academia, there are Going to be many more non-traditional routes into academia. So before it was the PhD, postdoc, assistant professor, and I think the world has been shaken up so much that I don't think that it would be completely outlandish to go from academia to tech back to academia, etc. So um that was actually one of the reasons why I decided to um. That that's why I'm in the tech industry now is because of the pandemic.
INTERVIEWER
And so from, from everything you've learned and let's let's focus on uh either the courseware or the, the meaningful interactions with the community at Maven. Uh, of what you learned, what do you believe? Uh, I understand this is a belief just because you haven't worked in, in, in a tech company yet, so you're, you're making a best guess, uh, will be the most directly applicable to this intended role.
CANDIDATE
What will be the most, like
INTERVIEWER
what
CANDIDATE
do
INTERVIEWER
my what of what you learned is going to be able to be most directly translatable to this intended,
CANDIDATE
um. I would say, um, for example, in the, the course that I did, um, at Maven, I think uh one of the things that would be most applicable is again, having those soft skills. And so I think um Even now, like with the, the controversy around Facebook and like one of the major controversies with that were that they had research, but that they weren't implementing the research and so they just have these research findings that they were sitting on and not doing anything with. And I think one of the reasons why that was happening is because there was a lack of storytelling or convinced, persuasive storytelling rather and um just those soft skills to make those connections with cross-functional teams who can make Who can take the findings and implement them in ways that the research team isn't able to. And so I think having the opportunity to learn from people that work in UX research across a variety of fields, so whether that be um high tech, so Twitter or kind of a, a company that's just now beginning to build out its research department, um. I think that it was interesting to see that wide gamut of experiences and the different ways that they engage in storytelling, and I think that that's definitely something I believe that I'll take with me into this new role, um, to be able to, um, again have persuasive storytelling methods to be able to convince people to implement the findings that emerge from research.
INTERVIEWER
Sure, um, this is not a follow-up question, more of just a comment. I just kind of take this as an aside. I would, I would argue that. The axiom of follow the money probably applies here, having worked most of all of my career in the tech field and just businesses in general, whether or not people intentionally. We're acting in the economic self-interest of the company. I would say that the research wasn't ignored because they couldn't sell it. The researchers report ignored because it went against the, the unstated or even clearly stated corporate goals, which is growth or whatever, right? And to the extent that people prioritize one over the other, that's probably what held it back, not that they were. Unable to sell it, it probably lacked the foundational elements to sell it because it simply couldn't overcome the headwinds internally of, yeah, but that's gonna stop growth, and I can't have that, right? I'm gold on growth or I'm gold on revenue or I'm gold on whatever, uh, as opposed to I'm gold on making the right decision for people's health.
CANDIDATE
Yeah, I agree, but I think that, uh, again, having those persuasive storytelling techniques would allow you to reconceptualize how you think about growth. So a lot of times we think about growth in tech companies as daily active users or things of that nature, but what about like substantive engagement? So maybe Not having 10% increases in daily active users, but having a 10% increase in engagement on the platform because
INTERVIEWER
I think they did that. They just, they overpowered the angry emoji versus the hugs emoji because again, the underlying framework was growth. So it's, it's one of those things where, you know, I don't try to ascribe malice where I can ascribe stupidity, but I think in this case it's I'm not going to ascribe malice where I can ascribe. People probably were just behaving within the confines of a. Set of motivations and um and a system that rewarded certain behaviors whether intentionally or not because you know people understand systems and they understand incentives and they will figure out what incentives matter the most to get them whatever it is they want and then we'll behave accordingly right that is that is the problem with all systems we try to design them to be perfect if they can't and then someone. Usually someone like myself figures out how to skirt around the system because, hey, you didn't think about this corner case and I did and I'm gonna go do X, Y, and Z, right? So. Uh, that is the challenge. All right.
Interviewer Insight
candidate should re-watch their answer and consider the notes here and ask themselves if they have presented a case to a potential employer that they are a genuinely curious person. This answer paints a picture of a candidate having their opportunity set reduced and taking only marginal steps to take on additional learning which is very closely adjacent to what they do for their job. This may be fine in an academic setting, but for a private sector employer it gives rise to concern about the candidate and their ability to think outside of their own problem domain.
Expert Assessment
Interviewer assessment - would be used in a hiring meeting
Candidate presented a rather generic answer for this answer block. There was little in the way of genuine excitement for the problem domain presented, and additional drag was placed on the weight of the answer given it's relative adjacency to the candidate's domain space. No real risk was presented. No uncomfortable learning opportunity was presented. The answer, as delivered, could have just as easily been an answer to the question "what was the last 2 years of your job like?"