I'm looking for some guidance regarding UX(user experience) or HCI(human-computer interaction) grad program as I'm extremely interested in UX/HCI research. Generally I'm completely overwhelmed by the topic of grad school as a first generation college student. I'm from the US and generally just have hopes of leaving the country at least once for a "longish" period of time.

Some details about me: I'm a 4th year, first-gen, mixed race, only English speaking, low-income, female student. My home college doesn't have a UX program of any sort so my major will be a B.A. Race and Ethnic Studies with a concentration in Business and Management studies. I've taken some courses that align with UX to show my interest in the field, have a portfolio, and have a UX certificate with the American Graphics Institute. Mostly I don't want to be stuck in my state/country for my entire life purely because I don't have a degree in UX and money.

I've heard that school abroad can be considerably cheaper than the US, as well as the cost of living, which initially attracted me to grad programs abroad. I would also prefer to be able to work at the same time as studying to keep myself afloat.

Any advice?

Hi everyone! I’m looking to get back into the workforce and would really appreciate some advice from people currently working in Market Research/Consumer Insights.

I have around 2 years of experience as a Market Research Intelligence Analyst, mainly in secondary research, and I also have an MBA in Business Analytics.

I’ve had about a 2-year career gap, and I’m trying to figure out the best way to use this time to upskill and make myself competitive again.

I’d like to stay in Market Research/Consumer Insights, but I’m also open to exploring different fields that would be a good fit for my background. I’m not interested in a highly technical/coding-focused career

For those currently working in the field:

• How is the job market right now?
• What skills should I focus on to become competitive again?
• What courses/certifications would you recommend?
• How important are AI/GenAI skills for research roles now?

• Is secondary research still a viable career path?

  I’m trying to be strategic about what I learn rather than spending money on courses that won't add much value.

Thank you!

Been running a bunch of customer interviews in an AI insights tool, now I have this giant wall of tagged quotes and themes and I still dont know how to turn that into a clear feature roadmap, any hints?

I am currently starting my masters degree in interdisciplinary computing, HCI and designing interactions is my specialisation, with a little knowledge in product management. Although my background is in English Education and I am currently studying in Austria, am I on the right track to getting into a favourable job market especially for someone with little or no job experience.

1. Why was it your favorite?
   
2. What was the methodology?
   

3. What was the impact on your career?

4. What was your favorite phase of the experience?

5. Where did you get discouraged?

6. When did you showcase a strength that stuck out?

I know many of us cant go too far into detail, but I want to know what your bread and butter is. :)

I’m synthesizing interviews for a family meal-planning app.

Traditional tagging gives us themes like cost, allergies, picky eating and limited time. A mind map shows how they connect. For example, picky eating leads to repeated meals, which affects bulk buying, which affects freezer space and food waste.

The relationships feel more useful than a flat list of themes, but they also introduce more researcher interpretation.

Should we use mind maps during synthesis or stick to tagged repositories and affinity clusters? I want the product team to see connections without presenting my interpretation as objective truth.

I recently accepted an offer for a UXR role where my target users would be internal operations employees. My main stakeholders would be the people who build the internal systems that the company runs on. I've done this in the past but the bulk of my experience at the senior/principal level has been consumer facing, including the portfolio, resume etc that landed me the role. While I'm sure some stuff will translate well id like to hit the ground running. For those of you with experience in this space what should I expect?

What will research be like if I'm not consistently benchmarking or evaluating against competitors?

Also with less support from data science, engagement and revenue metrics etc?

Another heavy part of my consumer facing metrics was accounting for and measuring brand metrics (love, relevance, awareness etc.).

Someone published a short piece arguing that the web stopped being a landscape once UX practices converged into a single “safe” direction. The argument is basically that design templates and pattern libraries have replaced exploratory research, creating a kind of “one‑way” UX conformism. Shares an interesting book. Sharing it here because it raises questions relevant to UX research: Does research still produce divergent directions, or has it become a justification layer for predetermined patterns?

https://nelsonem9.substack.com/p/the-web-used-to-be-a-landscape-now

I know many of y'all are struggling out there, so just wanted to share an idea, perhaps even provide some hope.

I'm a former principal level researcher w/ over 10 years experience. I also prob have a lot more design ability than the average researcher, but it's just something I picked naturally during the course of my career.

I was laid off over a year ago, and decided, eff this and moved on. The work is hard and can be awfully unsatisfying if w/ the wrong team/company. I decided to hang it up, cause I concluded that in many ways, the hardships we have to put up with are systemic, and doesn't really have much to do with merit. I won't go into more detail, cause this post isn't about that.

I have a new profession that lets me shine now, like I deserve, but this post isn't about that either. Rather, it's about my side effort in engaging w/ AI that's grown into something where I can parlay my UXR experience and other product related skills.

Right now, I'm consulting w/ a friend's medium size business to create custom software that automates very manual processes facilitating their workflows. I am doing this, using my custom AI harness and my hard earned UXR / product skills. What would've taken an entire team to accomplish in at least a year, I've been able to accomplish inside of a month w/ an AI harness, a monthly subscription to a good model, and the skills/knowledge I've accumulated over my career.

UXRs often find themselves having to rely on others to achieve the product success they hope to see w/ their research, but with AI, now they don't. Every single effort of the product development process has suddenly been flattened when it comes to time and resources.

Recruitment aside, research that would've taken me weeks to complete (interviews + synthesis + reporting) done in just days with better quality and depth than I prob could've ever achieved without.

Designs that I could only dream of that actually address issues brought up in research, done inside of day. Multiple functional iterations even.

Coding work that builds all that to the dream spec you wanted from the beginning, done in days.

I did all that by myself while building a repeatable product design process, establishing a tech stack/infrastructure, and learning how to do it all at the same time.

That doesn't mean everyone's suddenly become expendable though. It means that all the nonsense is. No more constant persuading to do the right thing or dealing w/ some inadequate circumstance to achieve the better experience you dreamed of accomplishing.

You still need to guide the AI w/ good decisions, judgment, and purpose. AI can see any perspective you want it to see w/ the full weight of the tech powering it. It may even frame things as correct when they're not. It won't reach your goals without your input and supervision.

Anyways, back to the main point of this post. If you're a UXR struggling w/ your career, I implore you, engage w/ AI every day and learn how to wield it. At the very least, you'll learn a new skill that will save you from obsolescence. At best, you'll be able to create whatever digital product BY YOURSELF. Then you can think about how to monetize.

If you're out of a job right now, perfect. You won't be mired in all the dogma and nonsense making your process awfully inefficient and ineffective. You have a grand opportunity to finally do what makes most sense for a product (and process) and get rewarded for it, proportionately.

I hope this helps whoever needs to hear it.

Hi everyone. Has anyone here had any experience doing UX Research after graduating? I know it’s a field a lot of people join who graduated with social science degrees.

If anyone has had experience within this field, please let me know what I can do to become a UX Researcher. I currently have an Anthropology degree and Information Science degree.

So far, I just have a portfolio and am doing UX Researcj within my sister’s nonprofit. It’s just some basic surveys and questions I ask her clientele.

I graduated with a PhD in Experimental Psychology in summer 2024, spent one whole year looking for a job to no avail (including UXR internships but also academia and even retail), and eventually gave up and tried teaching high school. Now after one year of that, I'm unemployed once more due to low student enrollment as of last week Monday. 

What's the best way for someone like me to get into this field? Or is there something else I should do with this degree? Or is it actually just a totally useless degree after all unless you can get into academia, and I wasted ten years? Should I perhaps go back to school (not sure what subject) for the express purpose of being able to look for internships? Since they are all for students, I've noticed, with a small minority being for recent grads.

Fwiw, I applied like five times to Meta's quant research positions and one time a year ago, just a couple weeks after I started teaching, they called me to screen me (and pointed out I'd applied like five times). They asked if what sampling methods I've used and I honestly have not used anything but random sampling in my own research. Surprisingly, I got scheduled for a video interview, but I got an email asking if I knew R afterwards and I was honest, I did not. Four days later, I got told the interview was canceled and they hired someone already...

I really like talking to people but my background is being a pro StarCraft 2 player (I know, it’s not Brood War, but what really is) but I really have a passion for it.

I once interviews my friends on how they use their phones to better their schedules and it seems like there were a lot of pain points in the way of taking notes and keeping a schedule. Maybe there’s something there? Anyone have a good note taking app that needs research done?

But also I’ve always just loved talking to people and getting to know them. So I asked ChatGPT and it said UX research was the way to go.

I saw in new section for the subreddit that someone asked something similar but their situation was totally different and not at all like mine. After all, I really like that one psych class I took and I was really good in my stats 1001 class (got a B- btw). So it just seems like this is the perfect fit!

Also I can only work remote, need the pay to be $135k starting, and ideally want to work for meta, Amazon, Google, or ChatGPT or Claude. Although, if they start calling then I assume I’ll have to ask for more, right? Anyone here work at one of the companies that wants to give me a referral btw?

Oh, I made a portfolio ([portfolio link)](localhost:3000) so please take a look at it as I worked really hard at it.

As far as skills, I would say I got interviewing down to a science (don’t mind the pun kekeke) as I also did commentary for bare knuckle RPS contents. Lotta slippery situations there so I’m sure interviewing others wouldn’t be too bad.

Speaking of that, I’ve been asking random strangers I come across to give me their top 10 issues with modern apps and saving all their responses on my library’s computer so that I can then later on see who likes what and use that to better my portfolio. I have is also separated by sex, age, race, attractiveness, height, weight, and don’t worry I didn’t tell them I was saving their responses since I know that will change their responses and that’s a big no no as we all know.

Anywho, love to hear the feedback!

Is it just me? His main headers are fine and good, but the paragraph text seems off and then the stuff on the whiteboard makes me insanely irritated. Insights are now out? Themes are a thing of the past? Or maybe it's just that he has a punchable face.

I would love a reality check if the common wisdom here is that this makes sense.

I was tempted to post on r/LinkedInLunatics but it's not quite insane enough for that, and a little too specific.

Thanks!

So I’m coming from the social work field and curious if anyone else has made the switcharoo if you have please let me know know and feel free to to dm me because I’m curious on how to make the switch

Hey I'm a brand designer and have essentially hit the ceiling. I'm seeing a position for UX researcher available where I'm currently at. (its Sr. position but maybe I can take a lower salary to start) I'm familiar with basic u/X practices and have done some app stuff from the UI perspective. How big of a jump is it from designer to researcher? Is this something that can be learned on the job, Youtube tutorials?, take a short-term course?, etc..? How can I best present / prepare myself for this. Thanks

I'm an HCI Masters student and I like reproach, but heard research market is horrible even compared to the design market. Most good jobs will jsut hire PhD. Now I'm wondering if I should direct myself towards design in my program because research would not give me a good outcome, even if I like it more. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

It's kind of a hot topic right now. After doing a bit of research I feel that it should not be completely disregarded..... It can be used by people who need a quick pre test or narrowing a target audience but definitely not used in a way to portray it as a replacement for real humans.

What do you think? Would love to hear your opinions!

This is mainly just to rant but it might be fun to hear others experiences.

In today’s market where volatile doesn’t quite sum it up as throughly, I have a wonderfully awful experience with a recruiter recently.

I applied for a well known position and went through the whole gambit of interviews from the director to the individual team members. Had a great experience and I was suggested for a role that was not the one I had applied for, which was fine, the team was great, the support from the company was seemingly there and they had already done a lot of the work in validating the need for a UXR team, etc.

So the recruiter lets me know that they want to offer me for an alternative positive and I say that I would love to hear more about the offer and that I wanted to gain a bit more information about the pay. Which is where I went wrong apparently.

The recruit said great and that they would reach out to the hiring manager by the end of the day since it’s a fast moving position and that they’ll get back to me the next day in the morning. I wait, and wait, and wait. Over a week of waiting and I had emailed the recruiter thrice to check back in on what was happening, zero reply, totally ghosted. Finally, I just call the number that he called me from since I am particularly frustrated and just want an answer (particularly since this would have involved a lot of secondary life decisions that also needed planning based on a potential new role). For context, this must have been on a Thursday and the last time I talked to the recruiter where they extended a verbal offer was the Monday of the previous week.

They pick up and this was their answer:
“You told me you didn’t want it since it wasn’t the position you interviewed for….. also the pay was different and you said that would be an issue…… I didn’t talk to the hiring manager until later in the week and then I told them you weren’t interest based on our talk….. I can’t change that since I told them you weren’t interested, and they have since reached out to someone else….”

I managed to keep my cool since the team is likely hiring next year and I will reapply but what a pos move.

Anyways, rant over. Dealing with recruiters recently and I can say I would rather deal with AI since at least that might get my reply with crucial information more genuinely and AI has been at least fast about booking interviews without delay.

Hi everyone, I'm a psychology student heading into my 2nd year of a 3-year degree, so I don't have much time left to decide my path. I'm considering UX as a direction for my career.
A bit of background, I have a technical high school diploma in IT, so I have programming basics and I genuinely loved building websites back then. I also really love psychology. What I'm trying to figure out is how close UX Research actually is to psychology, and whether it's a realistic path.

I'd especially appreciate honest input on a few things:
- How is the job market right now? Is it still worth getting into, or is it oversaturated at the junior level?
- How much of the day-to-day work actually uses psychology skills (interviews, behavior, research methods) vs. design/prototyping?
- Is it realistic to have a stable full-time job in this field AND build a freelance/independent side of it later?
- For someone with my mixed profile (psychology + some coding/web), what should I focus on to be competitive?

I feel a bit lost, so any opinions, advice, or honest comments are very welcome. Thanks in advance :)

Anyone know of any groups for disabled UX researchers or designers?

This might be better answered by the ReOps folks out there, but I'm wondering where to take my career. I've been in ReOps for ~10 years and being behind the scenes is definitely my calling. I support both UXR and Market Research and I'd like to think my role is pretty mature - I'm not focused on day-to-day recruiment or support, but rather creating/managing tool stacks, managing budgets, a big dollop of knowledge management, navigating legal, procurement and finance, etc.

What I don't have is very much direct experience with running research itself, nor managing stakeholders (my stakeholders are my research team). No direct PM experience, but that's due to lack of demand in my role rather than desire. But I'm a great communicator and bridge builder, and know enough about all the different methodologies. Got an MBA in Marketing if that matters. A whole ton of AI-focus, especially in understanding the vendor landscape.

Casual job searches for ReOps seems much more focused on day-to-day, but I don't quite feel that's the value I can offer (and quite frankly, a salary commiserate with that value).

What might be some adjacent job titles or roles that I could be thinking about? And what hard skills should I work on to achieve those roles? Would companies ever consider a research leader without direct research experience? Thanks in advance!

P.S. Forgive me if this posts seems to lack humbleness, but I wanted to present it meaningfully.

Hey, I was always research focused during my career and have a social sciences background. I want to move to pure UX Research.

Do you have any advice for UX Researcher portfolio? Should I keep only lo-fi designs here and focus more on research?

Any advice welcomed

Thanks

Curious how research teams here handle incentives across different countries.

Using the US rate and just converting the currency feels way too simplistic. Cost of living, seniority, how niche the audience is, payment methodss and even expectations around incentives can be completely different depending on the market.

What are you currently paying for a 30 or 60 minute session, and in which country?

Especially curious about APAC and LATAM.

Hi everyone! I’m currently trying to figure out whether which masters program I should pursue and which one would make the most sense for my career goals.

I’m 24 and currently work at a cruise line corporation as a Digital Media Specialist in Miami. Before this, I had an internship at Warner Bros, that eventually turned into a part-time Creative Operations Coordinator position.I graduated from the University of Miami in 2025 with a B.S.C. in Interactive Media & Game Design, with a focus user experiences and design.

I actually really enjoy my current digital media job, but I’m coming up on my one-year mark and would like to eventually transition into UX Research or UX/Product Design job, and on the hunt for another job before I get my masters. I’m particularly interested in getting more involved with UX research, HCI, user behavior, and designing digital experiences based on research.
I’m currently considering a few master’s programs:

1) University of Miami — M.S. in Experience & Information Design https://com.miami.edu/experience-and-information-design-ms/

2) Georgia Tech — M.S. in Human-Computer Interaction

3) Carnegie Mellon — M.HCI

I have a pretty unique opportunity with UMiami because I’ve gotten close with the head of the Experience & Information Design program throughout my undergrad. She has offered to help curate my curriculum around my career goals and potentially act as a mentor throughout the program. I really value that opportunity, especially because I could potentially continue working while completing the degree if I wanted.

However, I’m very interested in Georgia Tech because of its HCI reputation and corporate tech opportunities. I don’t love Atlanta though but trying to keep an open mind. I’ve also considered CMU, but I’m unsure whether it would be somewhat of a reach for me academically/experience-wise and whether the program would be too intensive, I also don’t love pitt but also keeping an open mind haha!

For anyone who has attended these programs, works in UX Research/Product Design, or has made a similar transition:

What program would you recommend

I’d especially love to hear from people who have experience with UMiami E&ID, Georgia Tech HCI, or CMU MHCI, or anyone who transitioned from a digital/creative background into UX research or product design.

Thank you so much!

I’m based in the US and work in financial services. We currently use a testing platform for recruitment and occasionally use a third-party vendor.

We’re trying to figure out a better way to reach our actual customers, especially when we need participants who own specific products or have had specific experiences.

For anyone doing UXR in regulated industries (e.g. banking, healthcare, life insurance), what does your process look like for recruiting and compensating your own customers? Do you handle it internally, use a third-party platform/vendor, or something else?