Should I Become a Manager?

You're at a crossroads. Should you stay in academia, or jump into industry to pursue user experience research? Paolo shares his thoughts on the most common pitfalls you should consider before you make the leap into the unknown.

In this episode, Paolo and Joe build upon their discussion in EPISODE 8 about whether UXR Leaders should have an advanced degree, and they unpack why they hold these beliefs. Get ready for some intriguing surprises!==== Music Credit ===="Sardana" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

UX Researchers come from many different backgrounds. But when it comes to research leadership, do we think a Master's or PhD is necessary? Or maybe it's a nice-to-have?==== Music Credit ===="Sardana" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

How do you explain what UX Researchers do to someone outside of tech? How many times do you see confusion glaze over their eyes after your response. In this episode, Joe and Paolo discuss how they handle this question, and why it's so hard for people to understand what UX Researchers do.

Why are UX researchers in industry so focused on the type of methods we use in our daily jobs? Could this be a reason that some of our partners don't understand UX Research's value? In this episode we propose a radical idea; spend less time talking about Qual/Quant/Mixed backgrounds and focus more energy on things like domain expertise.

At some point in your career, you're going to think about jumping into management. Should you? What danger lurks around the corner? What will management demand of you?

Are reorgs a necessary evil? Or maybe there is a silver lining to a reorg that you can capitalize on? In this episode we discuss why some reorgs better than others, and what can you do when the winds of change come ablowing.

Is AI going to take our jobs? How much time do we have before UXR is disrupted? Will our roles be destroyed, or maybe they'll be transformed into something we love even more? This episode Paolo and Joe will speculate on what the future might look like for the field of UXR.

Do performance reviews give you anxiety? When you're trying to write a self review, does your mind go blank? Do you wish you had advice from some friends that have been through this process before? In this episode Paolo and Joe will share some helpful tips to help you do better than ever on  your next performance review.

What does it mean for a UX researcher to have impact on a product team?  Too many people in the tech industry assume everyone has a shared meaning. But after you talk to a couple teammates, you realize everyone is working off of different definitions. Surely there must be a sane way to think about what impact looks like for a UX researcher on a product team?