Startup or Corporation: Where to start your UX research career
This article was first published on Medium on Aug 25, 2016
When starting a path in UX research, you might ask yourself what environment will work best for you in order to get started, learn most and have the greatest impact as a UX researcher. In this article I want to share my experience from working at HERE (4000+ employees) and at Onefootball (60+ employees), both based in Berlin. I had the same position in both companies (User Experience Researcher), but the everyday work differed in a lot of ways.
Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash
What is the best environment to get started?
After graduating from University with a M.Sc. in psychology, I got a job at HERE in Berlin as a Junior User Researcher. I joined a team of 12 user researchers working on different HERE products such as mobile applications and navigation software.
In order to do research, HERE had two research labs including a driving simulator in order to do Safety Testings with Eye Tracking methods and a Usability Lab with a one-way mirror and multiple cameras recording every second of the testing procedure. The test environment was very sophisticated. For me as a young new team member, this was a paradise for learning. Many of my team members had years and years of research experience, knew every detail of the software we were using, had answers to all my questions on how to prepare, how to set up, how to analyze. I was able to learn so much from the expertise of others and from the tons of documents created by people who were there before me. If you start your career in a large company that has done research for years, it will be very easy for you to get started and become better very quickly.
Recently, I went from HERE to Onefootball, a startup famous among football (/soccer) fans for its mobile applications. With over 22 million downloads, Onefootball is one of the planet’s most popular football apps. I joined this company in June as their first full-time UX researcher. I was hired based on the idea that UX research can help the company build better products. But the idea was all there was. There was nothing like a lab or a UX research routine within the product development process. Together with our UX lead Melanie Daveid it was my job to start from scratch and this was when I was profiting so much from my time at HERE.
If your goal is to learn as much as you can from the experience of others, join a large company.
I had set up labs before, I had written scrips before, I had interviewed participants before, I had used certain software before. All I needed in order to create a less advanced, but still working research environment at Onefootball were the learnings I took home from HERE. But when it comes to methods, analysis, interviewing, script writing: I am by myself. I have to trust in my strengths because no senior researcher will review what I do. Therefore, if your goal is to learn as much as you can from the experience of others, join a large company and learn as much as you can from existing patterns, from proven work flows. In a startup, no one will teach you. You will have to teach yourself. Therefore: If you see yourself in a learning phase and if you want people to share their experience with you, work in a big company.
The small usability lab I built at Onefootball
In a startup, no one will teach you. You will have to teach yourself.
What is the best environment to really have an impact?
HERE is a huge cruising ship, Onefootball is a small speed boat. When it comes to learning from others, the cruising ship is the best choice. But when it comes to taking turns and driving change, a small speed boat is just easier to navigate. In a startup environment, the lack of strict hierarchy makes it extremely easy to get in touch with the right people, take responsibility and get stuff done. From the purchase of material to the implementation of research results: Everything goes 10 times faster in a startup. Even though I just joined the company 3 months ago, I can already feel how the results of my work shape the future of our products, which is awesome but also a great responsibility. If I mess up, if I do my analysis wrong, if I ask guiding questions, if my methods are inappropriate and as a result, my results and recommendations are wrong: It’s my responsibility. I am not anymore in a team of 12 researchers I can address and who will review my stuff. In a startup you will usually have no senior to blame. On the other hand, if you succeed, you will get the credit for it. Therefore: If you feel comfortable in taking responsibility, work in a startup.
When it comes to taking turns and driving change, a small speed boat is just easier to navigate.
What is the best environment to show your full potential?
My contract says, I am a UX researcher. Still, in a smaller company it is easier to take roles outside your job description, if you want to. Your value for the company should be based on your skills and not be limited by hierarchy and title. At Onefootball for example I am responsible for the tone of voice, meaning the personality Onefootball expresses whenever we communicate with our users. In user interfaces, in in-app messages, on our social media channels, inside the AppStore etc. — we as a brand should be recognizable across multiple channels and situations. And it is my job to define the wording personality of our company. Why me? Because I worked as an ad writer for more than six years in the past. And I was happy to take this role. In large companies with defined structures and strict hierarchies, it is a lot harder to tap your full set of skills beyond the position you were hired for. Therefore: If you do not want to limit yourself to one role, work in a startup.
What kind of company is more likely to hire you?
Getting a job in UX research is not the easiest thing in the first place. So I know that choosing between the sizes and styles of companies is rather a luxury problem. At the end, any job is better than no job. So who is more likely to hire you as a UX researcher?
Your value for the company should be based on your skills and not be limited by hierarchy and title.
Let us start with your role. Who hires UX researchers in general? It turns out that it is rather large established companies that know what UX research is (even though most of them still don’t) and that have the budget to do it. There is no point in doing research if you have no product, which is why startups focus on engineering and design for the first years. They want to give birth to a product, they want to release something. Doing user research is a company’s third or fourth step, but certainly not its first. Large companies that are twelve steps ahead are more likely to consider spending money on User Research. Therefore, in a larger company you are more likely to get a job .
On the other hand, if you find a startup or a small company that is interested in what you do, you are more likely to grab their attention, simply because not so many people will apply. Also, smaller companies do not expect as much from your CV as the big players who can pick from hundreds of applications. At HERE, I had 100 competitors applying for my position and four rounds within my application process (30 min phone interview with HR, 60 min Skype interview with UX researchers including the presentation of a homework task, 3hr on-site interviews with five different people, another 30 min Skype interview with two designers) while the application process at Onefootball was a lot faster and easier. If you leave a good first impression in a big company, your name has not even left the HR office. If you leave a good first impression in a startup though, you are very likely to be strongly considered. Therefore: In a smaller company you are more likely to get a job.
Doing user research is a company’s third or fourth step, but certainly not its first.
As you see, it really depends on some factors, but since you just want to get started with your UX research career based on your studies or prior experience in a related field, in a startup you are more likely to leave the competition behind. Focus on why you will bring great value to the company and show them why UX research is an investment that will pay off.
Generally, you should know what you want. If you want to learn from the big fish, accept to be a small fish first and join a large corporation. If you want to be a big fish, accept that the lake will be smaller and join a startup. In any case, I wish you all the very best for your UX research career!
