Is artificial intelligence ready to take on UX research work? — Conducting usability tests is a UX researcher’s bread and butter. It’s a critical part of a user-centered product development process, helping to identify and address any issues or challenges that users may encounter. …

Plus: how to make better predictions, and why you should — Life would be easier — if a bit less interesting — if we could reliably predict the future. As it is, though, jokes about the unreliability of weather forecasts are common enough to induce groans and eye rolls. Over the past several decades, sophisticated statistical models have given new life…

2022 has been a wild year for the tech industry. Giants, like Meta and Amazon, have seen their public stock values plummet by billions of dollars — and have chosen to cut costs by laying off thousands of employees. One tracker counts 836 companies, including Stripe, Lyft, and Cisco, that…

What’s explicitly stated in job descriptions, and what isn’t — Whether you’re breaking into the field, or looking for your next UX research role, you need to know what will make you competitive to employers. Do you need an advanced degree to apply? Should you have a portfolio ready to submit along with your application? What tools should you be…

How things have changed over a volatile year for technology — Can UX researchers “time” their next job search to look when more positions are available? Or — on the other half of the equation — can hiring managers open roles when they’re more likely to attract competitive applicants? Keeping a close eye on the state of the UXR job market…

And enable them to deliver more strategic insights. — We’ve recently observed demand for UX research grow by 25% year over year — a pace which, if sustained, could double the size of our field every three years. Will we have enough researchers to meet the demand? Since nearly three-quarters of current researchers come from the sliver of the…

And more reliably meet the demand for our work. — Almost three-quarters of UX researchers come from about one-eighth of the workforce. That small slice is the 13% of people (according to 2018 US census data) who have advanced degrees. This hiring strategy has worked out fine for our field in the past, and likely will for at least the…

Set up your profile, have great conversations, and get repeat mentees — ADPList is a platform that connects UX and tech professionals for high-quality, free mentorship. The need is greater than ever. Our field is expanding rapidly each year, with both growing demand for our work and many new professionals aspiring to join us. Candidates have many expensive options to help ease…

Make sure you’ve covered these four basics — You don’t have to list everything you can do in your job application. Many portfolios are littered with personas, journey maps, pen and paper prototype sketches, Google Analytics, SEO evaluations, or relics from academic projects. In truth, researchers don’t spend a ton of time doing any of these. Some, like…