101 Ways to Get Into UX Research - A 27 Page Guide & Checklist (Free!)

Stop wasting your time binge-reading Medium articles and peep this comprehensive resource with tips, methods, and actions for effectively, efficiently, and confidently making your way into UX research.

There is no shortage of useful, legit, and accurate advice out there from people who work in UXR and who know what they are talking about.

On the one hand, the proliferation of accessible information and perspectives is a really good thing. But there’s also a lot of garbage to sift through, a lot of myths and misinformation, a lot of N's of 1, and altogether just an overwhelming amount of stuff to wade through. No one has the time or energy for that.

I’ve been asked about how to get into UXR a thousand and one times, which is why I decided to put together this 27-page guide and checklist.

And it's not just based on my own experience, but on 13 years of being part of the UX community as a practitioner and now a career coach, as well as ideas from respected leaders in the field, and what I know works from partnering with hundreds of people on their job searches.

The 101 Ways are broken down into 6 pillars:

What about the current state of the UX job market? Is it still a viable option considering the impact of the mass layoffs in the tech sector on job availability?

The short answer and unfortunate reality is that due to the glut of talented and experienced UXR practitioners who are struggling to find positions, people wanting to go into UXR are finding it nearly impossible to stand out and transition into this field.

Before mid-2022 when the mass layoffs in tech started ramping up, it was pretty doable to transition into UXR from academia and other fields without direct UX experience as long as you had transferable skills and a solid professional story. UXR has been hit especially hard by the layoffs, which has resulted in a drastic change in the ratio of available UX jobs (low) to people looking for work (high).

Even if now isn’t an ideal time to make this happen for yourself, I strongly believe there is benefit in preparing yourself to effectively make the transition into UXR once the job market gets better (when that is remains TBD).

This is a free resource! Just put $0 for the price, unless you would like to throw a couple bucks my way to support my work!

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About the creator

Amy Santee is a Career Strategist and Coach for UX professionals who want to design their careers with intention and bring their good to the world. As a personal growth and career development nerd, she has partnered with hundreds of individuals to implement a practice of self-research, self-advocacy, and strategy, so they have the tools to navigate the professional world with courage and confidence. She is a writer, speaker, and co-host of the podcast What is Wrong with Hiring.

Prior to coaching, Amy built a career as a UX researcher for product development and strategy in a range of industries including healthcare, automotive, retail, consumer tech, ecommerce, and civic design. Connect with Amy on LinkedIn or learn more at amysantee.com.