I was recently at a networking event that brought in UXers of all levels: staff researchers, design directors, founders, early career researchers and designers. These events always make my heart explode with appreciation for the UX community across the globe, but they also get me thinking.
The top piece of advice I hear, at any seniority level, is to network as much as possible. I want to add some bite-sized principles I’ve gathered in my time as a career researcher, both in product spaces and academia.
Think of a product team as a toolbox. Toolboxes vary in size, shape, color, and purpose, but they ultimately all deliver one goal: to help the user produce something. You have your screwdrivers, hammer, level, measuring tape, etc. If you’re a savvy professional, you may even carry a Swiss Army knife around with you for those tricky projects that might need multiple different inputs, or for when you don’t have any other tools with you—but they’re not in every toolbox. They’re especially helpful in situations where you have limited resources and need everything wrapped into one neat, portable item. It’ll also be helpful when you have the rest of your toolbox, though, because it offers unique skills that no other tool can deliver (you never know when you’ll need a mini wood saw).
It’s a similar feeling as being a UXR in 2025. If the toolbox is the team you’re working in, you might have an engineer, data scientist, product manager, designer, executive, copywriter, etc. You may only have a product manager to work with. Regardless, you have the unique opportunity to use a number of skills you’ve gathered over the years to produce the highest quality work possible.
In both cases, you’ll need to be familiar with basic coding, engineering, creative/graphic design, product management, marketing, and sales (at minimum). You’ll work with tools like SPSS, R, Figma, Adobe, Salesforce, and Claude. You’ll produce written reports, write blog posts, and organize a panel for presenting findings. You’ll work with designers to come up with appropriate prototypes that are necessary for your project.
UXR doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s not enough to just know how to produce research—you also have to identify appropriate timing, consider budget constraints, and outline research questions, in addition to producing actual research material and presenting the data. Giving a presentation to the Chief Marketing Officer about what the users think of a new ad campaign is the bare minimum. You have to think far beyond it: what was the point of the research? Who might these findings impact? What kinds of actions can we take? Is there follow up work to be done? And so on. You have to think in terms of your audience, and adjust your storytelling accordingly.
As a Swiss Army Knife, you’re rarely doing the same task twice in a row. 
Today might be dedicated to uncorking a wine bottle, but tomorrow you have to hang pictures in an office. In the product space, your primary goal is not just to produce a product and move on. It’s to evolve, reimagine, and fine-tune every part of a product. In the same way, “product” is not just a website or a pair of headphones. It can be an onboarding process, a web program, or a hardware configuration. You’re going to be working in many different spaces, often at the same time, and balancing your work day between them.
Creating screeners, finding the right participants, coordinating schedules, managing incentives, and dealing with no-shows becomes a constant background hum of administrative work. For every hour of interview time, you might spend three hours on recruitment logistics.
You’re not done there. You’ll need to clean the data, ensure it’s consistent, and address any gaps you might have. Presentations with tables and graphs are helpful, but you need to figure out what story the data tells you, whether that’s a user journey, concept map, or prototype testing.
Budget allocation adds another layer of responsibility. Whether you’re managing third-party recruitment agencies, software subscriptions, incentive payments, or travel for field research, you’ll need to track expenses, justify costs, and make strategic decisions about resource allocation. This financial stewardship requires a business mindset that many researchers don’t anticipate needing.
By working in this dynamic environment, you’re going to start feeling like you’re dipping your toe into everyone’s pools. This in and of itself is one of the most rewarding takeaways that come with UXR.
Even just a year into working as a product researcher, I felt like my entire skillset evolved for the better.While academia might prepare you for the basics of valid research processes, it’s not until you experience the reality of a career UXR that you’ll appreciate the dynamic between yourself and your stakeholders. The Swiss Army Knife might have come from the factory ready to open up your latest Amazon box, but it isn’t until it’s carried day-to-day that its full potential is realized.
After my first year, my presentation and storytelling skills had flourished. I felt comfortable discussing and allocating a budget for my projects. My confidence in my ability to tackle all that comes with the role grew tenfold. The same skills you use to understand user needs can inform positioning strategies, messaging frameworks, and go-to-market plans. Predicting outcomes of IPOs or major business milestones increasingly involves understanding user sentiment, behavioral trends, and market positioning—all areas where research insights prove invaluable. Executives and PMs want to see evidence that you understand your market, that there’s genuine demand for your solution, and that you can articulate user problems clearly. Decisions about sunsetting features require research to understand actual usage patterns, user attachment, and potential backlash.
Questions that you’ll begin to answer can include: 
Up to this point, the role might sound daunting and overwhelming. My hope is that this list helps early career UXers and recent graduates plan for a rewarding future in the ever-changing space that is UX.
Make mistakes. Understand that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is valuable UX research.
Learn from your peers and ask questions. You may or may not agree with the feedback you get, but I urge you to consider it as a learning opportunity when possible. Remember, if you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.
And finally, grow your community. Keep in touch with your colleagues and make friends. Attend the conference, even if it’s just to network. Your future self will thank you.
