Reflection: A UX Journey Across Industries

Sometimes, it can be so weird working in UX because from job to job, you may work in completely different industries. I actually find it fun because, as a lifelong learner, I love diving into a new space and uncovering new information about it. But even still, part of it is weird because something will be reported in the news or come up in conversation, and I'll inevitably wonder about the users from a past industry that I no longer serve. Since 2019 alone, I've worked in aerospace, e-commerce, logistics, and cybersecurity.

The minute I saw the news about CrowdStrike last month, all I could think about was the primary user group from my previous job: cybersecurity professionals. I spent over a year and a half thinking about and advocating for these users. Already knowing the cognitive load of their jobs, I immediately thought about what kind of mornings the over 60 cybersecurity professionals I had interviewed might be having. 😓

Or take the launch of the last TDRS (Tracking and Data Relay Satellite) in 2017. It reminded me of my time working on the TDRSS (TDRS System) team back in 2007. In that role, I was part of a three-person team tackling the TDRSS physical library digitization project (and doing IA before I knew what IA was). We were going through literal physical files housed in a secured room, shredding the unneeded ones and scanning the important stuff so that everyone on TDRSS moving forward could have easier access to them. I like to think that someone on the TDRSS team in 2017 might have referred back to something I scanned into the system in 2007. (Fun fact: we found a 1970s candy wrapper in one of the manila folders -- luckily no moldy chocolate or bugs were involved 😅🍫.)

Reflecting on my time working in various industries reminds me how each role has shaped my perspective, even long after moving on. 🤔💭 Have you ever had a moment where current events suddenly transported you back to a past role? What industries or user groups still occupy a corner of your mind, even though you no longer work directly with them?

The No-Ask Policy (for Job-Hunting & Networking)

Let’s talk about what I refer to as the "No Ask" Policy 💡

During my job search in 2022, ~80% of my interviews were a result of direct outreach to job posters: whether it was the hiring manager, recruiter, or a potential teammate for the role. My big secret? The "No Ask" Policy™️😆 I also used this approach when job searching in November 2023 and, though I received way fewer direct responses, I still interviewed with 9 companies, most of which I cold applied to.

How did I come up with this? My mentor, an engineering manager who has worked in tech for over 10 years, helped contextualize the purpose for outreach. If the goal is that you want to get your name and information in front of someone, then there’s no reason to ask a question just to ask a question. And, even if you have a genuine question to ask, he still cautioned against using this initial outreach to do so: “Is this question absolutely necessary to ask at this juncture? Could it wait until an interview?”

In many ways, his advice was very human-centered —

• Respect people’s time and attention

• Provide job posters with information that may help you both (like giving them a short elevator pitch)

• Don’t force someone to answer you by asking a question you actually don’t need the answer to currently.

So, what exactly is the "No Ask" Policy?

Whenever someone posted a role I was interested in (on LinkedIn or elsewhere), I'd shoot them a message with a brief elevator pitch - mine was just 8 sentences - tying my background to the role. But most importantly? No requests or questions or "asks". No "can we chat?" No "can I pick your brain?" No "do you have time for a coffee chat?" No obligations or expectations. Period.

It might sound strange and maybe even counterintuitive but I think the "No Ask" Policy brings a breath of fresh air to the often transactional nature of networking online. By not demanding a response from job posters, you show respect for their time. You offer information they might find useful BUT with no strings attached. This low-pressure tactic can actually encourage more genuine engagement. By removing the obligation to respond, you allow the person on the receiving end the choice of whether to engage with you or not. An example of this: In my job hunt in 2022, I received lots of responses and even offers for referrals, coffee chats, etc. — but most importantly, I landed interviews despite cold applying to a lot of roles. In 2023, despite not receiving ANY responses to my “No Ask” elevator pitches, I still landed interviews with companies I was cold applying to. I also have friends who have tried this out in late 2023 and found it effective in their job searches as well!

In terms of networking this strategy is also great because it not only landed me interviews but also helped me meet a bunch of awesome people, some of whom I’m still in touch with today. In fact, one of them is actually now my coworker because, though I didn’t end up working for her company back in 2022, she ended up coming to work with me!

I hope more people try the "No Ask" Policy! If you do try it out, I'd love to hear how it goes!

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Building a UX Research Portfolio

Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about UX Research portfolios. Why do UX Researchers need one? Which projects should be included? How do you organize the information? Where do you even start? Well, I’m here to answer these questions so let’s dive into it!

Why do you need a UX Research portfolio?

Portfolios haven’t always been needed to apply for UX Research roles. Technically, they still aren’t “required” for most UX Research roles now. Some people even feel like UX Researchers don’t need a portfolio. What I’ll say to that is it’s ultimately each individual’s choice whether they want to create a portfolio or not. And, yes, maybe it is unfair that we need portfolios in the UX field when so many other fields don’t need one. But, in this job market, my stance is to do everything you can to position yourself to stand out as a candidate. When you view recruiters and hiring managers as your users, there are a few things you can do to make their lives easier:

• Craft an elevator pitch to summarize your background

• Create a resume that displays your experience

• Build a portfolio that demonstrates how you think and problem-solve, which is what we’re here to chat about today!

As a UX Research hiring manager, having access to both a candidate’s resume and their portfolio gives me a much clearer picture of who a candidate is and how they think, before we even meet in an interview.

Which projects should be in a UX Research portfolio?

When deciding what projects to include in a UX Research portfolio, I would start off by creating a list of the projects you’ve worked on. If you haven’t ever created a portfolio before, this could be anything you’ve worked on in the last ~3ish years. This will give you a high-level overview of the types of projects you’ve done. You can even start bucketing (or affinity mapping 😅) your projects into categories such as:

• Qualitative vs. quantitative

• Foundational research vs. generative research vs. evaluative research

• Information architecture

• By methodologies used: user interviews, surveys, cognitive walkthrough, contextual inquiry, stakeholder mapping, service blueprints, card sorts, tree tests, etc.

• Rapid research

• And more!

Once you have a categorized list, you can start narrowing down what projects you’d like to highlight in a portfolio. I usually recommend 3-5 portfolio pieces. If you have more than 5, I would try to narrow it down because a hiring manager will spend maybe 10m on your portfolio the first time they look at it so make it easy for them to navigate and get the information they need.

When choosing your final portfolio pieces, I recommend showing diverse projects and methodologies to show the breadth of your capabilities. For example, if you take a look at my portfolio, you’ll see the following (as of May 2024):

• Research-backed user personas for a cybersecurity company

• Information architecture for a security admin console

• Service design and process improvement for a small NASA contractor

• Rapid research (2 mini case studies in one) showcasing quick research efforts that took between 2-4 weeks total

• Management & mentorship - selected examples highlighting my experience in these areas, as well as speaking engagements

How should the information be organized in a UX Research portfolio case study?

There are many different ways of organizing your UX Research portfolio. To get some ideas, I highly recommend checking out Aona Yang’s YouTube video How to Create a UX Research Portfolio. Also, check out the portfolios of some UX Researchers you know/follow (if they have publicly available ones). This will help you finalize a plan for how you want to organize your portfolio case studies!

Taking into account research storytelling and the impact of research, here’s how I organize my portfolio case studies:

1. Project Summary: This can include your role, the high-level objectives, cross-functional partners, timeline, etc.

2. Background: Short but needed context to understand the project

3. Key Insights: 2-4 key insights and recommendations that came out of the research

4. Research Impact: How this research impacts the Business, the Strategy (product strategy, project strategy, etc.), and the Users

5. Methodologies: What methodologies were used during this research study

6. Reflections & Learnings: What did you learn from this project (highlight soft skills, conflicts, etc. here)

And there you go! You’re on your way to building your UX Research portfolio 🙌🎉

Crafting your Perfect Elevator Pitch: A Step-by-Step Guide

Intro

You're in a job interview and your interviewer says, "So, tell me about yourself." How do you normally answer❓ During my job search in 2022 (when I was first pivoting into tech), my mentor helped me develop an elevator pitch. 🛗 Now, it's my turn to share that advice with you!

How to craft your elevator pitch

📝 Let's write your personal elevator pitch in 5-8ish sentences:
1. 🗣️ Intro: Start with a brief introduction of yourself and your role. If you are pivoting, this should be the role you are looking to pivot into. (1 sentence)
2. 🗣️ Education: Mention relevant educational background or qualifications. You can skip this if this doesn't apply to you. You can also switch this with experience if your education is less recent. (1 sentence)
3. 🗣️ Experience: This is where you would highlight your most recent relevant work experiences and achievements, including any role-relevant methodologies and skills. (1-3ish sentences)
4. 🗣️ Other Relevant Methodologies/Skills: Discuss other specific methodologies, skills, or areas of expertise relevant to your role that you haven't mentioned yet. (1-2 sentences)
5. 🗣️ Additional Skillsets: Optionally, transition into any additional skills or experiences that complement your current role. This is especially relevant if you pivoted but have transferrable skills. Always tie it back to the role you're applying to. (1 sentence)

Example of an elevator pitch

🌱 My elevator pitch from 2022:
I’m a UX Researcher with a foundation in Service Design. I have a master’s in UX from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), where I focused on mixed methods UX research. In my current position as a Service Designer & Researcher at a NASA contractor, I have overhauled all corporate processes and procedures by building a scalable infrastructure to support future company growth. Throughout this project, I have employed various UX research methodologies such as journey mapping, user interviews, contextual inquiries, focus groups, user surveys, and usability testing. Prior to pivoting into UX, I had over a decade of experience as a visual designer, which has served me well in my UX career as I can take projects from planning and problem-scoping through generative research to ideation, sketching, and wireframing.

Further thoughts

💡 Use your resume to help you write steps 3 and 4.
💡 The longer your career, the more you *could* add to steps 3 and 4 but try to keep your elevator pitch to ~1-1.5 minutes. There will be plenty of time to get into the nitty gritty throughout a job interview. Your pitch should be a good high-level intro of who you are and your skills.
💡 Practice saying your elevator pitch out loud to make sure it sounds and feels natural!
💡 Use this elevator pitch for the "No-Ask" policy (if you're unfamiliar, learn more: https://lnkd.in/ewrcGTqP).

Outro

As you write your elevator pitch, remember: your story is your superpower. 🦸 I hope this guide helps you as you network and job search!

Navigating Layoffs: Advice That Helped Me in November 2023

I was laid off at the beginning of November 2023. It wasn’t my first time being laid off (the last one was January 2015), but it was still a huge shock. Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised, given the tech landscape in 2023. But, to be honest, it really affected me on a deep emotional level. I had so many thoughts swirling through my head: Who am I outside of my job? Why does this feeling of not having control feel so triggering? What does “productive member of society” mean in late-stage capitalism?

About a month after my layoff, I put together a list of advice that were helpful for me in navigating life post-layoff and now I’m going to share that here with you all:

✨ TAKE BREAKS: Don't spend all day every day on LinkedIn. Get up and do things that feed your soul. Exercise, read a good book, watch TV, laugh with friends, cook dinner, play with your dog, make art. I made it a point to take Sundays off of job hunting, even though it was hard. But this helped my brain get some rest from the endless scrolling on LinkedIn and job boards.

✨ REMEMBER THE BASICS: Drink water and feed yourself. My former manager said this to me one day after my layoff and I was like 🤯 whoa. It might seem obvious but sometimes you get caught up and forget the simple things!

✨ FIND COMMUNITY: Despite the stress that comes from being laid off, there were silver linings. The outpouring of support was incredible. I got to spend time with + meet so many awesome, generous people during my job hunt after the layoff. ❤️

✨ CELEBRATE YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS: In prepping for interviews, I got to reflect on all of the awesome work I've done in the past few years. Acknowledge your skills and remind yourself, "I'm great at what I do." It's more important now than ever to reflect on that.

✨ FEEL THE FEELINGS: This might be the most important one. It's okay to be angry, sad, disappointed, nervous, and upset. That's normal and totally warranted. It's also okay to feel optimistic, excited, and refreshed. That's also normal and totally warranted. Every emotion is valid. And you will likely feel completely different day to day. That’s also normal and totally warranted.

If you're navigating a layoff right now, know that you're not alone, you're awesome, and you've got this 💪 I hope these small reminders can help during this time.

Taking Control: Strategies for Standing Out in a Difficult UX Job Market

I've seen a lot of posts on LinkedIn lately discussing hiring in UX, especially highlighting how tough the UX job market is right now. There's absolutely no doubt that we're in a difficult job market -- I myself was just recently job hunting and know how few fully remote UX Research roles there were.

We can’t control the nature of the market right now. But what we can do is focus on the aspects of your job search that *are* within your control to help position yourself for success (and get that initial interview!).

🗂️ Portfolio:

I know portfolios are newer for UX researchers but, in a market this rough, do anything and everything in your control to present your skills as a candidate. A portfolio provides another way to showcase your abilities so take advantage of that! Remember, a resume talks about your history, but a portfolio shows how you think -- this is what hiring managers are looking for, regardless of the type of UX role you’re looking for.

📄 Resume:

I always recommend following the "what I did, how I did it, why I did it (impact or projected impact)" formula for writing your resume bullet points. I did a whole post on it here. You can also check out my LinkedIn because the bullet points on my profile are written in the same format.

🤝 Users:

As a UX professional, approach building your resume and portfolio as UX projects. Who are your users? Recruiters, hiring managers, maybe even the ATS! What are their needs? Think about what a recruiter is looking for compared to a hiring manager. And then build your resume and portfolio case studies to be usable and skimmable for both of them. On an initial pass, no one can sit down and read every single sentence of either a resume or a portfolio, even in a "normal" job market. Right now, especially, every role has 100s of applicants! The easier your resume and portfolio are to skim, the better! If you want feedback, use adplist.org to sign up for free mentorship and have multiple mentors review your resume and portfolio.

I personally iterated on my resume and portfolio multiple times throughout my recent job search! Though this job market is a difficult one, I'm hoping that these tips can help you prepare as you search for your next role! 🙌

Writing Impactful Resume Bullet Points

When I was pivoting into UX and tech, my mentor gave me a piece of resume advice that I still use today (and always pass along to mentees) 🙌💡

This formula for writing your resume bullet points is super simple but extremely effective 👇

1. What you did,

2. How you did it,

3. & Why you did it (and/or what the impact was)

Here are a couple of examples (from my own resume):

• Created service design frameworks to overhaul corporate processes, leveraging generative research methodologies (including stakeholder interviews and focus groups), to support company growth and increase bidding opportunities

• Conducted user surveys using attitudinal research methodologies and survey tagging to identify potential areas for process improvement

This formula not only provides additional context to recruiters and hiring managers, but it also demonstrates your understanding of the purpose behind your work and how it aligns with user, product, and/or business strategies. 💪

So take a moment to revisit your resume and give this method a try! It will really make a huge difference in how you showcase your skills and accomplishments during your job search 🚀

UX Research Case Study Presentations: Best Practices

📣 Sharing some advice on UX research case study presentations! 🎯

As I wrap up a major research project at work, I've been diving deep into best practices for creating engaging and approachable research reports. Storytelling has been at the forefront of my mind because it plays such a large role in my job as a UX Researcher! I recently took Noam Segal's class The Research Storyteller and I'm currently in Dr. Ari Zelmanow 🇺🇦 and Dr Nick Fine's class The Influential Researcher (both on Maven, both linked in comments below 👇). On top of that, I've been having some enlightening conversations with my mentees about their UX research case study presentations, and I'm excited to share some thoughts and advice with all of you!

1️⃣ Start with Impact 💥 Insights and impact should take center stage in your case study. While it may seem counterintuitive not to organize your slides chronologically, I recommend beginning with a slide that provides some background and context before diving right into the exciting insights and their impact. After, you can move into sharing the process of how you arrived at those insights.

2️⃣ Master the Art of Storytelling 🗣️ Telling compelling stories and understanding your audience is a huge part of UXR. You can do the best research in the world but if you can't share your insights in an interesting, understandable, and usable way, the research may never get used! Grab your audience's attention right from the start by showcasing the most exciting aspects (insights and impact), and then walk them through your journey of how you got there.

3️⃣ Highlight Your Thought Process 🧐 Emphasize your thinking and decision-making process throughout your case study. Don't just list the methodologies you employed; explain the reasoning behind why you chose those particular methods. Showcase your analytical skills and demonstrate why your decisions were essential in driving the project forward.

Remember, your case study is not just a documentation of your work -- it's an opportunity to showcase your expertise, storytelling, and problem-solving skills. I hope these insights help you elevate your UX Research case study presentations (and/or your research reports)! 🚀

FigJam Template: Information Architecture (IA) Structural Argument

Have you ever completed a big, juicy UX project only to realize you aren’t sure how to “sell” it to relevant stakeholders? I think this happens to all of us UX-ers at one point or another. We get so immersed in the research and design that, once we climb out of that hole, we think, “Who wouldn’t be into this?!” But that’s why storytelling is such a hot topic right now! We can’t just expect stakeholders to understand the long journey we went on that informed our research/design decisions. We need to be able to convey that journey in a way that makes sense to them and their needs!

Building Structural Arguments is Storytelling

Abby Covert recently published an amazing article, Structural Arguments for Information Architecture, where she discusses the importance of creating effective structural arguments when evaluating and comparing different options for information architecture (IA). 🧩📐 If you don’t know Abby yet, I’m so excited to introduce you to her. She is an information architect and the author of How to Make Sense of Any Mess and Stuck? Diagrams Help. She’s also the organizer of The Sensemakers Club.

Abby’s method of building a strong structural argument for a proposed structure is a valuable tool for the end(-ish) of any IA project because it helps you reflect on your choices in a structured and informative way. It also helps you tell the story of your proposed IA with more confidence!

Abby presents seven common components of effective structural arguments: intention, information, content, facets, classification, curation, and trade-offs. For each component, she also provides examples and relevant questions to consider to help you strengthen your argument. Her article really highlights the importance of thoughtful evaluation and documentation in making informed decisions about IA, as well as increasing stakeholder buy-in for your proposed structure.

Applying Abby’s Advice IRL

This article couldn’t have come at a better time for me, as I was in the middle of a meaty IA project of my own at work. As I finalized my proposed IA structure, I knew I wanted to apply Abby’s advice to my own workflow, even if only to strengthen my own understanding of the value of the IA I was proposing. My first step was to build a template on FigJam, since that’s where I do a lot of my research-related brainstorming and braindumping. 🧠 As I was building out the template, inspired & informed completely by Abby’s article, I realized that the Structural Argument template could be a really fruitful group activity to go through with the product manager, UX designer, & UX manager on the IA project.

Visit my Figma Community page to use this template!

During our team’s weekly sync about the IA project, I proposed that we go through the Structural Argument activity together. Not only was it extremely illuminating, but it also improved stakeholder alignment, facilitated meaningful discussions, clarified different perspectives, and ultimately led to a shared vision for the IA structure. WHEW! Here is the impact of going through the Structural Argument activity as a team in more detail:

1. 📄 It got all of us on the same page — Throughout our IA project, we all kept learning and gathering more and more information in different ways. I was, of course, conducting card sorts and tree tests. But everyone else was also gathering relevant information, too. For example, our product manager was meeting with cross-functional teams, reprioritizing based on business needs, and uncovering internal insights about the product all the time. Doing this activity together allowed us all to share what we had learned and really see the whole picture.

2. ✍️ We had the opportunity to document all relevant information — I start every research project with a problem-scoping exercise that I conduct as a group activity with relevant stakeholders. It helps us better understand the problem, which helps inform our research based on our goals for the project. Doing this Structural Argument activity toward the end-ish of our IA project was a great bookend to starting the project with a problem scope; it allowed us to document everything and make sure that our argument for the proposed structure supported the initial intent of the project.

3. 🫣 It uncovered areas where we didn’t have all of the answers… yet — Abby laid out the seven common components of effective structural arguments, with questions to ask ourselves in order to reflect on how our proposed structure fit into that component area. Going through each component, we found some areas harder to answer than others — which is a good thing! It helped us realize that there is still some information we need to uncover and understand better to make sure that our proposed IA is appropriate for the intent of the project.

Publishing the Template on Figma

After chatting with Abby about how awesome this activity was, we wanted to make this template available for anyone to use for their own information architecture projects! So I published it on my FigJam community page. I would love to know if any of you end up using this template in your next project! Drop a comment with your thoughts! 💭

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Links:
Structural Arguments for Information Architecture by Abby Covert
Information Architecture (IA) Structural Argument Template on FigJam by Sahar Naderi

Research Maturity, Maturity Frameworks, and Service Design - Oh My!

Reading: An In-Depth Look at Organizational Research Maturity by Jane Davis

Before diving into the rest of this post, I highly recommend checking out Jane Davis' insightful article on organizational research maturity. 📃 In a recent post on LinkedIn, she wrote:

“Team maturity doesn’t matter if you don’t have organizational maturity, because you can’t run a truly mature research practice unless you have impact at the organizational level.”

As a Principal Researcher at Great Question, Jane has been exploring the significance of research maturity in driving effective practices within companies. She identifies and delves into 12 essential components, such as sphere of influence, consolidation of materials, and consistency of process and outcomes, offering guidance on both assessing whether you have maturity in that area as well as how to achieve maturity in any areas where you haven’t reached maturity yet. It's a valuable resource for understanding and enhancing your organization's research capabilities!

What Can We Learn from CMMI and Maturity?

The concept of research maturity, as discussed by Jane, resonated with my experience as a Service Designer for a small NASA contractor. We were focused on obtaining a CMMI certification, which stands for Capability Maturity Model Integration. Originally developed over a 10-year period at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), CMMI was first used to evaluate the quality and capability of software contractors for the Department of Defense (DOD). Now, it’s used by diverse organizations, including government agencies like NASA, to assess a company's level of maturity. 🚀 It is sometimes a requirement for contract proposals, especially for larger contracts with many moving pieces and a large employee count.

Obtaining and maintaining a CMMI certification is meant to demonstrate that an organization has reached a certain level of maturity to effectively handle the influx of new employees and workload that accompanies winning specific contracts. Similar to Jane's findings on research maturity, CMMI deeply relies on infrastructure (and the provable impact of that infrastructure) to determine an organization's capabilities within ~25 different "practice areas". Some of CMMI's practice areas include Risk & Opportunity Management (how does the organization monitor and quantify risks and opportunities), Decision Analysis & Resolution (how does the organization make decisions related to financial commitments such as purchasing new tooling), and Process Asset Development (how are different assets such as forms, spreadsheets, procedures, etc. created, maintained, and updated). This mirrors Jane’s 12 research maturity components by providing a framework to assess, understand, and improve an organization’s maturity.

The Journey to Maturity

Jane's exploration of research maturity also tells us that the path to maturity is a continuous journey rather than a destination. We can gain valuable insights into this by reviewing other maturity frameworks like CMMI (even though CMMI isn't specifically related to research). For example, my experience with the CMMI service design project taught me that achieving maturity requires a holistic and continuous approach. Not only did the project take 15 months to complete (capped off with a grueling weeklong CMMI audit 🥵) but my entire role for those 15 months was dedicated to completely overhauling and improving our internal processes as an organization. Throughout the project, we employed both the required CMMI process area frameworks as well as service design principles to help guide us. Let’s look at the the six(-ish) principles of Service Design:

1. Human- or user-centered: Consider the experience of all people affected

2. Collaborative: Stakeholders should be actively engaged in the process

3. Iterative: Take an exploratory, iterative, and continuous approach

4. Sequential: Visualize and orchestrate service as a sequence of interrelated actions.

5. Real: Research and prototypes must occur in reality (not through assumptions!)

6. Holistic: Address the needs of all stakeholders through the service

Approaching research maturity as a service improvement can provide additional direction to the maturity process, too. We can put on our Service Design hats and embrace these principles to help steer us throughout our organizational research maturity journeys.

Let’s Get Mature!

So, to better navigate the path to research maturity, let's utilize all the tools (… or maps? 😆) at our disposal:

• Measure and re-measure your organization's research maturity against Jane's 12 components of research maturity. Regularly assess where you stand and identify areas for improvement.

• Reflect on additional maturity frameworks such as CMMI. These frameworks can provide further insights into the process of achieving maturity and help you understand different aspects of your organization's capabilities.

• Adopt a mindset of continuous and holistic improvement. Embrace the Service Design principles and infuse them into your research practices. Be human- or user-centered, collaborative, iterative, sequential, real, and holistic in your approach.

By incorporating these strategies, we can propel our organizations forward and achieve impactful outcomes through our research. And we can build a future where research is at the heart of organizational success and drives strategy, informed decisions-making, and improved product (or service!) development. 🫀

UX Reads For Fun: The Ungrateful Refugee by Dina Nayeri

A Tale of Two Siblings

Right on the heels of reading Daniel Nayeri's book Everything Sad is Untrue, I picked up his older sister Dina Nayeri's book The Ungrateful Refugee. Now that I've finished reading her book, I have SO MANY THOUGHTS. 💭

I am so glad I read Daniel and Dina's books back-to-back, starting with Daniel's book. Both books read like memoirs, reflecting on the events of their lives that took them from being children in Iran to becoming refugees in America. Daniel's book is narrated by a child version of himself, providing a unique perspective through his innocent eyes. It felt like I was reliving those moments alongside him, viewing the world through the lens of a child.

Moving on to Dina's book was a fascinating transition. Her adult narrative allowed me to revisit those same events with the knowledge and experience of an adult. It was like looking back on those experiences with a newfound depth and understanding. Dina delves into the past, offering a deeper exploration of the complexities they faced and how those early experiences shaped their lives into adulthood.

Reading the books together as a pair also really highlighted the progression from childhood innocence to adult reflection. The juxtaposition between their storytelling styles highlighted the complexity of memory. Daniel and Dina often discuss the same events, but their memories sometimes differ, revealing how our recollections can be subjective and influenced by our perspectives. It also mimicked how our understanding of events can change as we grow and gain new perspectives.

In addition to her personal stories, Dina also explores other refugee experiences within her memoir, offering an academic lens on topics such as refugee camps, asylum, and assimilation. It adds another layer of insight to her narrative while also showcasing how the refugee experience is so diverse as refugees navigate an ever-changing landscape.

These memoirs have reminded me of the transformative power of literature and the incredible ability of books to transport us to different worlds and perspectives. 📚🌎 If you're looking for a meaningful and thought-provoking read, I highly recommend diving into these remarkable memoirs!

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Related Links:

• Buy your copy of The Ungrateful Refugee by Dina Nayeri

• Buy your copy of Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri

• Check out Dina Nayeri’s NPR interview

• Check out Daniel Nayeri’s NPR interview

UX Reads for Fun: Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri

Memory Through a Child’s Eyes

I recently read Everything Sad is Untrue: A True Story, an impactful memoir written by Iranian American author and refugee, Daniel Nayeri. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a powerful and thought-provoking read. Thank you to Nan Doud for recommending this to me!

As a UX researcher, I'm always eager to expand my perspective and learn from different experiences. Reading about Nayeri's journey has felt at turns both familiar and foreign to me. Being Iranian American, I can relate to many of his experiences but, on the flip side, some of his experiences feel so new and jarring to me. This is the beauty of reading such a personal account of a person's own history tucked into History with a capital H. In a history textbook, you may read one paragraph about the Iranian Revolution of 1979, where the accounts are generalized and factual and lean into what the majority experienced. But it's so impactful to read how that event has affected so many Iranians in so many different ways and changed the trajectory of their lives on a personal level.

Everything Sad is Untrue is a beautiful example of how storytelling can shape our understanding of the world. Nayeri masterfully weaves together his personal story with Iranian mythology and folklore. He captures the elementary school experience as an Iranian American so well; it is probably a very familiar experience for many of us (immigrants and children of immigrants) who grew up feeling Othered and different and out of place amongst our classmates and neighbors. Then, in the next paragraph, he may be telling us bits and pieces from the Persian epic, the Shahnameh. His skillful use of juxtaposition pits the shiny sights, sounds, and smells of his childhood in Iran against the sharp-edged sights, sounds, and smells of his childhood in Ohio against the dreamy sights, sounds, and smells of Iranian folklore. And, as a fellow Iranian American, I also intimately recognize the tragedy of feeling both so close to and so far from our motherland. Nayeri captures this sense of disjointedness so well, and it's a poignant reminder of the importance of preserving and sharing our stories.

Related Links

• Purchase your copy of Daniel’s book here

Psst... You're Networking Wrong

Networking is Not Cold Calling ❌

New UXers are always advised to network, network, network! But many don't know how, especially in a virtual context.

So here's the big secret: Networking is NOT cold calling. ❌

Imagine you're at an in-person conference. You sit next to someone during a panel discussion and they ask a great question. You might lean over and whisper, "Thanks for asking that!" This could lead to you having a longer conversation later, grabbing a coffee, connecting on LinkedIn, and staying in touch.

Now, imagine you're at that same in-person conference. You see someone with a name tag: Sahar, UX Researcher. You walk up to them and say, "Hi, I'm looking for a role in UX Research. Are you available to get a coffee so I can pick your brain?" Maaaybe they'll say yes. But, more likely, it'll be super awkward because it will feel super out of the blue (and even pushy).

This applies to virtual networking, too. "Cold call" messaging someone and asking them for a coffee chat right off the bat can be very hit or miss. For example, I get so many "cold call" requests for coffee chats that I wouldn't have time to do anything else if I said yes to them all! So I generally have to decline and refer them to my ADPList waitlist.

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So, How Should We Be Networking?

Here are a couple of my tips on how you can network successfully in a virtual environment:

1. Read people's LinkedIn bios to get a feel for their interests, even the things that aren't work-related! What is one of their hobbies? Do you like doing that, too? Boom, connection!

2. Adopt a "no-ask" policy: you can message someone, give them your spiel (or elevator pitch), and then NOT ask them for anything in return. Not asking for anything in return can actually make the person you're messaging more willing to connect with you. When I was job hunting, this was how I went about all of my messaging and I ended up meaningfully connecting with a ton of great folks (and was referred to many roles even without asking for that).

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And hey, I get it. It is definitely uncomfortable reaching out to people you don't know. But the truth is that networking isn't about blindly sending out messages. It's about building genuine relationships and creating opportunities for collaboration. You are setting the foundation for a mutually meaningful and enriching professional relationship.

So, get out there and identify shared interests. Find ways to help each other achieve your goals. Offer value and show that you care about the other person's success. When you approach networking with this mindset, it becomes a lot less daunting and a lot more rewarding. So, the next time you're considering reaching out to someone for networking purposes, remember that it's not about making a sales pitch or asking for a favor. It's about building a connection and starting a conversation. And who knows? That connection could lead to an exciting new opportunity down the line.