You’re a STEM major? Your dream job might be in Design
How a science and math education solves design challenges
Hey there! Today is National STEM Day. It’s a day we celebrate and inspire students to explore, pursue and advance their interests in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. What does Pinterest Design have anything to do with STEM Day, you ask? Perhaps it would be helpful to share a bit about my background in STEM and how I became a Quantitative UX Researcher at Pinterest. Here are five of the most frequently asked questions I get from STEM students thinking about a career in tech and design.
1. How did you get into quantitative UX research?
I didn’t get an education in STEM so I could become a Quantitative UX Researcher. Growing up, I thought about becoming a lawyer (they are logical), a philosopher (they like to think), or a doctor (PhDs, they are smart!). But what fascinated me the most was the human brain and mind. Why do people do, think, and feel? What happens in their brain when these things happen?
So I ended up going to graduate school to study neuroscience (not yet knowing exactly what career path I would take). While I was a first year PhD student at the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Johns Hopkins, I met another student who was graduating from my program to become a Quantitative UX Researcher at a tech company. It was the first time I had ever heard of the term “Quantitative UX Research” — and I was excited to know someone from my STEM background was taking on a job like this.
What fascinated me the most was the human brain and mind. Why do people do, think, and feel? What happens in their brain when these things happen?
During my five years of graduate school, I spent lots of time running experiments, collecting and analyzing data from both monkey and human eye movements and brains, writing up research papers, and presenting them to fellow scientists. Through this process, I learned how to:
- Familiarize myself with a new research area and identify an unsolved problem space by reading through mountains of previous publications
- Dissect, analyze, and operationalize an ambiguous problem into a falsifiable hypothesis based on the existing knowledge
- Understand a breadth of research methodologies, and know when and how to apply them rigorously
- Design and run experiments to collect empirical data
- Write code and run statistical analysis to find patterns in the data
- Synthesize research insights to tell a compelling and convincing story with data
- Become comfortable with presenting, defending, and taking in feedback about my work
- Most importantly, think critically, troubleshoot independently, and be comfortable with ambiguity
I loved research, science, and solving problems, and thought back to that conversation from almost five years earlier. How could I apply these skills at a tech company? One that was fast-paced and focused on solving people’s problems in the real world?
After what seemed like thousands of hours of soul searching (and scouring the internet) on my own for jobs and more about the UX disciplines, 100+ informational interviews with friends/alum connections and cold calls on LinkedIn, and one industry internship as a machine learning data scientist, I realized that being a Quantitative UX Researcher is my dream job (and it still is!). Hopefully you don’t need to spend as much time digging as I did.
2. What is quantitative UX research really? And what do you actually do?
In a nutshell, Quantitative UX Researchers apply research skills in data science and analytics to answer questions about people when they use a product or interact with a piece of technology, and use the research insights to influence and shape product design and development. At Pinterest, Quantitative UX Researchers are members of the Product UX Research team, which is part of the bigger Design org comprised of Product Designers, Content Designers, Systems Designers, and UX Researchers. If you’re interested in reading more about our work at Pinterest, I’ve written a blog on this topic previously. It’s pretty amazing to see how I get to apply all STEM skills at a tech company like Pinterest!
We can form a deep and multi-dimensional understanding of not only what and why people say and feel about a product experience, but also how they actually use the product — at scale. No other discipline can provide this level of insights other than quantitative UX.
3. Why do we need more quant UX researchers in Design?
Product design is a process of identifying user needs, creating and iterating solutions that delight users while addressing their core needs and solving their critical problems.
The key to successful product design starts with deeply understanding who we are designing for — and why. One of the superpowers a Quantitative UX Researcher has is the ability to combine people’s sentimental data (feelings, perceptions and understanding) through surveys with behavioral data (through logging data, usage metrics and more), so we can form a deep and multi-dimensional understanding of not only what and why people say and feel about a product experience, but also how they actually use the product — at scale. No other discipline can provide this level of insights other than quantitative UX.
4. How did you end up at Pinterest?
I looked around a lot — and then I got lucky. I came across a Pinterest quant UX job posting, and when I read it, it felt like it was written for people just like me. I researched the hiring manager at the time, hoping to get to know him better, and discovered he had just spoken about Pinterest’s research team in a podcast. I kid you not, I listened to his podcast back and forth when I was walking and biking in between places for a week, to the point that I could recite his words verbatim. The more I listened, the better I got to know him as a researcher, a mentor, and a manager, and became fascinated by the work the Pinterest UX Research team was doing.
I applied! And during the final interview, I made sure my presentation and conversations with the hiring committee would convince them that:
- I knew how to do research in a fast-paced environment such as the technology industry
- I like working with people in a highly collaborative environment
- I understood Pinterest as a business, and have the skills to solve its user problems
- I thoroughly researched every interviewer via their LinkedIn profiles so I know who they are and what they do. (I am a researcher after all :) )
I got the job. The rest is history. I was the second quant UX researcher here, and now we have several on the team.
Find and talk to people whose job you are interested in through informational interviews, and end your conversation with this question, “Do you know anyone else who you think I could speak to?”
5. How can I get started?
Ask yourself if you are interested in understanding humans first and foremost. If the answer is yes, consider getting hands-on experience doing research, either in a science lab, or via an industry internship.
Here are a few core technical skills to focus on (more on non-technical skills here):
- Learn to code (R, Python, Matlab, C++, or a similar scripting language),
- Know how to query databases using languages such as SQL
- Practice data analysis and visualization
- Understand statistical inference
Find and talk to people whose job you are interested in through informational interviews, and end your conversation with this question, “Do you know anyone else who you think I could speak to?”
From STEM to Design, you can do it
I hope I’ve raised a little bit of awareness and understanding of what quantitative UX research is. I strongly encourage more STEM students interested in Psychology, Biology, Neuroscience, Behavioral Sciences, Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science to consider quant UX as a career option because it’s so valuable to Design orgs solving user problems. Happy STEM day!
To learn more about design and research at Pinterest, check out the rest of Pinterest Design and follow us on Twitter. To view and apply to open opportunities, visit our Careers page.
