So I think I’ve mentioned a bit about this in the past but I’ve been trying to break into user experience research which seems to be mostly absent in Taiwan.
UX research is different from design in that designers make Design changes that facilitate changes to a product towards the needs and experience of the users. So for example a designer would spend time changing the user interface in ways that make these products easier and or more enjoyable to use.
Alternatively, a user researcher (what I am looking at doing) provides research that discovers what user experience and how they use these products in order to outline the latent challenges behind the product. Basically I’m a psychologist who designs research (like surveys, usability tests, Interviews, etc.) In order to define the ways in which users engage/use products (or services) or feels about (attitudes and behavior are not the same things but both are useful to understand) that might not align with the intent of the designers.
Anyway I have my masters in applied psychology and am currently a PhD student. Now that I’ve quit my job to finish my PhD, I’m thinking about how to go about working as a consultant in this capacity. Since Taiwanese companies are still quite UX immature (of course not all of them) I was thinking that the best route would be to work out some kind of freelance role where I could produce iterative research on a product or service up until it’s launch as well as to help build research teams.
I have two issues though. 1. My Chinese is not good. I’ve tried learning but Ive had limited time to study between work and PhD studies. Still I’m working on learning it but currently I don’t have good enough mandarin to conduct studies in Mandarin which I know is a significant hurdle.
2. I have no idea where to find clients nor do I know how to figure out what the typical budget for a new product would be.
A third hurdle is that I currently only have academic experience in research and not UX specific research.
I was thinking about working with some kind of start up that has very little resources/budget (maybe an indie Game developer?) Where I could work pro Bono in exchange for building a portfolio? Would this be advisable?
The other option would be to target international clients. That would limit me to doing remote only research which is another possibility.
Does anyone have any advice for me here? I’m not really a business minded person but I’m willing to learn. I’m just not entirely sure where to start or what exactly I’ll need to get this idea off the ground.
I think picking a specific domain for your UX research would seem to be a necessary first step. Having chosen a specific domain, you could then survey the field to see what kinds of UX problems and solutions exist, specific to that domain.
Assuming you find clients who want this kind of research to be done, I think a typical workflow might go as follows:
You say “we need to understand more about how users use the current product”. This first requires that you deeply understand the product (and the product’s domain), in order to be able to discover the “latent” and non-obvious areas for improvement.
You propose and conduct some experiment. You’d probably be responsible for finding the target users to test the existing product. Do you know how and where to find target users? The language barrier could be a problem here.
You analyze the data and draw some conclusions, claiming “we need to improve the product by doing XXX.”
The client may then ask you, “OK, make a prototype of the improved product with feature XXX and evaluate it against the current product to show the improvement.” Do you have the skills to create product prototypes in your chosen domain? If not, can you find partners to help you with this?
All of the above is assuming that you find a client who believes that this kind of research is valuable for their product domain. So you also need to think about how to convince the client that they need your UX research services – basically a sales job: finding the right contact person, making a sales presentation to them, and convincing them to give you money. Once you have a contract, then you have to worry about project management, budgeting, and schedules in addition to the actual research work you want to do.
Maybe you can try to find an existing UX research team or existing UX research company and join them, to gather some experience before trying to strike out on your own with consulting.
Generally speaking it’s better to work in the industry for a few years to get a sense of how things are handled first. You learn a lot, looks good on your portfolio/CV and you make money while doing it.
yep you might want to work for a company first to get the lie of the land and build some connections. Maybe work for a product design or marketing agency , work on lots of different projects and clients and get some money in while figuring things out…Don’t think you have a hope of getting contracts from Taiwanese companies initially on your own but hey I could be wrong. I think the UX part on its own would be probably be rolled into bigger design or marketing projects.
AGAIn I don’t have specific knowledge on that though.
From my time working I realised it’s hard to jump ahead with your career without putting in a bit of solid time here and there and a good name on the CV does open doors as well . WHEN I look back at some of the jobs I did before I realised I could do them much better now but only because of my experience and training in a better organisation than the ones I started off with . Now you know UX inside out but you don’t know the business world so you aren’t ready to operate as a consultant IMHO.
From my experience people who have successful consultant businesses start off by working at a firm for at least a few years. They find a specific area that they find a gap in and specialize it.
When I hire a consultant I would not hire someone fresh out of school tbh. I’d look for some experience in that field.
I understand what you guys are saying and I have considered this. I definitely agree that it’s far more ideal to work in the industry first in order to get a real grip on how both the business and organizational sides operate together.
I’m feeling quite worried because there are so few roles in Taiwan especially roles that don’t involve design (because it’s a different skill set). I’m also worried because of how low the salaries for the roles that do exist are. And affording rent, food, ECT is also important.
What is frustrating is that I do have experience with research, quite a bit if it. What I don’t have is experience with applying research if that makes sense? Which is why I was considering maybe offering low cost or pro Bono work to build up practical experience?
I guess I should consider moving back to America or Europe. I was trying to find a solution for staying in Taiwan and still working on what I want to do.
In a non-paid or low-cost position, the company or client hiring you will probably have lower expectations and put less pressure on you, which is not the best environment for you to really learn the ropes. In contrast, a job that pays you an industry-standard salary will also put pressure on you to to deliver something of value that meets the quality standards of the industry. That will probably be better for gaining useful experience in the industry.
Only you know what’s best for you, but did you try doing a web search on “UX companies in Taipei”? There seem to be a number of such companies, with English-language web pages.
In general, it’s easier to analyze or criticize something (i.e. research work), but it’s harder to make a specific motivated proposal of how to improve it (i.e. design work). So it makes sense that UX work also involves a lot of design work, not just analysis/research work. I suppose at a huge company like Google you might be able to find a specialized role as a pure UX researcher, but my gut feeling is that such pure UX research roles are difficult to find not only in Taiwan, but in general.
That said, I just did a quick search and it seems that there are, in fact, Google UX researchers based in Taipei. Why not try applying (or cold-calling someone) there? Even if you can’t find a role that fits exactly what you want to do right now, Google might very well be a good stepping stone to your next job.
Try doing a Google search on “linkedin google taipei ux research”. That will show you several people working at Google in Taipei, in UX research or related areas.
I don’t used Linkedin, but I guess if you use Linkedin then you might be able to get in contact with these people. Who knows, one of them might be looking for some help.
Maybe I can. In America usually companies offer limited contract positions in research (typically between 6 months to a year) for juniors rather than as a full time employee (although it’s still possible to land a full time gig right away). This way the risk is lower and the company saves on benefits/taxes.
I wonder if there are preexisting contracting companies like this here?
Ok so in Taiwan there are probation periods as well which could be similar. It’s not so easy to fire people in Taiwan once they are full-time actually I can’t recall how long the probation periods are now , legally.
Of course there are contract positions especially with the government but a lot of employers just prefer to hire permanent full-timers actually.
Many companies will designate a probation period for new employees. There are no minimum or maximum probation periods set under Taiwan’s laws and regulations, although termination does need to be compliant with the terms of the above-mentioned acts for notice periods and potential severance payments.
This is what they say. Not sure if that’s out of date already. Labour law has tightened up over the last few years.
Hmm ok thanks for this information. It makes a lot of sense that the labour laws would affect the way contracts work.
Actually full time permanent positions for research is optimal. It’s just like I mentioned before the current state in Taiwan is very immature.
For example in America, Europe, Australia, Japan, and Singapore independent research teams have become the norm even in small to midsized companies whereas here they try to lump research and design together. (For everyone who has tried to use Taiwanese websites the consequences are pretty apparent)
We hire consultants, including for research at work, and I’ve worked as a consultant. They generally fall into one of the flowing categories: 1) recognized talent, 2) work for a consulting company that does this stuff, 3) have personal connections, or 4) is a university we want to work with. Being inexperienced, the easiest and most likely path would be 2 and 4. 3 is possible with work, attending conferences, presenting, etc, etc.
Wait so the work contracted at the University is usually paid to researchers or solely to the university?
I will be contributing to a research lab as a student that works with big tech companies in Taiwan starting next month (unpaid though as far as I’m aware. I’m doing it to help get more publications/exposure to the research I’m interested in). Do you think it’d be feasible to network my way in that way?
I knew someone in a very similar situation, UX researcher (with SSCI publications and a PhD from a top Taiwanese university in that field: marketing). Even though this guy had several publications (and the recommendation of a very prominent scholar, who was very well known in his field and had practical and research experience), no Taiwanese firm would hire him. He ended up going back to his home country and became very successful in his niche.
Some potential issues stand out
UX research (based on my colleague’s work over 16 years ago) is not a new field. There are already many qualified researchers in this field. I’m sure that you’re aware of this.
The language barrier is likely your biggest hurdle. No local company (and I’ve collaborated with some of the biggest “international” corporations) would hire someone with less than fluent Mandarin. In simple terms, you need to be able to assessed their target population, which very seldom uses English (or other foreign languages).
Without a completed PhD (even ABDs), few companies will invest or take a risk on someone with unfulfilled academic requirements. I know this from first hand experience.
“pro bono” is not something that is known or accepted by local industries (based on my experiences). Interestingly, such “free” work might often be viewed with suspicion. Nobody does that here.
Sorry to be so negative, but this is based on my experiences.