Career Diversity: User Experience (UX) Research and Design

During the decade Gregg Murray (PhD 2010) worked as a tenured English professor, he read and wrote occasionally about technology and did “a tiny bit of online design” for a literary magazine he founded. Then a friend told him about tech jobs in UX (user experience) dealing with digital product design. “I decided to learn more through a boot camp at General Assembly,” Murray says. Goodbye to academic life at Georgia Perimeter College (now part of Georgia State University), hello UX research and design. “I basically took the leap into corporate during the pandemic,” he notes. Today Murray is a Senior UX Researcher with Liberty Mutual Insurance. He graciously answered our questions via email. 

The General Assembly’s 12-week boot camp provided you with a User Experience Design Immersive Certificate. What happened next?

That training is not necessary to transition into UX, but I found it helpful at the time. I worked at a few different companies as a (mostly qualitative) UX researcher, a specialization in UX concerned with understanding product "user" needs. Eventually, I found a home at a large insurance company helping to design digital products.

What has surprised you about your current work?

How much I love it. How similar it is to what I was doing in academia. I scope problems and identify ways of learning how to respond to those problems. I collaborate with "cross-functional"—kind of like “interdisciplinary”—teams to accomplish things.

I can think critically all day and solve interesting problems. Granted, conducting research on something assigned to me is less desirable than, say, studying the playful poetics of Zora Neale Hurston. I've learned that I'm okay with enjoying Hurston in my free time. Honestly, this came as a surprise to me. I thought I needed to always be working on something I love love love. For me at least that is not the case.

What is most fulfilling about the job, day to day?

Working with others. Interviewing people. Drawing distinctions and understanding how things work. Challenging assumptions and then investigating. Coming up with a compelling story to deliver to stakeholders. I enjoy the performativity of the stakeholder presentations and team presentations.

I also find it really fulfilling to clock out and spend time with my family, something I struggled with when working as a professor on what I "love.”

What do you wish you had known as a graduate student?

I don't have regrets, and I'm grateful to [Professor Emerita] Maria Damon and my committee for allowing me to approach my research in a creative way. I could have been more open-minded about corporate jobs. I could possibly be in a more senior position if I’d gone directly into corporate. But I apply the skills I developed in academia every day, and they serve me well. 

What advice would you give current graduate students considering or preparing for the job market?

Learn to speak the language of the marketplace where you are applying. In graduate school, we learn a lexicon which counts as currency in the academic market. A different lexicon is required for business. You may have to talk about Key Performance Indicators!

To get a job in corporate, you need to tell them why your skillset is helpful to them. They need you to do a specific job. They aren't hiring you because they are impressed by you or interested in your work. It’s a little painful scrubbing awards and publications from your resume/CV, but they’re not hiring you for that. Instead, I tend to talk about what goes into writing a book-length dissertation, such as project (and time) management.