How Sasha Turned Academic Training Into Real-World Impact

Brandon: Okay. All right. So, we can go ahead and get started. Thank you for coming here today. Can you give us a little bit about your career background?

Sasha: Yes. I’ve been a researcher for about 10 years, but in different phases. In college, I was in the honors program in psychology, so we had to come up with our own research study. I did a lot of quantitative research, survey analysis, and I honestly thought I was going to be a psychologist. But after college and exploring my career some more, I realized I didn’t want to do that.

I went to grad school for sociology because I thought, “Okay, maybe not a psychologist, but maybe an academic.” I thought I would continue in that space of studying race, but I was open to what was around me. I came across a digital sociology program at Virginia Commonwealth University and studied under Victor Tran and Tressie McMillan Cottom. 

There, I learned about sociology from the perspective of online culture and cultivating ideas. My thesis was on how people networked on social media sites such as Twitter versus LinkedIn. It’s interesting now because I definitely have a different take on how people crowdsource information—those platforms are not the same as they were six or seven years ago. But I mention that because I think that background in research has really shaped my understanding of what it means to be a UX researcher.

After grad school, I had my first job as a survey writer for a nonprofit organization. I helped academic medical doctors create surveys for their field and gather input from other professionals on topics that were important to them. I cleaned the data, helped create the surveys, and worked with them to develop posters. Another interesting part of that job was helping to write academic papers, although I left before I was able to complete that work.

While I was in that survey job, UX kept coming up. I thought, “This is interesting—I have a background in digital sociology, I’m already doing quantitative work, and I’m a researcher. Why not go for it?” At the time, we were just coming out of COVID, and a lot of jobs were opening up in the UX research space. My title as a senior survey researcher didn’t really have a negative impact on applying for UX roles.

I read a lot in the field and made sure to really emphasize my skills as a researcher. Eventually, I landed my first UX job in the federal contracting space. Now I’m working in civic tech within the government sector. It’s been eye-opening, and I’ve been able to translate many of my research skills into the UX field. So that’s my career journey over the past 10 years.
 
 Brandon: What was eye-opening about being a UX researcher in the federal contracting space?

Sasha: It was eye-opening because I was used to very rigid research. You needed a research plan, studies had to be repeatable, and things took time. There was a lot of methodology involved.

I would say for me, the switch to UX was very iterative. People aren’t really looking for those rigid research plans. That was probably the biggest learning curve for me—how to cut back on some of the academic research jargon and make it more accessible to a wider audience, while also being able to do research quickly within sprints and the two-week agile cycle. So, the biggest adjustment was understanding the culture of research in the UX space versus academic research, which—no offense to UX—is a little more rigid.

Brandon: I completely agree, and had the same experience where research could be done in two weeks, and if this were an academic situation, the same research would take six months or more. How did you adjust to that faster pace of research?

Sasha: I think it took a lot of talking to people and understanding that research can come in different forms, and it can still be good research—just for a different audience. Talking to designers in particular really helped me overcome that learning curve.

Because my background is heavily rooted in research, I have a solid understanding of what it takes to design a good study and the kinds of findings you should aim for based on your research questions or methodology. Those skills come from being trained as a researcher, and that’s something I’ve had to advocate for on each of my teams.

I’ve learned a lot, but I also hope that the people I work with have learned from me—especially that it’s fine to do quick research, but we still need some rigor in our research questions and methodology. That way, if someone wanted to repeat the study, they could likely find similar results.

Brandon: It sounds like you’re building a lot of knowledge for your organization. Are you one of the first UX researchers there?

Sasha: No, I’m not. We do have other UX researchers, but in federal contracting, you might have your company, and then you’re dispersed among different projects. That’s where you might be the only researcher on your team or one of just a few people who understand the importance of research.

So, I’ve been in situations where I was the only UX person, or the only research person, or the only one with deep research experience. I’ve had to do some coaching in those cases, but on my home team, no—I’m not the only researcher.

Brandon: Going back to differences between academic research and UXR, the audiences for your research can be vastly different. How did you adjust from going from academia and to communicating your insights to these designers to your cross functional leads?
 
Sasha: I think my favorite part about being a UX researcher is having other people on the team to help with the research and bringing them along in the process. I can’t say that’s been the same in academic settings. In academia, I was usually the only researcher—it was just me and my mentor(s). But in a UX space, I can really bring my team along in the research process.

My favorite project was working with a designer on a prototype. He knew the design aspect really well, and I knew the research aspect, so we were able to craft the usability test in a way that aligned perfectly with the prototype. That was probably one of my favorite experiences—collaborating with a designer to create a usability test together.

Brandon: I know I was excited to start working with people from different fields. What have you learned from them? You talked about teaching them about research—what have you learned from your cross-functional collaborators?

Sasha: I think I’ve learned a lot from the engineering side, especially about getting them involved and understanding what they need to do their jobs. That’s helped me expand my researcher toolkit and think about short-term and long-term solutions they can actually implement.

When I’m developing research methodologies, I try to anticipate what my partners might need to do their jobs. I’ve learned from engineers that it’s not just about what the user needs—though that’s important—but also about how our findings can support development and implementation. They’ve really helped me think more holistically about what to look for in the research so they can be part of the process too.

Brandon: Can you think of an example?

Sasha: For example when translating what a user wants it may not be possible because it can be a custom ask and not within the engineers control because of the time it takes to build or only being able to use out of the box solutions. So it has helped me ask better questions to users in research. I think what’s really cool about the federal contracting space is that you can gain a lot of experience relatively quickly. Over the past few months, I’ve been getting a lot of LinkedIn messages from people asking how to break into UX, and honestly, that’s how I got into the field.

I think federal contracting is a great entry point if you find yourself at a crossroads—like, “I want to get into UX, what should I do?” It’s a good way to gain experience working on cross-functional teams. Often, you don’t have access to automated tools, so you get valuable practice building things manually.

On some projects, you might have tools like Dovetail to help with data analysis, and on others, you might just have Figjam. So you really learn how to distill insights on your own without relying on automated tools. Being able to translate those insights from your research to the client has also been a great experience, especially when working with management to understand their needs and educate them.

Overall, I think the federal contracting space offers a lot of experience that can propel your career forward. In the DMV area—DC, Maryland, Virginia—I think it’s a great way to get into UX if you’re just starting out.

That said, it’s an interesting time in the DMV, but under normal job search circumstances, I do think federal contracting is a solid path for UXR in this region. 

Brandon: I know this might depend on the job, but people might not realize that security clearance can come into play with applications. Could you speak on that?

Sasha: Yes, that’s really important. You can’t just go out and apply for a clearance—your job has to sponsor you for one. That’s been a little frustrating for me too, because I’ve seen some really interesting roles that require a top-secret clearance and UX research experience.

The challenge is that you can’t just have a top-secret clearance on your own; your job has to sponsor it. That’s one of the issues I’ve run into with positions I’ve wanted to apply for during my job search—they require that clearance, but it’s not something you can get independently.

I mean, of course, apply, but some of those jobs already expect you to have clearance, which is kind of counterintuitive because a company has to sponsor you for it. I’d say that for most federal contracting jobs, you’ll just have the basic level of clearance, which is Public Trust.

Basically, it’s like applying for a passport, but with a few extra steps. They might ask you for information about your family members and job history going back about seven years, but it’s not too intense. It does take a while, but Public Trust is the lowest level of clearance you can get. Most federal contracting jobs are willing to sponsor that for you so you can work on their projects.

Brandon: Absolutely. And I’ll also say from experience—if you leave a job that sponsored your clearance, it becomes inactive, but for up to two years after that, it’s a much quicker process to get it reactivated if you move from one federal contractor to another.

Sasha: That’s good to know. The top secret clearance would open so many doors for the types of roles you can apply for. 

Brandon: So, going back to the learning curve—you mentioned Figjam. I don’t know about you, but in my psych program, we never used Figjam/Figma or anything like that. When it comes to learning the different software programs you use, what was your approach?

Sasha: I think I was just thrown into it and started learning as part of the team. I’m still adjusting, honestly, to doing research in a Figma or FigJam space. That’s just not how my brain works—typing insights and notes on sticky notes isn’t really for me. But it’s something I’ve had to roll with. I’ve gotten better at creating those boards we use for note-taking.

Because I have a background in quantitative research, I tend to think there are better methods for entering and organizing data—so when you’re cleaning it up later, it’s easier to analyze and compare. Some people argue that using sticky notes is simpler, and I get that, but I’m still figuring out what works best for me.

On a side note, I recently got to work on a project in operations—CX ops and research ops—and that was a lot of fun. It really got me thinking about how to use tools effectively and how to teach others to use tools that might be less intuitive. Writing standard operating procedures and best practices helped me take a deep dive into how researchers can use these tools day to day.

Brandon: That sounds great. I’d love to hear more about the research ops side because that’s another path UXRs can take, and I don’t think a lot of people entering the field are aware of it. Could you tell us more about research operations in general?

Sasha: From my understanding, it’s all of the administrative and logistical tasks a research team might need help with—scheduling participants, sending follow-ups, creating standard operating procedures for tools, and developing best practices for research methods. Those are the kinds of things I did under research ops and research management.

I’d also say that if you’re an organized person but not necessarily confident in creating research plans or leading studies, research ops can be a great alternative. You can still contribute to the research process—keeping the team organized, managing tools, and ensuring insights are implemented in the product roadmap or related projects—without necessarily leading the research itself.

Kind of a tangent, but I do think in the research ops space, you’ll hear a lot about AI and how to use it. So if research ops is your area of interest, I’d definitely suggest learning how to leverage different AI tools in that space.

Brandon: That actually leads into what I wanted to ask next. How has AI impacted your work?

Sasha: Honestly, I wish it could impact my work a bit more. In federal contracting, at least for researchers, AI hasn’t quite made its way in like it has in the private sector. That’s mainly because adoption of new technology in federal spaces is slow. It’s not that they’re hesitant—it’s just that things have to go through so many channels for approval, mostly for security reasons.

So, if I wanted to use an AI tool, I couldn’t just start using it since I work with government data. But I do think that for researchers, especially those interested in the private sector, it’s important to understand the different tools out there that can automate parts of your workflow. It’s critical to stay relevant in the job market.

Brandon: Absolutely, I agree. And like we were saying earlier, the best practice is hands-on practice. So just get out there—even if you have to make up a dataset, which AI can do—and play with it.

Sasha: Actually, I just came back from AfroTech, and that’s all anyone was talking about—AI. It was really inspiring. It made me think about how I, as a researcher, could implement AI into my workflow if I wasn't in federal contracting.

The first thing that came to mind was research operations—specifically, automating participant management: finding participants, following up, scheduling, and only stepping in when there’s an issue or something that needs review. That would speed up the participant scheduling process so much.

I’ve also grown a lot in my understanding of AI. At first, I was hesitant—I didn’t really want to use it or didn’t understand it. But after the conference last week, I’m much more open to exploring it and learning about safeguards to protect data while using these tools.

Brandon: Yeah. So, let’s get into it, because I wanted to hear all about AfroTech. Can you paint a picture of what it was like?

Sasha: So, it’s a week-long conference in Houston. It’s been held there for the past few years, and it’s been renewed to return next year—so look out for that. This was my first year attending. Each year, they have a theme, this year was “Building What's Next”— a lot of the sessions focused on AI.

What most of us know so far is generative AI—where you type something in and get a response. But what I learned this year is that AI is moving a step further into something called agentic AI. That’s where you don’t just enter a command—it actually completes the command without further human input.

For example, using a research ops scenario: with generative AI, you might say, “Find me 10 participants with this dataset,” and it would respond, “Here are 10 participants—what would you like to do next?” But with agentic AI, you could say, “Find 10 participants and schedule them,” and it would automatically handle that whole process without you needing a follow-up prompt.

That was my biggest takeaway from the conference—how agentic AI could really increase productivity, especially if you’re a research team of one. Not having to follow up multiple times to schedule participants would be life-changing.

Overall, I thought the conference was great—a good balance of sessions and networking events. They have the main conference during the day, and in the evenings, certain sponsors host all-inclusive networking events. You just register, and you get access to things like product demos, free food and drinks, and a chance to meet other attendees.

I also met two other UX researchers, which was really fun. AfroTech tends to draw a lot of people from engineering, security, and IT, but there was a smaller group of us from the product and design side. It was nice to see that representation there too.

I went in with a plan for what I wanted out of the conference, and it paid off. For me, it was a 10 out of 10 experience—I’d definitely go again.

Brandon: Sounds good. Out of curiosity, do they have things for designers as well?

Sasha: You know, they really didn’t. I think this might be the first year they had a product track, and it still wasn’t very design- or research-heavy.

Brandon: Oh, wow. Okay.

Sasha: Yes, it was more like, “Let me show you this tool and how you can use it.” That was the one thing I thought was missing. I’m hoping that in future years, the product and design tracks will be stronger.

I definitely think we should be part of those conversations since we work so closely with engineers and technologists in our daily work. But Figma was there—they even sponsored a networking event after the conference—so that was at least one design company represented.

Brandon: Okay, okay. We’ll take it.

Sasha: Yes, I’ll take it! They also had meetups for entrepreneurs and smaller niche groups. I just wish there had been one specifically for designers or researchers—that would have been really cool too.

Brandon: Yeah, definitely. We’ll have to work on that.

Sasha: Yes, we will.

Brandon: Absolutely. Well, thank you for describing AfroTech. Is there any other way you connect with other UX researchers—maybe through LinkedIn groups or something similar?

Sasha: Yes. For me, it started with LinkedIn—just randomly messaging people. Some people respond, some don’t, but I’ve had a lot of success connecting that way and building a small community.

As you can tell, I’m really passionate about researchers, so I actually created a Slack network specifically for UX researchers—not designers, just researchers.

Brandon: Yeah, designers get enough support.

Sasha: Exactly. I wouldn’t say it hasn’t been successful, but it’s definitely opened my eyes to how many people here in the DMV area have the  ux researcher title—whether they’re in federal contracting or working for larger companies. Now I have a better sense of where UX roles exist locally.

Outside of federal contracting, I know there are researchers at Amazon, Capital One, CVent, Navy Federal, Qualtrics—we’re here, just a smaller community. That’s helped me see how we can strengthen our local research network.

In the Slack channel I created, myself and others have been posting job opportunities for researchers in the area, both local and remote. Last year, I also organized a few meetups, though I haven’t been able to keep them going lately. Hopefully, I can bring those back.

Another way I’ve connected is through a conference called UXCON, created by Yao Adantor—this year was its second run. It’s been great to see all the UX professionals in the DMV come together. It helps me, and others, keep a pulse on what’s happening in the regional UX field.

Brandon: Yeah, absolutely.

Sasha: Yes, exactly.

Brandon: It’s nice to know the DMV has that, especially since so much of the field is based in the Bay Area or Seattle. It’s great to talk with someone from the DMV—and I’m biased because I’m from Maryland.

Sasha: It definitely seems like most people here are either in federal contracting or have one-off positions at those big companies I mentioned, or they’re working remotely for West Coast firms.

Brandon: Yeah. Well, are there any other resources, pieces of advice, or anything else you’d like to share?

Sasha: Hmm, I don’t think so right now.

Brandon: That’s fine. If you think of something later, we can add it in post.

Sasha: Okay.

Brandon: That concludes the interview. I really appreciate you speaking with me.

Sasha: Okay.

Brandon: I’m happy to link your Slack channel in the post or in the interview itself.

Sasha: Oh, sure, that would be great.

Brandon: Perfect.

Sasha: I’ll give you the link to the Slack channel for anyone in the DMV, and I’ll also share the conference information for UXCON. Next year’s keynote speaker is going to be Don Norman—the godfather of UX—so that should be really exciting.

Brandon: Very cool, very cool. It’s too late now, but there’s also a Quant UX Con wrapping up in a few hours. It’s great to see more conferences out there.

Sasha: Yes, absolutely.

Brandon: Okay, well, thanks again. I really appreciate it.

Sasha: No worries. Thanks. Bye.