Pivoting from UX Research?
As many are seeing or experiencing themselves, the state of UX, especially research, is in a really tough place.
I was affected by a large round of layoffs at the end of 2025 and have been on the job hunt ever since. I have about 5 years of experience leading mixed methods research with MAANG, financial services, and social media teams from the agency side. I have a Masters in HCI. I lean more qual with light quant and have thought about trying to shift more into SQL, R, or Python as that is where the market has felt it is going but still looks shaky.
I have been applying and interviewing for months, either never getting a response to applications or making it into final rounds of interviews. At this point I am nearing a year of this job search and genuinely do not know what to do. I’m getting signals it is still possible with these late stage cycles but this market is devastating.
I have truly loved the impact that I’ve made through user research and the experience I’ve developed, but it sometimes feels like I’m going down with the ship in this field.
So I’m looking for advice: at what point do I make a pivot out of UXR? How long do I try to stay in this?
If I stay in UXR, how should I approach this search?
If I shift out, what translatable fields would be my best best?