From Midwife to User researcher

Hello, my name is Aissatou and I will tell you how I went from Midwife to UX Researcher …

Midwife by profession for 4 years and passionate about health since always, I needed new challenges in my life. I have always loved to reinvent myself and push my limits and now this curiosity pushes me to a professional reconversion. I did not have a favorite field for this change, but one thing was certain, my new job had to be as exciting as the old one, but it also had to impact on solutions for things to change. . What makes me happy? Humanity and discovery

In doing so, one night back from a delivery (because yes I was trading too), I was stuck in the traffic jams and it is while surfing on Facebook that I come across a very particular ad. The post that caught my attention came from the Ladies Club page and spoke of recruiting field investigators. What was the title of the post? Ux Researcher!

My first reaction was “What is this?” But good curiosity requires, I was already captivated by this appetizer; so I read the ad and in the end they asked for someone whose name started with C. What? They are serious ? I was conquered, my name starts with an A and as I have never been good at following the rules, I applied.

And I was taken !!! after a very friendly interview and a practical exercise in the field where I rediscovered myself, I loved it in the end. I absolutely had to start my new job.

I find myself overnight UX Researcher at YUX, a company specialized in UX Design, Human Centered Design, Design Thinking … sounds like Chinese to me !I scoured the internet looking for blogs and articles that deal with the subject and thankfully, I had access to a lot of literature on the topic including 10 words to understand UX Design and 5 reasons to adopt Design Thinking .

And that helped me a lot, but also works such as:

• The design of everyday things, Donald NORMAN,
• The psychology of human Computer interaction, Stuart CARD,
• Things that make us smart, Donald NORMAN

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Pleasantly surprised, this concept of user experience pleased me. Because all in all it was summed up in my head to a sentence: search for human needs by the human and for the human; and by this research, to innovate, to create products useful and adapted to the condition of each human being. And even novice in digital, design thinking, human centered design and all these geek things, the deep values ​​of these concepts speak to me and make me want to discover them, understand them and work on them.

Since then, I have not regretted my choice adventurer in the end but oh how rich. I discovered some essential topics that did not tell me much before. I work with a young team, full of good ideas that share; all the passion of living better together. It is an honor to share their challenge of a strong, developed, innovative and enterprising Africa.

Qualitative surveys focused on the user experience have become my daily routine. But what gives me even more desire to remain Ux Researcher, it is this notion of community, to belong to a compact group which while trying to understand the other one, learns, listens and thinks about solutions so that every human being is found in the services that are offered to him but also those he uses. The great challenge of this methodology is through research, providing competitive services and products by their adequate functionality as well as usability and adaptability to the end user.

The human centered design is my new baby, it is worth it!

What my typical day looks like

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> Work as a team on sampling and interview guides;

> Go to the field and conduct semi-directive and intercepts interviews. Simply put, these are discussions where the important thing is the respondent’s experiences, his feelings and opinions without good or bad answer and an exchange to highlight the needs and frustrations on specific topics.

>Run focus groups, ie discussion groups open to 7 or 8 people where everyone can express themselves on questions brought by the moderator;

> Transcribe my notes and analyze them individually;

> Brainstorm in group on the insights which stand out and to imagine tracks of digital solutions for the raised problems;

> Discuss with UX / UI designers about the customer journey, the features to be developed and the user experience of the product;

> Finally, learn new stuff ! Read and review articles regularly on the Human Centered Design and design thinking, workshops that evolve in debate about our opinions, feelings and position in relation to the point of view of the authors, very rewarding and ideal to develop critical thinking and questioning. Our Friday is also devoted to training at YUX.

And that’s it, I hope this has allowed you to learn more about this new job. Do not hesitate to contact us if necessary