Ep 7. From Barely Surviving as a Teacher to Thriving as a User Researcher with Sharon Ng

Have you ever felt trapped in a career that drains your spirit, wondering if the grass is truly greener on the other side? Today, I bring you a brave story of transformation that might just tip the scales for you. In this episode, I sit down with Sharon Ng, a former high school science teacher who made the leap to a User Researcher after some serious challenges with her mental and physical health brought on by her work environment. Sharon unfolds her narrative of long hours and personal safety challenges in the classroom, painting a vivid picture of the life she left behind. She details the sense of liberation and work-life harmony she's discovered in her current role—a stark contrast to her past hardships.

Sharon's story isn't just about change; it's about reinvention and the application of her unique skill set to her new domain. We discuss how her background as a junior research scientist and a science teacher has equipped her with a potent combination of research acumen and empathy, which she now applies to her UX research projects. Join us as we dissect her approach to blending qualitative and quantitative methods, and gain insights into how skills honed in one career can bring unexpected value to another. If you're an educator contemplating a switch to the tech field, or simply curious about the world of UX, Sharon's story will surely inspire you.

Note:  This story is deep and very personal. I want to warn you that my guest discusses violence in schools, mental health, and topics that may be disturbing, upsetting, and sensitive to some listeners. Please skip that chapter if it might be triggering to you. (Timestamp 6:33-7:52)

Guest Bio: Sharon Ng is a Mixed Methods User Researcher from New York City with demonstrated research, teaching, and leadership experience. She has worked in a neuroscience lab at New York University, where she gained invaluable skills in research methodologies and brought them to the students in her classroom. Bridging the skills she’s built as a former research scientist at NYU and the deep empathy skills she has developed as an educator has shaped her into the User Researcher she is today. Currently, she is a Mixed Methods User Researcher & Analyst for the internal digital products at Johnson & Johnson.

You can reach out to Sharon on Linkedin.

Resources:

• Grab your free UX transferable skills cheat sheet to get started on your transition journey to UX.
• Ready to find balance and unleash your creativity? Explore uxteacherprep.com to see how we can support you.
• Subscribe to our email list to be the first to receive updates about workshops and networking events.
• Follow us on Linkedin, Instagram, X, and YouTube for daily updates and tips.
• Want to be a guest on the show or know someone who’d be a great guest? Sign up here.
• Have ideas for a podcast topic you want to hear next? Email us at hello@uxeacherprep.com.
• Don’t forget to scroll down and leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️review. Thanks for listening!

Transcript

Narrator: 0:01

Welcome to the UX Teacher Prep podcast, the ultimate destination for educators who aspire to break into the field of user experience and product design. Your host, z Arnold, a 15-year teacher turned UX researcher, is here to guide, coach and mentor you through every twist and turn as you make your career transition into tech. If you're ready for a more satisfying career and lifestyle and you want the balance to unleash your creativity, this podcast is for you. Now for the show.

Zee: 1:05

Alright, it is so great to have you on the show today, sharon, and I am excited to talk to you about your transition to UX, and so, just before we get started, I would love to have you tell everyone a bit about who you are.

Sharon: 1:20

Thank you so much for having me. So my name is Sharon Ng. I am currently a mixed methods researcher at Johnson Johnson, and I would say my journey has not been linear. Right after college, I started out as a junior research scientist at New York University. I was working in the Neuroscience Department. From there, I was there for three years and then I started teaching in the DOE around 2015. I was a high school science teacher for seven years and then I am currently now transition to a UX researcher, and it's been about a year and three months now. So thank you for having me on here.

Zee: 2:08

Yeah, that's awesome. So seven years in the classroom and now you're a UX researcher. How does that feel?

Sharon: 2:14

It feels very liberating to have control of my own life, to have a work-life balance which I didn't have before. I feel like so much of my life was just dedicated to being a classroom teacher, and just it feels freeing the best way I could put it.

Zee: 2:38

Wow, yeah, I mean same thing here for work-life balance. Me being a user researcher. It has changed so many things in my life, just being able to have a lot of time back. Is your role remote or are you in person?

Sharon: 2:51

So my role is hybrid and I go into the office a couple times a month but otherwise it's remote. Yeah, I definitely have that luxury and free time to kind of find myself again, and I do feel like I lost a lot of myself when I was a classroom teacher.

Zee: 3:12

Yeah, that's interesting. A lot of people say that they kind of lose themselves in that whole career of being a teacher. Just so many things that you have to do, that you have to focus on, and so even when we're not in the classroom, we're still working. So I'm happy for you that you have that type of relief and you can find yourself again. What are some of the things that you find yourself doing now that you have extra time back?

Sharon: 3:34

So I have four pets actually, so they're really excited at work remote and it's really nice to have my pets with me. They're great when I'm stressed. I can use the bathroom whenever I want. That was the biggest thing when I was teaching. I remember my last year teaching I was also a 10th grade teacher team leader. So every Monday, I think, I had my lunch at 8.45 to 9.30. And then I would go straight from 9.30 to 4 o'clock without any breaks, because during lunch I would attend the leadership meeting and then after school I had to lead the 10th grade team meeting. So just really going to the bathroom whenever I want is one of the most exciting things that I can do. It was really affecting my health, physically and mentally as well. So just getting my mental health back, just more time for self-care and decompression, has been the biggest, I would say, difference in my life.

Zee: 4:39

Yeah, wow, that's important and your personal health is super important. I know the same thing happened to me. I barely had time to go to the bathroom and just meeting after meeting and class after class, and you don't always have someone to take over for you to go to the bathroom, correct?

Sharon: 4:55

That is crazy, yeah, and you know every time I tell the story about how you know I can go to the bathroom whenever I want, people are just in disbelief, but other teachers totally get it.

Zee: 5:07

Yeah, exactly, we get it. So let's talk a little bit about your journey to UX, because I know that back in 2022, you and I had an informal chat, like a coffee chat, and you were talking about being interested in UX and we were both New York City teachers and we made that connection there and then we spoke a little bit and then you eventually transitioned to that UX research role. So tell me about that whole process, that whole journey for you.

Sharon: 5:32

You were actually one of the first people I spoke to when I had the idea that I needed to get out of teaching and transition. I was trying to figure out what made the most sense for me, since I do have someone of extensive research background prior to teaching and I wanted to still be able to kind of transfer those skills I learned from when I was a junior research scientist to also the deep empathy skills that I developed during my seven years of teaching, to a career that would kind of encompass all that and bring that to light. And I found myself with UX research. So I had reached out to you via LinkedIn and you were very kind to say, yeah, let's do it, let's do a 30 minute coffee chat. And it was your conversation that actually inspired me to take the leap to UX research. Yes, there's yeah, I yeah.

Sharon: 6:32

At that time I was feeling my mental health really took a toll. I was actually on antidepressants and like being a teacher had really it was not the same after 2020. Covid kind of changed the whole dynamics of the classroom. It changed a lot of policies and I found myself kind of just in survival mode every day and I actually I think before our conversation I had went to the ER twice that month. It was just. One of the biggest triggers was the school safety issue, and there actually was. Someone had brought a gun to school. This is a DOE school and there was like a shootout right in front of the school and that triggered some racial trauma that I had actually went through earlier in my past life. So I knew I needed to get out and I did not want to live this life where I was dependent on medication anymore. I also had gained a lot away from the medication. I was not feeling like myself. So that's what really pushed me to make that transition and again, our conversation. I really needed that confidence boost, that to see another DOE teacher made the transition successfully Because again I think, working in the department of education, I lost a lot of myself and they really instilled imposter syndrome in you to make you believe that you are really not capable of a career outside of teaching. And I know a lot of teachers feel this across the country that they can't amount to anything else because of the lack of respect teachers have and we're constantly seen as glorified babysitters. So this is really why I'm thankful to come on this podcast to inspire teachers to know that there are so many transferable skills that we have that can transition really well to UX as well as other fields.

Sharon: 8:51

Sorry, I went off course a little bit. Yeah, so after our conversation, I looked into several boot camps. I ended up doing a UX research boot camp which started in July and it finished towards the end of the summer. It was about an eight week process and I was able to learn all the latest UX research tools, know how to carry out a case study from start to finish. I learned how to create an executive summaries and research reports and create a whole case study for my portfolio. And then, since I was going through a lot of health issues at the time which I had, some physical health issues which was brought on by my mental health, I ended up taking a medical leave of absence from the Department of Education till December. So I had finished up the year of teaching in June. I took the leave until December, so that was the timeframe I gave myself to transition. And after I finished the boot camp Actually, before I started the bootcamp, I had volunteered for this organization called Democracy Lab and I was able to volunteer as a UX researcher I ended up leading some of this UX research team on their onboarding process for other volunteers.

Sharon: 10:20

So I was doing that at the same time as my bootcamp, so that way I was able to practice the skills that I've learned through that bootcamp in real life for real stakeholders.

Sharon: 10:33

And I remember, zee, that from our conversation you said the most important thing is to be able to get experience producing real life research, real life stakeholders.

Sharon: 10:44

And then I started doing that project and then I found myself also volunteering at Orca Sound as a UX researcher to help the conservation of Orcas, and so I also did my own side project. I am also president of my co-op board and at the time I was also the chair of the communications committee. So I was tasked by the board president to do an overhaul of the website for my co-op board and I basically made that my UX research project. So I think it's important to find real life projects that, if you're not able to get experience through another organization, to kind of see what you can do yourself. And so with those couple of projects it looks like I caught the eye of several recruiters through LinkedIn and in my current role I actually didn't apply, for they reached out to me via LinkedIn. They messaged me and then I started interviewing the end of September and I think it was almost 10 rounds of interviews and then I got an offer right before Thanksgiving. So that was really great news.

Zee: 11:59

Wow. Well, congratulations on that offer. Yeah, and it's interesting because you said they reached out to you. So I'm wondering you were doing so many different things, especially like in the volunteer realm. Were you displaying those projects on your LinkedIn page or were you just like, maybe just posting about the things that you learned, like, how do you think that they were able to find you on LinkedIn?

Sharon: 12:19

Yes, so I posted those positions under my work experience on LinkedIn. Also, I had been doing a lot of LinkedIn learning courses. So once I completed those courses I attached those certificates to my LinkedIn, which also helped capture the attention of recruiters. Got you.

Zee: 12:38

Got you. I love that. I love, first of all, the fact that the conversation that we had was so inspirational to you, because I talked to so many. I talked to so many teachers transitioning teachers and after every conversation I'm just like I hope something stuck, like I hope they move forward with something, I hope they take a step toward changing their future, and sometimes you just never know which direction people ended up going in and sometimes I reach out to find out like how people are doing. So it's so great to hear that you were impacted in a positive way by our conversation. And then I also wanted to say it's just amazing that you were involved in so many different organizations and volunteer opportunities, because I know as a teacher you probably didn't have much time but you found the way to get all those other side projects done and the volunteer work and that really helped you in the long run?

Sharon: 13:22

Yes, for sure, and it was funny that I was looking at our last message before we connected about being on your podcast and I think I was saying thank you so much. I really hope that I can give back to the community as much as you've helped me, so I'm glad that we can come back full circle and again, I'm really excited to be on here talking to you.

Zee: 13:47

Yeah, definitely coming back full circle. And I was listening to what you said about your mental health and the antidepressants and that really hit home for me because I was going through a lot of physical health issues and mental health issues in my career as educator over time because there was just so many different things going on and I feel like sometimes you kind of try to tell people that you're going through these things and they don't take it as seriously as you know it is.

Zee: 14:13

And so that really hit home for me and I'm glad you're in a better situation now that you can move forward. I didn't even know that you were in the ER and all that before you spoke to me. I had no idea it was to that level. So I'm so glad that you've moved past that and you're kind of out of that situation. That's a blessing.

Sharon: 14:31

Thank you. Yeah, same here. I'm really excited. I'm really glad that you got out of it too, and I know several, several teachers. That's why there's so many leaving. They're also in similar situations and they're just kind of stuck and they don't know how to get out. So I hope this podcast you have can really inspire them to do the same and Make them choose themselves. Yep, yep.

Zee: 14:56

Absolutely, and I want to go back to your current role as a user researcher. So you are a researcher and also an analyst, so can you tell the listeners, like, what your day-to-day looks like, or like what are the types of things that you do in your role as a user Researcher and analyst?

Sharon: 15:12

Yes, so I'm actually on the people experience team, which means that our users are employees of the company, so these are like internal products that the company will launch for employees. My day-to-day it varies sometimes. We, while we usually start off with a daily stand-up meeting, I meet with other researchers, designers, software developers and product managers and we go over what's on the roadmap and the board and Then which projects are closing out, what's coming up. So that's how we usually start our mornings. So I'm a mixed methods researcher.

Sharon: 15:54

So we'll collect quantitative data through surveys and We'll do qualitative methods through user testing as well as interviews and focus groups, and We'll gather insights on that product. Then there's the scheduling involved as well. We'll create facilitator guides or usability scripts for what we need to do, depending on the needs of the stakeholders in that project, and then we Basically do those sessions or record it, take notes, gather insights, produce a final deck and Presents to the stakeholders. And then for the analyst part, there's a lot of Excel involved. So basically, after we do these surveys, we'll have a lot of big data like kind of hundreds of thousands, sometimes definitely always in the thousands from these survey responses and then I'll do a lot of the lookup to gather certain fields, and Then we pull those insights and basically create a dashboard of these Quantitative takeaways and data points for our stakeholders.

Zee: 17:17

Okay, it's interesting. So when you say mixed methods, I'm just saying for the listeners, they understand. Mix methods means you're doing qualitative and quantitative research, correct?

Narrator: 17:26

Yep.

Zee: 17:27

Yeah, so would you say, like your role is split evenly between qualitative and quantitative, or is one more than the other?

Sharon: 17:33

I would say it's a pretty even split, depending on the time of the month and what projects are coming up. So yeah, it's pretty even split.

Zee: 17:42

Okay, and then with the UX researchers about, how many do you have on your team? I'm wondering how large or small your research team is so our team is?

Sharon: 17:52

They just kind of launched a couple years ago. It's not that big, but it's just me and my Supervisor who's the research lead, and then our team also consists of product managers, designers and, yeah, different managers at different levels, so we have a team of about 10 people.

Zee: 18:15

Okay, that makes sense. Yep, so I know you mentioned that before you were an educator, you had some research background as a research scientist. So I'm just thinking about the actual science teacher experience that you had. So what are some connections that you've seen between being that science teacher and then your actual work right now is us UX researcher?

Sharon: 18:37

So the connections I was able to bring over from my previous experience was definitely research collection methods, how to carry a research project from start to finish. It all started kind of I think in college, my first research project, when I was actually in the Amazon I was interviewing. That was like my first user interviews. I was interviewing the villagers of the Amazonian rainforest, that tribe, on basically the Pink River Dolphin. We were also gathering quantitative data from. We wanted to see if the dolphins congregated in certain areas where the dissolved oxygen levels were, if they're congregated in areas that had higher levels of dissolved oxygen or lower levels.

Sharon: 19:28

So that was the first research project that took me through qualitative methods, through the user interviews and also data collection by collecting quantitative data with these meters we had and from that data there's also like a lot of raw data that might not necessarily be useful for your research projects. So you have to know exactly what kind of data to extract and create. Basically, from what you gather, create actionable insights for the stakeholders. So that's basically what I was able to apply from my previous research background Knowing how to collect data, how to write basically a research plan, how to gather insights from that data to create actionable insights and further implications for future research projects. Aka in UX Research Week would be just recommendations for how to improve that certain product that we're doing research on.

Zee: 20:32

Got it, got it. So you mentioned a lot about your previous role as a junior research scientist and I know you were a science teacher. So, yeah, I'm still trying to understand if there were any transferable skills that came from teaching that you can share, because I know a lot of listeners want to know, like they just want to have something to hold on to and say, okay, well, this is something that I'm doing as a teacher that I can bring over to being a UX researcher, because a lot of people that I talk to do want to be UX researchers. So is there like one or two things that you can pinpoint as transferable skills that you had that you felt carried over?

Sharon: 21:10

Yeah, so not even just being a science teacher I would say being any teacher of any field you have so many valuable and transferable skills. The fact that we can have conversations with so many different students, so many different staff members throughout the day and still be able to kind of present that in like a coherent level is, I would say, the biggest transferable skill that I've extracted. From teaching to UX and also in the DOE specifically, they had us create a tenure portfolio. So I did receive tenure during my time in the DOE and a lot of that were. We collected a lot of that data through inquiry cycles I know this is true across all the different fields so kind of putting yourself in that same mindset of how you collect the data and you created those actionable insights that you're able to apply for your portfolio.

Sharon: 22:14

Or also when you completed your master's degree I know in the DOE they require teachers to have a master's degree Just for your defense when you did your master's defense, you're able to kind of defend what you learn in that inquiry cycle. So those were very technical skills I learned. And then in terms of the empathy skills, the fact that we're teachers, we have to constantly interact with our students and just being able to have empathy for the 30 plus students sitting in your class about why they might be acting up or why they struggled this topic and being able to put yourself in their shoes. Those are very valuable skills that I was able to bring to UX because that helped me kind of empathize with my users and to kind of understand their perspective.

Zee: 23:12

Yeah, it's funny that you mentioned inquiry cycles, because I was trying to remember that term for so long.

Sharon: 23:16

Oh yes.

Zee: 23:17

Because I was trying to relate it to something that I do as a UX researcher and I was like, what is that thing that we used to do in the DOE? What was it called? What was it called? And you just reminded me it was inquiry cycles yes, yes and yeah.

Sharon: 23:28

the fact that we manage so many different things as teachers I think this is true for all teachers, or not just a classroom teacher they make us wear many hats in the field of education, and those are actually very valuable project management skills that you can also bring to the table when you're looking at how to kind of transfer those skills that you've learned from teaching to UX or maybe even other careers in tech as well.

Zee: 24:01

Yeah, so true. So before I let you go today, I just wanted to ask you if you could send one message to teachers who are transitioning or thinking about transitioning out of teaching. What would that message be?

Sharon: 24:14

So that message would be imposter syndrome is very real and you have so much more value than what the field of education is leading you to believe. You bring so much to the table and you just have to keep choosing yourself and believe in yourself. And I want to say also, it really helped me. Connecting with other people who have also made the transition, who are previous teachers like Z, through LinkedIn and also ADP lists, was a wealth of knowledge for me. It's a platform for free mentorship and there's a lot of UX researchers on there. I learned a lot from those mentors as well. So believe in yourself.

Zee: 25:09

Oh, okay, adp list and yeah, I like that advice about keep choosing yourself Very good one.

Sharon: 25:17

We teachers often forget that.

Zee: 25:22

So how can people reach you if they want to connect with you after the show?

Sharon: 25:24

You can share my LinkedIn link and they can just send me a message and I'd be happy to connect and speak a little bit more to them if they need any words of wisdom or advice.

Zee: 25:37

Awesome. Well, it was so great having you on the show today and learning about your career transition. I'm excited for your future and all the things that are going to continue to be great in your life and in your career, and thanks again for being on the show and we'll talk soon.

Sharon: 25:52

Thank you so much Z You're welcome. Who's great. Thank you.

Zee: 25:56

Bye, bye-bye.

Narrator: 26:02

Hey, thanks so much for tuning in. If you liked this podcast, hit, follow and scroll down to leave a five-star rating. Then share it with a friend. If you're looking for resources to help you on your tech transition journey, head over to uxteacherprepcom. Follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram at uxteacherprep for daily tips and motivation. Have a topic you'd like to hear addressed on the show? Send us a DM on Instagram. If you're listening on YouTube, like, subscribe and share. Until next time, be well.