Many in the tech industry are getting laid off and our podcast hosts are not immune to this recent wave in layoffs. In this very personal episode, Kenji and Licheng discuss Licheng being recently laid off from the 15-person, seed-stage startup for which he poured his blood, sweat, and tears.

They discuss:

Licheng’s experience at an early-stage startup and recent layoff

How Licheng is coping with being let go

Tips for others who are going through a similar experience

Working through major life changes

Resources mentioned:

“Yes, you can beat the layoffs” - article by Licheng

The “Peak-end Rule”

We're Jabbin' is a weekly podcast hosted by Kenji Kaneko (a Product Designer) and Licheng Zhu (a UX researcher) where they discuss and debate topics broadly related to UX research and design.

Follow us!

Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WereJabbin

Follow Kenji: https://twitter.com/kenjivkaneko

Follow Licheng: https://twitter.com/Lichenger

Email the pod with questions, topics you'd be interested, or feedback:

Mimetic, what?! In this episode, Licheng and Kenji discuss the theory of Mimetic Desire originally created by the French philosopher René Girard, in which he states that human desire is inherently social. The theory has recently come into the limelight in interviews with Peter Thiel as well as deeply explored in the recent, excellent book by Luke Burgis ”Wanting The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life.”

Time to reflect! In this episode, Kenji and Licheng talk about UX, and despite the thought that UXers should be the voice of the user, it often feels like the relationship with users is transactional and project-based....and how we might move away from that.

They discuss:

Is the work I'm doing as a UX-er meaningful?

Business goals vs. actual things users care about in real life

Being connected with people who use your product

Baking in reflection points into the product development process

How to make software teams feel proud about what they have created

How can we move away from "imperialist" research and design?

About the Pod We're Jabbin' is a weekly podcast hosted by Kenji Kaneko (a Product Designer) and Licheng Zhu (a UX researcher) where they discuss and debate topics broadly related to UX research and design.

Follow us!

Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WereJabbin

Follow Kenji: https://twitter.com/kenjivkaneko

Follow Licheng: https://twitter.com/Lichenger

Email the pod with questions, topics you'd be interested, or feedback:

We're back for Season 2!

Licheng and Kenji talk about their experiences with onboarding remotely to a new job and how this differs from onboarding to an "in-person job".

They discuss:

Their experiences as they are onboarding remotely to new jobs

Is it important to get to know your teammates beyond project work?

The challenges to building meaningful bonds remotely and ideas for creating relationships with colleagues

Struggles with deciphering the boundaries when getting to know your colleagues

How might online gaming teach us about remote teams?

Final thoughts for improving onboarding

About the Pod We're Jabbin' is a weekly podcast hosted by Kenji Kaneko (a Product Designer) and Licheng Zhu (a UX researcher) where they discuss and debate topics broadly related to UX research and design.

Follow us!

Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WereJabbin

Follow Kenji: https://twitter.com/kenjivkaneko

Follow Licheng: https://twitter.com/Lichenger

Email the pod with questions, topics you'd be interested, or feedback:

Licheng and Kenji discuss a great book on building product: "Escaping the Build Trap" by Melissa Perri. They also dive into a listener question about working with stakeholders who don't value user research.

On this episode of the We're Jabbin' podcast, Kenji asks Licheng to talk through his 8-month long job search. After being the field of UX research for ~3 years, this search was a bit different than what he looked for when he first came out of grad school. Licheng gives a peek behind the curtain, detailing everything from the companies he interviewed with to the offers he received.Licheng spills the tea on:

Why he was looking to leave his most recent job

What he was looking for in his next role and company

The where and what ($$$) of the offers he received

Why he chose this particular job offer in the end

----more----

About the PodWe're Jabbin' is a weekly podcast hosted by Kenji Kaneko (a Product Designer) and Licheng Zhu (a UX researcher) where they discuss and debate topics broadly related to UX research and design.

----more----

Follow us!

Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WereJabbin

Follow Kenji: https://twitter.com/kenjivkaneko

Follow Licheng: https://twitter.com/Lichenger

----more----Email the pod with questions, topics you'd be interested, or feedback!:

Licheng and Kenji discuss what they wish they looked for in their first UX research and Design jobs. The guys talk about their paths, what they wish they had done differently, and what they would do now if they were on the hunt for their first UX job.

On this episode of the We're Jabbin' podcast, Licheng and Kenji discuss what they are looking forward to in 2021 and their predictions in the worlds of UX, tech, and society at large for the new year.

----more----About the PodWe're Jabbin' is a weekly podcast hosted by Kenji Kaneko (a Product Designer) and Licheng Zhu (a UX researcher) where they discuss and debate topics broadly related to UX research and design.

----more----

Follow us!

Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WereJabbin

Follow Kenji: https://twitter.com/kenjivkaneko

Follow Licheng: https://twitter.com/Lichenger

----more----Email the pod with questions, topics you'd be interested, or feedback!:

On this episode of the We're Jabbin' podcast, Licheng and Kenji discuss what it means to level up beyond usability for product designers and UX researchers. They cover what they perceive to be the three levels of design/research (that they know about) and reflect on what they have learned so far in their careers.They discuss the 3 levels of being a Product Designer/UX Researcher:

Level 1 -  Execution

Level 2 - Collaboration & Facilitation

Level 3 - Influence & Product Thinking

Level 4 - TBD (???)

----more----About the PodWe're Jabbin' is a weekly podcast hosted by Kenji Kaneko (a Product Designer) and Licheng Zhu (a UX researcher) where they discuss and debate topics broadly related to UX research and design.

----more----

Follow us!

Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WereJabbin

Follow Kenji: https://twitter.com/kenjivkaneko

Follow Licheng: https://twitter.com/Lichenger

----more----Email the pod with questions, topics you'd be interested, or feedback!:

On this episode of the We're Jabbin' podcast, Licheng and Kenji do a post-mortem of the remote design sprint that Licheng ran last week at his company. Licheng recovers from the intense week and later the guys get a bit deep on topics unrelated to UX.