Amelia Scott

Honestly the first few weeks aren't about courses, they're about ears. Block three coffee chats a week with UX researchers, designers who do research, or even PMs who commission it, and ask what artifacts they actually ship. You will hear the same handful of deliverables come up and that is your syllabus. Take notes like a court reporter because those phrases become the headings in your case studies. Meanwhile, pick two problems you can study without permission, like onboarding confusion in an app you use or how people choose a plan on a pricing page. Use the skills you already have and triangulate, pair a small dataset with a few interviews so it feels like mixed methods. One of my better portfolio pieces started as a quick "why are people dropping at step three" and turned into five think aloud sessions, a funnel dive, and a before and after recommendation that saved support tickets. Keep your day job safe by scheduling sessions before work or at lunch, using PTO for anything heavy, and never touching company data or tools for your demos. Bootcamp only if you crave structure and mentorship and it does not promise jobs, otherwise a targeted course on research methods plus a critique group will get you there. Script wise, something simple works, like a short note that you are in analytics exploring UXR, wish to learn how they framed their portfolio and would appreciate fifteen minutes, and you will happily return the favor.