Since graduating in 2017 with a MSc in Social Anthropology, Calen has worked at Stripe Partners and is now a researcher for tech startup, Forecast.
Tell us about your career journey since graduating from LSE.
After graduating at LSE, I joined Stripe Partners, a research and strategy consultancy based in London. Anthropology is central to the research methods and ways of thinking at Stripe Partners as they use their research expertise, ability to frame questions and problems, and acumen for human insights to provide direction to some of the world's best-known companies. I spent 4 years at Stripe Partners and progressed through the levels from a Junior Consultant to Associate Director. In 2021 I decided I wanted to move "in-house" as a researcher in the tech world and I joined Forecast, a startup in the project management and resource planning space. In the last few years I pivoted from my researcher role to my current role as product manager.
How do you apply Anthropology in your work?
When trying to build software products that are valuable to people, it is crucial to understand (1) what problems are meaningful to your users and what they are trying achieve, (2) what is the holistic context and patterns of behaviour that they are operating in, and (3) what mental models and vocabulary do users have which correspond to features and functions of the software. My background in Anthropology gives me the tools to identify and articulate each of these, as well as having given me a profound appreciation for their importance to begin with.
What do you enjoy most about working in software development?
I work with folks who have very diverse skill sets, areas of expertise and ways of thinking. Software engineers, designers, UX researchers, sales and customer support, as well as management – there is a lot that I can learn by osmosis and working in this way brings my own assumptions and ways of communicating into question. Each day, week and month brings different challenges and problems to work on. And lastly, the experience of bringing something to life from an initial idea to a concrete piece of software that you can see in action is very rewarding.
What are some important lessons you’ve learnt during your career?
It can be tempting to think of professional organisations and people at work as strictly rational actors. We assume that decisions are carefully made after reviewing all the evidence and weighing the alternatives. We assume that people know what they need and why, and that they will ask for it explicitly. In fact professional life is as laden with emotional, psychological and social elements as any other social reality, and professional organisations reflect this. People often don't know, or won't explicitly say, what they want or need from others. Paying attention to these factors in your workplace, your colleagues, your clients etc can be a superpower whereas focusing only on the explicit and rational elements is like wearing blinders.
In tech you'll often hear "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good." It's taken me time to internalise this but it's a really important lesson. As researchers we often have a desire to uncover all the unknowns in a given area before proceeding with solutions. Perhaps anthropologists in particular dislike giving simple answers to complex questions, and tend to answer with "It depends..." or "It's complicated..." There's a place and time for rejecting over-simplifications, but you have to pick your battles. The rest of the time it's about making the best decision and best solutions despite not having perfect information or solving for every case.
What advice would you give students who want to build a similar career?
Reach out to first and second degree contacts, even strangers on LinkedIn, to have as many informal coffee chats as you can. It's not about getting a job offer at first – the main thing you want to figure out is whether you really want a career in tech. Don't worry about finding the perfect job to start off with. Internships, graduate schemes, and other roles in tech will always help you gain experience and clarity on where you want to go next. Take it one step at a time – UX researchers and product managers tend to have diverse career paths and that is a strength, not a weakness.
Resources:
- EPIC conference, events and job board: https://www.epicpeople.org/
- Read books on applied social sciences (Sam Ladner, Simon Roberts, Christian Madsbjerg, etc.) and follow the authors on LinkedIn.
- There are tons of podcasts about tech careers and trends, just Google for a list. A good one to start with for UX research is Dollars to Donuts by Steve Portigal.