I got the job of a Consultant in Client Services for the Sawtooth Software UK branch without any experience in conjoint analysis, MaxDiff, or advanced survey making. I'm a psychologist with experience in quantitative analysis i.e., correlations, multiple regression, ANOVAs, etc. I was worried about the lack of experience in conjoint analysis, MaxDiff, or advanced survey making before I started the job, so I was hoping the training would make up for my lack in experience. However, the training was terrible. I was left to my own devices without sufficient support. I was told: "these are the resources, everything is there, figure things out". They often mentioned they want me to ask questions, but when things were explained to me, I was left with more questions than answers. I was never given the answer but was given a “clue” which was supposed to help me find out the answer, but that only made me more frustrated. This method of teaching should have been implemented later on in the job when I would have a solid knowledge of the basics. I didn't know the basics and I didn't know where exactly to look for the answers. In any modern educational setting, the basics are taught in a classroom, or at least video-guides or comprehensive step-by-step guides. The training, in general, was unstructured and the online sources were chaotic, scattered, and incomprehensible to anyone who doesn't have knowledge in the aforementioned subjects. There was no designated trainer, but only one of the managers who was clueless about delivering training. It was very frustrating trying to find answers for hours on end through a plethora of online sources. During those hours, I remember asking myself “is this job worth it?”. The answers may or may not have been on their online sources. In most cases, I couldn’t find them. To put it simply, imagine doing a Master’s degree on a topic you have limited prior knowledge, without a linear and comprehensive tutorial or guide (there was a guide I was supposed to be following but the manager kept giving me tasks which had nothing to do with it), and a bunch of poorly written and unstructured PDFs. In other words, a nightmare. Throughout my previous studies, when I would get stuck on something, I could always find some kind of forum, video, comprehensive guide etc. that would help me find the answer I am looking for. But in the case for Lighthouse Studio (the main application of Sawtooth Software), there are no other sources one can look at. The application has its own programming language, and the application is not well-known enough for other people to be making guides/tutorials, so I was stuck with the application’s online sources. Furthermore, It was only myself and two managers in the UK offices, so there were no opportunities to socialise with colleagues. One of the managers was kind, but often had other jobs to attend to and the other manager was obnoxious, arrogant, and dismissive. It came to my attention that the kind manager would soon have to leave for the US, and I would be stuck alone with the obnoxious UK manager; something I was dreading. However, I realised later the kindness of the US manager was just a façade. Anyhow, one day I was extremely stressed after I made one mistake in a construction survey where I overlooked an instruction. I simply didn’t see the instruction in the plethora of instructions. The manager, also, told me I made another mistake, but in the aftermath that mistake was proven not to be a mistake. So, I reached out to the “kind” manager, and I expressed my worries about the job with the hope that they would increase support or make impactful changes to the training. However, the next day, less than three weeks after my start day, I was let go from the job. This seemed very cut-throat to me. However, I admit I was relieved. Truth be told I probably would have quit myself after all the stress the job caused to me and after seeing how poor the training and support was. Sawtooth Software has given me the impression of a cut-throat company. The worst part is that I had quit my previous job and wasted a lot of time when I could be applying for other roles. Did they not know I did not have experience in the given subject? Of course, they knew.
