Transitioning to Tech

There’s a lot of online talk about transitioning careers from other industries into tech. You may have seen former colleagues posting on LinkedIn about completing technical certifications or deciding to join bootcamps. The tech field isn’t going anywhere and will only expand and grow into their future. Even with tech layoffs, transitioning to tech is still one of the best options to elevate your career. If you’ve considered making a career pivot into tech, here is a guide to making the move with mindfulness and confidence.

Why Transition to Tech?

Besides the high salaries you see posted on job boards and the "day in the life of" TikTok videos that glamorize working at big tech companies, why would you want to transition to tech? Because you're a problem solver. If you're the type of person who prefers action over talk, who does everything you can to find solutions when challenges arise and who can make a plan, execute and keep trying when obstacles block you, you will thrive in a career in tech. You also don't necessarily need a degree to get in tech. While having a computer science degree is preferred for certain roles, with online courses becoming more and more popular and accessible, it is easier than ever to transition into a technical career. Keeping these things in mind, also remember that you are now more ready than you realize to move into the tech field with the skills that you already have. Take some time today and write down the skills you have from your current and previous positions. At least one if not all of those skills will transfer to value adds in the tech field.

Where Do I Start?

There are so many avenues and paths to go in tech whether it be coding roles in software development and engineering or software quality assurance roles or even tech sales and marketing. There are data science and analyst roles, cybersecurity and project and product management roles. No matter what you are interested in, there is a place for you in this field.

• Start Where You Are: If you already work for a company that you love and you're curious about a technical role, find out what is available at that company. Most companies have a tech side and are actively looking for talented individuals to join. Most companies prefer to recruit internally so if you are interested in a technical role at the company you are already at, get in touch with recruitment/HR and find out what skills you need and the steps to take to move into those roles. Find people within your organization who already work in the departments and positions you are interested in and set up coffee chats to hear how they got into tech, ask your questions and show your enthusiasm and interest. You never know the connections you can make and where they can take you!

  • Resources to Help Find Your Place:

    • Discover Your Saboteurs: Find out what could be holding you back from achieving greatness and how to move forward to fulfill your life goals

    • 16 Personalities: Take this quick comprehensive test to find out more about who you are and what makes sense for your next steps in all areas

    • Choosing The Right Technology Career: My awesome friend Cory Kelly wrote this free ebook to help you figure out what you want to do in tech

    • Tech Pathways: comprehensive guide breaking down the various career pathways one can take in tech. This serves to be a master database of information with breakdowns of the languages, frameworks, and skills needed in order to do a certain pathway.

    • How To Choose The Best Tech Career Path For You: Learn about various tech roles to see if they resonate with you

What Resources Exist to Start Upskilling?

As someone who has transitioned to tech without paying to learn and upskill, I try to primarily share FREE resources to help others do the same thing. Here are some FREE technical bootcamps with various start dates who train career transitioners remotely.

• Free Technical Bootcamps:

  • Ada Developers Academy

  • Techtonica

  • Generation USA

  • Data Science For All

  • FullStack Academy Data Analyst Training Accelerator

  • Recurse Center

• Free Online Self Paced Programs:

  • 100Devs

  • Free Data Analyst Bootcamp

  • Codecademy

  • Free Code Camp

  • The Odin Project

  • Scrimba

How To Pivot To Tech While Working Full Time

The length of time it takes to transition to tech is different for everyone. Don't set limits and unreasonable time frames on yourself for what that looks like because that kind of pressure will only discourage you and make what should be an empowering learning journey a miserable one. If you have financial support and are able to spend dedicated time to your journey - great! If you must work full time and learn before/after work or on weekends - that's another way to go about it too. Be sure to take your time - technical concepts can be complex and more time consuming to practice and understand. This is normal and ok. Learn at your own pace and take these steps in a way that is right for you personally.

Stay Engaged and Keep Going

If you've made the decision to transition to tech - congratulations! You have a fun, challenging, satisfying and sometimes frustrating journey ahead but with hard work and the support of community behind you, you will succeed and thrive in the tech field.

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