Women in Tech: 6 Tips on How To Get Into the Industry
While the number of women in tech is slowly growing there is still a lot of ground to cover until we reach gender parity in the industry. While the easiest way to get into tech is to pursue a university degree in the field, however you may find you want to change career paths later on in life and going back to higher education might not be feasible.
The tech industry has a lot of employment opportunities, with a lot of tech companies struggling to find tech talent. The talent gap continues to grow and in the coming decade there will be thousands of tech vacancies that will need to be filled. When you look for a new role you’ll likely come across countless tech jobs that you may feel are out of your reach because you don’t have the correct professional or academic background. However, you can get into a tech career from many different backgrounds, you just need to know where to start.
A university degree in an IT-related subject isn’t the only pathway to a career in IT. There are many things you can do to change careers successfully, and I have listed some of the ways you can achieve your goal.
What other pathways into tech are there?
Find out which role matches what you’re looking for
First thing’s first. You need to do your research into the tech industry and understand what roles there are. If there is a certain role you feel most passionate about, that extra motivation will help you when making the transition. You may not be able to land your dream role from the get-go, so you need to be prepared to work hard towards it. When it comes to getting into the tech industry with no or very little experience it’s all bout working your way up and excelling in the early roles of your budding career.
Learning Tech Skills
It goes without saying that learning tech skills is important when trying to break into the industry. While going back to or starting a university course may not be feasible, there are a whole host of other resources and training that are accessible that’ll allow you to learn the skills you’ll need. Once you’ve figured out what area of tech you want to get into search for courses online that will help you learn the required skills. You can always reach out to others that work in the same area to see what courses and programmes they would recommend. If you’re looking at getting into development, some of the best skills to learn at the start are HTML and JavaScript.
Get a Mentor
Finding a mentor at any stage is beneficial regardless of what stage you are at in your career, it’s not only beneficial when you’re trying to get into tech or learn something new. When you work with someone that’s got the tech knowledge and experience In your chosen field you’ll be able to develop the skills you’ll need. Trying to learn everything on your own through an online medium can be very difficult, especially when you have questions. That’s why having a mentor is ideal as you’ll be able to arrange to meet, or speak on the phone so you can get the answers you need.
Get out there and network
Having and making connections is extremely important when trying to get into the tech space. A good way to do this is to attend conferences and meetups and talking to as many as people as you can. Meeting people that are like-minded is not only good for networking, but also for gaining more skills and expanding those you already have. When you network you’ll also get a sense of how various companies implement and operate tech skills in their day-to-day operations. The more you get out there and connect with people, the more your chances of landing a tech job will increase.
Undertake mini tech projects
One of the best ways to break into the tech industry is by undertaking mini projects. Mini projects can be found online, or you can set goals for yourself to complete. You can do these projects alongside your current job or in your spare time. It’s key that you develop your knowledge and build your experience within the industry as it’ll help you build a portfolio for when you are ready to apply for the jobs you want.
Undertake a training course
And finally make sure that you sign up for training courses as they are fantastic way to learn new skills that’ll help you get into the tech industry. There are two ways you can undertake training programmes- online, or face-to-face in the city where you live. You can find the best training courses for your career goals online and choose the one that ticks all the boxes to help you develop the knowledge you’ll need.
Have I missed anything else? Let me know in the comments!
If you’re looking to get into the tech industry and would like to chat, get in touch with us!