Tech Career Guide: Taking your career to the next level
Read our roundup of practical advice and tips from industry experts to reach the next step in your career.
Let’s take you back to when you entered the world of work.
A few years have passed since then and you’ve worked hard to build your career in technology, navigating your way through the industry whilst learning a lot and figuring out what you actually like/love doing. Now you’re ready to take the next step in your career- whether that be applying for a senior role, going for that promotion, or transitioning into a new area- and we’re here to help.
Below we’ve rounded up our top tips, resources, and practical advice from industry experts to help you advance your career and reach your next goal- whatever that may be. Our advice is for those working in technical and non- technical roles.
1. Upskill and learn something new
Upskilling is to teach or learn additional skills to your main core set of knowledge. It’s a useful way to progress in your career as it:
- shows that you’re taking initiative and want to keep learning.
- gives you the chance to work with new peers and learn about alternative career paths.
- makes you stand out from the crowd and gives you a competitive edge when applying for new roles/promotions.
- enables you to negotiate a higher salary.
- lets you challenge yourself and have fun learning something new.
A lot of our previous graduates have completed our course as a way to upskill and have progressed to a more senior role, a different role or had a complete career change.
What skills could I learn?
Tons! Pick a skill that would be relevant to your role or something that you’re interested in. For example, if you’re working in marketing you could learn to code build websites, understand and use data more efficiently, and create better emails and newsletters.
Here are a few popular skills you could get your teeth into:
- Coding. For beginners, you can get stuck into web or native app development or get an introduction to data or learn to build games or get into robotics, and more. If you’re already a programmer, consider learning another language, getting to grips with a new framework, etc.
- Design (web design, UX, UI)
- Media (photos, videos, podcasts, animation) editing
Where can I learn?
You could learn online or in-person depending on what suits you best. Here are some places you can learn:
In- person
- 23 Code Street- coding
- General Assembly- varied digital skills training
- City Lit- lots of different courses
- Local colleges and universities
Online
When it comes to funding your course, check with your employer to see if they have a learning and development budget, or if they would be able to fully/partially fund your course. Present a clear argument to your manager about why you want to do the course, what you’ll learn, and how it will benefit you and the company. To help with this, check out our negotiation section.
Further resources to read:
2. Extracurricular activities
It can be fun to learn more about the tech industry and discover new opportunities by getting involved in activities outside of work such as events, workshops, and community groups.
Events
There are more and more events happening across the UK, ranging from interesting panel events to practical workshops and inspiring talks. Pick one that interests you, that you actually want to go to, that doesn’t feel like a chore. Find events that work for you- there are smaller, intimate events, bigger, louder ones, those with or without alcohol, some very guided, others that just allow people to chat.
You could also get involved in hackathons to create a start-up or product that you’re interested in over a weekend (usually). You will, normally, have the chance to attend masterclasses, speak directly to mentors, and hear from expert speakers. There is a mixture of technical and non-technical need at these events. There are also women-only hackathons. You may have heard the stereotype of hackathons being about all-nighters fuelled by beer, Redbull and pizza- but the standard is changing (and we are so glad it is!).
We appreciate that a lot of these events are in the evening — a time when not everyone is free, especially if you have children. Some events (the better ones!) are child-friendly and have a dedicated space for parents. We are seeing the rise of breakfast events too and the odd day event or conferences that are great if you’re able to attend.
Here are some groups to follow to keep in the loop about upcoming events. We recommend signing up to their newsletters:
Communities
There are a lot of in-person and online communities which are full of people excited about tech. By being part of a community, you’ll have access to opportunities and events, access to helpful resources, and a peer group who know what you are going through, who will support and champion you, and who may even end up as part of your friendship group.
Here are some communities you could join (on top of the ones above!):
Code Untapped
Foundervine
Geek Girl Meetup
She Plus Plus
Tech for Good meet up
Women who code
YSYS
3. Pave the path for others
The tech industry has some serious diversity issues, this is well known. You can do a lot to create a better industry by making it more inclusive and to lift others up with you on your career journey!
You could become a mentor/friend/fairy godmother to someone who is younger or less experienced than you and share your insights with them. To start mentoring, find out if there’s a mentoring scheme at your work, find a mentee through personal connections or apply to external schemes which support those from under-represented communities. Through mentoring someone from a diverse background and opening doors for them, you’ll also be helping to diversify the tech scene and make it more accessible for everyone.
Alternatively, you can speak at schools, colleges and universities about your tech journey. Research shows that women are more likely to work in tech if they have role models they can look up to. Or you could share your skills and expertise with organisations in need — media trust connects organisations with volunteers who have the skills they’re looking for.
Here are some organisations which run mentoring schemes:
Creative Mentor Network — they provide brilliant training
Create Jobs
Develop Her
Tech London Advocates
Witty Careers
4. Shout about yourself!
Have you’ve done something amazing at work but hesitated to talk about it or share it online? We worry about coming across as a ‘show off’ or ‘being big-headed’.
It can be hard to talk about oneself for many reasons but shouting about your achievements and highlighting the impact that you’ve made is key to progressing in the next stage of your career and building your personal brand.
You are letting others know what you’ve achieved -this is not showing off. In our team, if one of us has had success, we celebrate… we ask when the achievement is being posted on LinkedIn or on Twitter. Find a friend/colleague and hold each other accountable for sharing your successes.
Here are some ways you can shout about yourself:
- In team meetings talk about your own achievements- if you’ve increased revenue, secured a new client, helped build an amazing new product etc, let others know about.
- Take compliments and don’t shy away from your success — if someone is praising your work, talk about what you did and how you got your results.
- Share your success online — share any exciting news on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and don’t forget to include any links to your work.
- Nominate yourself for awards, speaking events (but get paid!), leadership -put yourself forward for amazing opportunities.
- Get involved in discussions about tech online or in-person. Have you heard or seen a conversation at work or on Twitter where you thought could add value? Speak up and show everyone you know your stuff.
Further resources to watch or listen:
4. Learn to negotiate & get what you are worth!
Ahhhh, money. The thing we all need but feel so awkward talking about.
Research has found that only 7% of women negotiate their salary compared to 57% of men.
Negotiating and feeling confident and comfortable talking about money is vital. Negotiating efficiently will not only help you secure a higher-paid salary but will help with securing other “benefits” such as flexible working, funding for training, etc.
You are a catch — you add value. Sometimes, people may not negotiate as they feel lucky they got that new position/ promotion and don’t want to rock the boat by asking for more, however, the job is yours because you were the best candidate and you need to leverage that knowledge.
Here are some of our top negotiation tips:
- Do your research: find out what the industry average salary is for your role, you can use tools such as LinkedIn’s salary checker, Payscale, and Glassdoor to do this or speak to other connections working in similar roles.
- Explain what you’ll add to the company: research has shown that women are better at negotiating for others than themselves. When it comes to negotiating, focus on the value you will add for the company and what they’ll be able to achieve by you working there. Back up your negotiations by highlighting the value you’ve added in previous roles.
- Practise your negotiation speech beforehand: Invest some time to prepare and plan exactly what you’re going to say and how. Try and practise with someone beforehand and roleplay different scenarios and how you would respond to questions. Don’t overuse phrases such as ‘I think’ or ‘maybe’ as it can make you appear unsure.
Advice when negotiating at a new start-up
Small, growing start-ups might not actually have the money to pay you more- but that doesn’t mean you can’t negotiate other benefits such as equity, funding to attend workshops/ conferences or introductions to industry experts/ groups (founders often know lots of cool people).
Further resources to read or watch:
On top of our roundup, we’ve asked three incredible women in tech to share their top tips which have helped them reach their next step.
Rabeb Othmani, Software Engineer and Developer Advocate
Don’t be scared of failing: To be successful and to advance in tech takes a lot of hard work and trial. We don’t get things right the first time all the time, in fact, most of the time. Don’t get disheartened if you fail, it’s not a failure, it’s a lesson learnt to do better next time.
Be authentic: always be yourself. I know it’s hard to be a woman in tech sometimes but be authentic and truthful to yourself. It’s who you are and what you bring with you that makes tech a more exciting place. Diverse backgrounds and ideas bring more innovation and creativity to the field.
Bushra Burge, Founder and Creative Director of BB Studio
1) Find a mentor. A few in fact. They will have been through what you have already been through and be able to help you identify and introduce you to opportunities.
2) Surround yourself with people who facilitate and encourage you to be your best, to do what you want to do and be who you are and express your ideas and your opinions. The people who want you to be visible and heard. And they are proud of you on your good days and help you up on your bad days. Find these people because they are your tribe. And watch everything fall into place.
Ramat Tejani, Marketing Manager, Founder of The Inspiration Box & 23 Code Street Graduate
Be curious about the unknown: I can honestly say that my curiosity has led me into most of my roles. Whether at an event, in an interview or simply talking to a stranger in a queue you can always find me asking questions in order to learn more. Open-ended questions are conversation starters that you’ll often be remembered for. At events, I like to find out more about what attracted others to attend whilst at interviews I like to find out what has kept the interview at the company. This curiosity has led to sooo many interesting conversations. You should give it a go!
Read widely and stay informed: Reading helps widen your perspectives on life and also your vocabulary. When it comes to which books you should read, my suggestion is to be diverse! In the same way, a diverse team will produce better ideas, a diverse bookshelf will produce a better knowledge base. Mix it up between fiction and non-fiction and remember that you don’t need to accept everything you read as the only way to approach things — its usually just one person’s perspective. In widening your perspectives you have more to offer an organisation. You’ll have a unique way at any looking at problems presented and therefore be more likely to come up with unique solutions!
People often say they don’t have enough time to read. I’d challenge them to find the time. I’ve switched my music on my commute to and from work to audiobooks. This has allowed me to get through almost 10 books already this year. A few of my recent favourites include:
- Becoming — Michelle Obama
- Shoe Dog — Phil Knight
- The Idea in You: How to find it, build it and change your life — Martin Amor and Alex Pellew
We hope you’re feeling ready to move up to your next step! If you’ve got any questions just send them over to hello@23codestreet.com or tweet us. This blog
