Soft Skills in a Tech World: A Psychologist’s Journey to IT Consulting
Slowly I am making my way across the narrow corridor, along with dozens of fellow PhD researchers. Stretching to see past the other job seekers, I attempt to read the banners positioned in the vicinity of the various booths. Recognizing a nearby logo, I look at the paper in my hand, reading the highlighted company names. That logo indeed belongs to Alluring Data Company. Shuffling closer to the ADC booth, I make eye contact with a man, beckoning me with inviting arm gestures. He introduces himself as a recruiter for ADC, and inquires whether I am interested in his company. Before I can answer, he glances at the yellow-coloured badge hanging from my neck. A confused look crosses his face, the warm smile I saw before returns. “Psychology and Cognitive Sciences? I am sorry, but ADC is currently not looking for such a profile.”. Before I can come up with a response, the man pivots away and gestures another job fair visitor.
If you are a psychology, sociology, or other ‘soft science’ graduate attempting a career switch towards IT, the above scenario is probably quite familiar to you. Recruiters are often looking for the best possible fit for a position, relying on instructions provided by the companies they represent. These requirements usually outline a desired degree, years of experience, certification, or experience in relevant technologies. Since IT recruiters are often searching for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) graduates, job seekers with non-STEM degrees might find it nearly impossible to even be selected for a first interview.
In the fall of 2022, I was a Ph.D. researcher analysing EEG data collected from human subjects making simple choices in our lab. Today, in fall 2023, I work as a data engineer writing code to transform raw data into usable information. Looking back, I believe some choices I made during my graduate years facilitated this transition from academic research in psychology toward a career in IT.
In this blog post, I will outline the factors which I believe had a positive impact on my career switch, hoping that they will help others make the switch to a new professional field.
- Dare to be curious
- Put yourself out there!
- Don’t undersell yourself
- Craft a professional image
- Build a network
1. Dare to be curious
During my bachelor of psychology, we had two mandatory courses on programming (surprising, I know). The reason? Psychology experiments often entail human subjects doing a simple computer task, so psychology researchers should be able to program their own experiments. When I first started programming, I was already glad when my program actually did what it was supposed to do (still applies today though). However, after some time I started to question why I did certain things, and what would happen if I did them differently. An example is how a collection of items can be defined in the Python programming language. One datatype suitable for containing a group of items is the list. Interestingly, there are two ways to construct a list. One way is to use the constructor:
groceries = list(('banana', 'eggs', 'milk'))Another way is using index brackets:
groceries = ['banana', 'eggs', 'milk']Wondering about the difference, I searched for an explanation and found this 7-year-old StackOverflow thread. Intrigued by this explanation, I ‘fell’ into a rabbit hole where I learned more about Python’s dis module, bytecode, and other low-level topics. All in all, I spent several hours in this rabbit hole, and it sparked great joy.
Several times throughout my Ph.D., I encountered situations that elicited the urge to dive deeper into a specialized topic, always resulting in a feeling of satisfaction after I (more or less) understood why something works the way it works. These exploratory sessions might not be immediately relevant to my everyday life (although the difference between the = and <- operators in the R programming language is definitely a cocktail party topic), but they definitely expanded my technical expertise. Looking back, I strongly believe diving deep is highly valuable, and always pays off in the long term since it gives you a deeper understanding of coding in general, despite the seeming lack of immediate relevance.
I strongly believe diving deep is highly valuable, and always pays of in the long term
2. Put yourself out there!
Since a soft science graduate cannot fall back on a degree to demonstrate specific technical knowledge, the best way to display your skills is by showing off the results of your coding efforts. One example is to store your solutions to coding challenges on your personal (publicly accessible) GitHub page. Personally, I learned a lot by tackling the mathematical puzzles on Project Euler. These puzzles can be solved by code, but you choose the language you will work in (I opted for Python). I stored my solutions on my personal GitHub page, so I could refer to them when someone inquired about my problem-solving skills with code. Other examples are making your own website (look at templates shared on GitHub such as the Minimal Mistakes theme for a quick start), writing blog posts about how you solved a certain technical problem, enrolling in coding challenges (e.g. HackerRank, Codechef, Leetcode…).
But, I don’t want to share my code because it looks messy… And, it does not follow the best practices of software engineering!
Indeed, that’s the point! You are not trained as a software engineer, so it should be expected that your code will look different from a script written by someone who took multiple years of training on that subject. By sharing your work however, you show that 1) you were able to build up a new skill from scratch, 2) are open to continually developing this skill set, 3) are willing to share your solutions with others and 4) fit right in a culture of openness and continuous learning. Put yourself out there, even though you are uncertain about relevance or quality. Remember: nothing ventured, nothing gained.
3. Don’t undersell yourself
IT Recruiter: “And what valuable skills can you bring to our company?”
The first response of a psychology graduate is to start sweating when thinking about this scenario. This makes sense, given that the first response to “I study psychology” is often “Do you think you will find a job?”. Psychology, and other soft science graduates, often believe that what they learned is mundane, and is not transferable to other fields. However, I strongly believe that everyone brings something relevant to the table. The trick is to identify and clearly communicate why your skills are valuable to a company. When preparing for a job fair, I thought about which of my skills would be valuable to an IT company. I had some programming experience, but the chances that I would outperform someone with an IT-oriented degree were near zero percent, so it would be unwise to highlight this on my CV. I thought about my non-technical skills:
- Presentation skills: I have given numerous presentations about my research to various groups of people ranging in expertise
- Teaching experience: I helped teach a university-level, computer-intensive course for four years
- Conversation skills: I studied both conversation techniques and thinking fallacies during my degree
- Coaching skills: I supervised two master students conducting their own research projects
All of these might seem irrelevant, but they have clear transferable value to private companies. Teaching, for instance, is the act of explaining a complex topic in layman’s terms, something an IT professional will do countless times in their career. In summary, think about all your experiences (not only the technical ones) and try to identify why they could be relevant to an IT company. I concur that I have some catching up to do on a technical level, but I do believe I bring some value to my company in terms of transferable soft skills.
4. Craft a professional image
After scrutinizing your skill set, you can pour your findings into a professional (online) image. The first thing that comes to mind here is probably a well-crafted CV. In terms of CV layout, I highly recommend drafting a clean-cut CV in LaTeX using a template like the ones available on Overleaf. While an attractive layout never hurts, the content is obviously what matters. Make sure that your CV is 1) up-to-date, 2) concise (no one likes to slog through a dozen CV pages referencing 31 scientific papers), and 3) tailored to the company or vacancy (leave out your student job working in the local burger joint, unless it helped you become the IT professional you are today).
Additionally, invest in a relevant social media (e.g. LinkedIn) or personal web page. If someone wants to look you up, this is probably the first thing they will encounter when performing a web search. Make sure that you clearly communicate where you want to go careerwise, and which skills you already have. You can even store your CV on your online medium of choice, so your personalized webpage provides a full professional image. Finally, streamline the process of introducing yourself to new people by taking some time to craft an elevator pitch. Exercise your pitch so it rolls off the tongue when introducing yourself to someone new.
Now that you have been down in the weeds, identified all your personal strengths, and crafted a reliable professional image, it is time to mingle with the crowds!
5. Build a network
Early in my Ph.D., I knew that I would likely pursue a career in the private sector after completing the Ph.D. program. Soon after this realization, I started attending job fairs, ‘From Ph.D. to SME’-workshops (Small Medium Enterprise), and other networking events. One of these events was an online job fair I attended in the spring of 2020 where I actually got in contact with the company I am currently working at. At that moment, however, I was only a second-year Ph.D. researcher, meaning that I still had two years of scientific work waiting before I would graduate. The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the two data engineers in the Zoom room showed understanding and encouraged me to stay in touch. I followed up on their advice by connecting with them on LinkedIn, interacting with their social network posts, and inquiring via private messaging about what a job in data engineering entails.
Two years later, I contacted the CFO again, stating I was interested in a career in data engineering. I believe this renewed contact had a positive impact on the ensuing conversations with my current employer, as it showed I kept them in mind as an interesting company over the years and I was highly motivated to work for them. While attending job fairs is a great way to get in contact with future employers, other interesting networking opportunities are hackathons, lectures inviting private sector professionals, and webinars. Important here is to engage with the content, and show enthusiasm concerning the topic. Falling back on an earlier positive connection is always easier than a new connection without earlier shared experiences. In short, building a network is about becoming part of the community and getting to know the people in the industry.
Ending words
This blog post lists five factors that I believe helped me transition to IT.
- Dare to be curious: wondering how something works under the hood? Check it out, even though it is not immediately related to your current work.
- Put yourself out there: share your (coding) efforts with the outside world via social media or specialized websites. Even if your output is not perfect, it shows that you have the right mindset to learn a new skill and share it with others.
- Don’t undersell yourself: when considering a new career, don’t only look at the desired technical requirements. Do you have a lot of experience teaching, presenting, or pitching your ideas? Those skills are relevant too!
- Craft a professional image: take time to craft a polished version of your CV, along with a professional presence on the internet (e.g. via your LinkedIn page). This is the first thing people see when searching for you online, make it count!
- Build a network: go to events where you will encounter professionals in your desired field. Engage with them, and show your enthusiasm about the field. By doing so, you might open yourself for new opportunities later on.
Whether you are still enrolled in a degree program, newly graduated, or a hardened professional, I hope this blog post gives you some tips to shape your own ‘unconventional’ career path. If you think something is missing, or you have different opinions about making the switch to a different sector, feel free to leave a comment!
