A Primer for Securing Tech Roles
Interested in working in tech even if you don’t aspire to be a hardcore technical person? Read about roles like product manager, business operations/business analyst, and marketing analyst! We also provide job descriptions for more technical roles outside of data science, like UI/UX designer and software engineer. Keep in mind that the range of a position’s roles and responsibilities depends on the industry and company size!
Product Manager
A product manager identifies the customer needs and larger business objectives that a product or feature will fulfill and rallies a team to turn that vision into a reality (Atlassian). The average product manager salary in the US is $112,029 ranging between $73,000 and $173,000 (Glassdoor).
Skills and Education:
- Bachelor’s degree in product management, business, economics, or related field
- MBA or master’s in business management and leadership preferred
- Manage products according to business needs
- Conduct market research (A/B testing), product research, feature research, competitor research, etc.
- Cross-functionally manage teams including product team, engineering team, and development team
- Analyze datasets to improve workflows and product features
- Know how to prioritize tasks and create ideal workflow to ensure all deadlines are met by all the teams; use Agile for project management
Business Operations / Business Analyst
Business analysts work with organizations to help them improve their processes and systems. They conduct research and analysis in order to develop solutions to business problems and introduce these systems to businesses and their clients. They work with multiple departments and employees, including IT, operations, and executives. A business operations analyst makes an average salary of $71,001 in the United States (Glassdoor). A business analyst's average salary is $80,768, ranging from $72,528 to $90,234 (Salary.com).
Skills and Education:
- Bachelor’s degree typically in accounting, finance, or business administration and engineering field
- Advanced degree in business analytics, data science, statistics, finance, or economics for management level preferred
- Proficiency in MS Office/Microsoft Excel and business intelligence/data analytics tools like Tableau
- Knowledge of database types and functions to manipulate data in relational databases (MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle), non-relational databases (e.g. key-volume stores), cloud databases, real-time databases
- Understand main software development methodologies like Agile development, DevOps deployment, Waterfall development, Rapid application development
Marketing Analyst
A marketing analyst helps businesses gain more insight into their products by creating a marketing plan, analyzing the available data, and recommending potential solutions for the client. The market analyst researches the target audience’s demographic data, market data, and other related studies from organizations. The information they produce helps a company to better understand its potential and current customer bases, the current field of competition for its products or services, and its current price structures. These reports also help the company develop a marketing strategy for products aimed at a certain demographic. The average salary for a marketing analyst is $63,920 in the United States (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Skills and Education:
- Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, or a similar field
- Knowledge of business intelligence and reporting software
- Develop strong relationships with clients and senior-level executives
- Communicate findings’ significance to clients
UI/UX Designer
UI/UX designers create the user interface for an app, website, or other interactive media. They collaborate with product managers and engineers to design what best fits into a particular design conceptually for users. The average UI designer's salary is $56,633, typically ranging from $49,475 to $66,324 (Salary.com). The average base salary for UX designers is $78,300 (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Skills and Education:
- Bachelor’s degree in design, human-computer interaction (HCI), psychology, or computer science preferred
- Ability to plan, conduct user research, and analyze user behavior (usability testing) while applying user-centered design
- Prototyping, wireframing, user flows, mockups
- Visual design and design software like Figma, Sketch, Photoshop, and Illustrator, to create the visual elements of a product
- Information architecture (IA): organize and structure content to help users find the information they’re looking for or complete their task
- Preferred basic understanding of application development, including languages like JavaScript, CSS, and HTML
Web Developers and Digital Designers (BLS)
Software Developer
Software developers implement software solutions by building programs, applications, and websites. They often collaborate with software developers in industries like computer systems, manufacturing, finance, and software publishing. The salary of software developers ranges from $84,020 to $140,470, with the median at $110,140 (US News).
Skills and Education:
- Bachelors in computer and information technology or related field
- Mathematical aptitude and problem-solving skills
- Knowledge of data structures and algorithms
- Version control with Git and GitHub
- Database: SQL and database management system software (e.g. Microsoft SQL Server)
- Linux (UNIX systems)
- Object-Oriented Programming languages like Python, Java, or C++ depending on developer's role
Bottom Line
Business Analysts, Marketing Analysts, UI/UX Designers, Product Managers, Software Developers etc. are various roles in the tech realm. If any of these job descriptions spark your interest, give the sample projects a try! Many of the skills like Python and database management are transferable to other roles and industries. Investing your time and effort to expand your toolkit now will jumpstart your tech career.
