Tech Career Options For People Without A Tech Background

Joel Fickson

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TechMalawi

6 min readJan 25, 2023

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Do you want to venture into tech but don’t know where to begin? Here is a simple guide for you. The best time to venture into tech is now!!! I can guarantee you that once you are in, you will be rewarded highly. So, let's dive right in.

The Landscape

Tech has changed a lot as it should. When I ventured into tech in 2008(high school), there was less noise in the field. It was relatively easier. We could identify the roles people who did IT or Computer Science would end up having. For instance, IT Grads would end up in Systems Support most likely and Computer Science grads would become software developers. Now, it is so noisy and somehow beginners find it overwhelming as new tech keeps coming out. This makes life harder for people trying to venture into tech.

So, what can you and your friends trying to break into tech do to make it a bit easier to learn and find roles? Besides that, what are the career options you have?

Create a Systemic Pipeline

All people who come and ask me how they can learn and break into tech, I give them one simple piece of advice: create your path and stick with it, leaving a small room to adjust. I always say this because I know that we as humans get distracted quite easily. I mean for me, when I started learning how to code, I wanted to learn all programming languages I could come across. It was one of my teachers who told me to focus. If that was true then when it was less noisy, how about now when there are new technologies emerging almost every day?

Beginners or even seasoned tech people have this urge to jump into new tech. While it may be good, it isn't always a great idea. I have learned over the years that you must forge a path. Stick with it, you can make adjustments along the way. These adjustments should not be drastic.

Forging a path is good, I suggest you don't forge it by yourself, involve a mentor or someone more experienced than you to help you with a guide. Once you have that guide, block off all the noise. Stick with the plan. Don't feel discouraged when you see others who are doing better than you. You must learn at your own pace and be good at what you do. Don't skip steps. I tell you, fundamentals are always missing in the modern tech person. Don’t become that person. I mean there is more but that's for another day.

Tech isn't always technical!

Before we jump into the options, let's demystify something. Over the last few years, tech has shifted from being overly technical to non-technical as well. Quite odd right? You can become a non-technical tech person! How cool is that? So now, let’s see the options.

1. Product Managers

A product manager is the person who identifies the customer need and the larger business objectives that a product or feature will fulfill, articulates what success looks like for a product, and rallies a team to turn that vision into a reality. https://www.atlassian.com/agile/product-management/product-manager#:~:text=A%20product%20manager%20is%20the,that%20vision%20into%20a%20reality.

As stated above, a PM is someone who will make sure that customers are satisfied and happy with whatever is being built. A product or service can be software or hardware. I will give a simple example. I am building a platform that will help companies hire talent(Not out — still in dev). A product manager would be someone who can help me with stuff like identifying what issues companies currently have with the tools available now, and drawing roadmaps on how to deliver specific features. Personally, I look at Product Managers as Project Managers with a special focus on a service/product.

According to GlassDoor Product Managers make about $127,860 / yr. Not bad. I think it's a good career option for most people. So the big question is how do I get started? Here are a few resources you might want to take a look at:

2. Product Designers(UI/UX Engineers)

Are you creative and love to create visuals? Then I think a career as a UI/UX designer may be a good fit for you. UI/UX designers are the central piece of products. They are the people behind the colors, spaces, and overall experience of the web, mobile, desktop, and many other software applications. They answer critical questions like, why do we need this color? How would a particular feature impact a user's ability to use our product? They are fundamental to a company's user acquisition. This career requires a bit of being technical with the tools that are used and the language used. For the most part, UI/UX Designers work closely with Product Managers to ensure that features make sense and can be designed in a more meaningful manner. According to GlassDoor, UI/UX Designers make about $80, 259/yr(https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/ui-ux-designer-salary-SRCH_KO0,14.htm)

Here are a few resources that may help you get started:

3. Technical Writer

So, do you have a passion for writing? Maybe this is for you! A technical writer is one who has responsibilities like documenting a company's technical solutions and services. When you go to a website and see the API documentation or manuals on how to use a product, it is tech writers who do that. It is a combination of writing and knowledge of tech. You do not have to be technical. You just have to know stuff. The average salary for a tech writer is $67, 671/yr(https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/technical-writer-salary-SRCH_KO0,16.htm)

There is a pretty nice guide you can follow by FreeCodeCamp. So, here are some resources that may help you:

4. Tech Recruiter

Every company requires someone who will be at the forefront of bringing talent. Tech recruiters are responsible for such jobs. They are people who will search, vet, and bring talent to the company. If you have human resources background, I think it may be easier for you to become a tech recruiter. A tech recruiter, personally, is an HR Personnel who has an eye for tech talent. They are people who have understood the different roles in tech and what is required of them. The average salary for tech recruiters is $76, 224/yr(https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/technical-recruiter-salary-SRCH_KO0,19.htm)

The following are some resources you may want to take a look at:

5. IT Support

IT Support is one of the areas where one can easily break into tech within a short span of time. Every company must have an internal IT Department that is responsible for managing all IT-related stuff. Internal IT is responsible for software licensing, hardware management, software installations, troubleshooting, security and IT policies, and general IT Support. I think that without a vast tech background, you can get up and running quickly and maybe get a role to provide these services to people at a company. A good scenario would be the Sales Team needs a new CRM Tool to enhance their work, they have identified one. Your job is to make sure that the Tool is compliant with the company's IT Policy, if so, get the licenses, dispatch them or install the software on the computers and apply for the licenses. The average salary for IT Admin or IT Support is $49, 449/yr(https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/it-support-salary-SRCH_KO0,10.htm)

These are some resources for you:

The above roles are just a few career options that may provide an entry into tech for you. There are so many and I will be writing part two of this article in the next few weeks. I will tag it below so you can see more options.

Hope you enjoyed it. If you did, leave a clap and follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoelFickson, don't forget to tweet at me or DM me and tell me you found me through this post.