Starting a new career can be scary.
I got lucky. I switched to tech on the job, taking on technical responsibilities at my advertising sales position. But when I transitioned from working with tech to writing about it for a living, I developed a serious case of imposter syndrome. It was scary.
But there are many things you can do to make the transition less scary. Knowing exactly what it takes to get a tech job as a beginner is a great way to calm your nerves and gain the confidence you need. And that’s exactly what I’m going to show you here! By the time you finish reading this article, you’ll have a road map to getting a job in tech this year.
Check out our free coding camp to get an introduction to tech right in your inbox. You will know what it means to go into tech and even start writing your first lines of code. You’ll be surprised how quickly you catch on!
Choose Your Own (Tech Career) Adventure
There are many careers available in tech to suit any personality or life goal. Love to solve problems? Web development may be perfect for you. Are you extremely creative and love to make things beautiful? Check out the web design! Do you love blogging? Then you might like content marketing. Or maybe even WordPress development! If you’re highly social, inbound marketing (which includes social, email and content, among other areas) may be the perfect fit!
Hard Skills
To get started in the career you’re interested in, take a look at entry-level design and developer jobs and you’ll likely see some hard skills you need to know. That is, you should be familiar with HTML, CSS, and maybe JavaScript.
If you’re a designer, understanding how these things work and their limitations is sufficient for most entry-level jobs. But for developers, you will need to be very familiar and comfortable with all three coding.
You can easily get started with them in our Web Designer Blueprint or our Web Developer Blueprint.
An Awesome Portfolio
There are many things you can do to create a portfolio that’s great, even if you’re new to tech. Creating a portfolio that is inspired by your personality and your own personal brand is a great way to stand out from everyone else applying for the same entry-level jobs.
Your portfolio design is, in itself, part of your portfolio. If you feel like you don’t have enough projects to showcase your skills, you can add full demonstration projects (also called concepts) that show what you can do. are!
If you’re looking for more to add, you can just google yourself to see what comes up. It can give you ideas beyond the basics. And there’s always the old standby of doing some pro bono work for a local nonprofit, friend, or family member.
Other things to make sure to include in your portfolio are pretty basic: basically who you are and what you do, as well as how to get in touch with employers. Don’t forget a clear call to action (like a clear “Hire Me!”), and include some clear context to explain your projects, not just screenshots.
A Great Resume and Cover Letter
Before you can start your job search, you need to have an amazing resume and cover letter.
I know I know. No one wants to spend their time making these things. But they are important. And the good news is that they are not that difficult to make. You just need to know what to include, and what not to include, in your resume and cover letter.
Make sure you have an updated profile on LinkedIn while you’re at it. Fill in your education and work experience, and don’t be afraid to ask current or former colleagues to recommend you for specific skills, or even write a testimonial for you.
One last step is to make sure you go ahead and Google yourself to see what happens. These days, employers will Google you, maybe before they call you in for an interview, but almost certainly before they offer you a job. Make sure everything that appears in the first few pages is correct.
