Eldon
What career paths are there in the tech industry?
The tech industry is ever going day by day. What are the different possible career paths one can follow? #tech
11 answers
Devin Ehlers
Devin’s Answer
Hi Eldon,
I work as a Manager in a Support department for a tech company, and much of my job revolves around career coaching and development for individuals on my team who aspire to be engineers of some form or another.
As many have pointed out already, there are a lot of technical engineering positions available within the tech industry. Creating the tech is not the only important field, though. There are lots of important roles within Sales, Support, and Account Management that all provide technical knowledge to ensure customers and users are successful and finding value in the tech your team provides.
Emmi Bane
Emmi’s Answer
Hi, Eldon, I'm glad you asked! Technology as an industry is expanding every day, and there is room for all kinds of skills and perspectives. I've been working in the tech industry for almost five years now, but I am not what is traditionally considered a "tech person." My degrees are in Social Sciences, Biology and Genomics, and I work in Privacy and Ethics.
I started my career as an ethicist in the public health space, but technology advances require us to analyze our inventions and our innovations from multiple perspectives, including ethics and sociology. My job focusses on crafting consent and permission scripts, writing policy, and discussing downstream consequences of our product roadmap.
You can combine any of your passions with technology, whether it is art, ethics, security, design or music. Apps and software are created every day that support or encourage hobbies and interests, so the things that you love to do can be a real asset in helping you choose a path that makes you happy and fulfilled.
I wish you the best! Rock on!!
Tracy Williams
Tracy’s Answer
I'm so happy to hear that you're interested in pursuing a career in tech. Technology is a great field to be in. There are many different kinds of jobs -- engineering, design, project management, program management, sales, customer support, marketing, human resources, finance and accounting... the opportunities are endless. There are many paths to follow: a traditional path would be high school followed by college then enter your chosen career. There are also the less traditional paths which allow you to use work experience or coding schools to enter your chosen field. I see a lot of people in technology who are self taught - there are many free resources on the internet for learning. Good luck!
Kim Hickey
Kim’s Answer
Hi Eldon,
There are oh so many. In addition to the ones others have answered we have at my company:
Expert Services (build stuff on top of our platform for a fee)
Customer Success Managers (work with large customers to help them use our platform)
Software integrations (build things that talk to our customers' apps and our platform)
Pre-sales engineers (show developers how to use our platform)
Operations/Site Reliability/DevOps (make sure products work for customers, automate everything)
Technical support engineers (They don't just answer questions, they set up simulation environments and know more about our platform than anyone)
Data security engineers (make sure the platform can't be hacked. Test it by trying to hack it)
The cool thing is that you can start out in one profession and move to another. I:
- Started in QA (Tester)
- Became a software developer and developed in many languages over the years
- Lead technical teams
- Built cool stuff on top of the software my company made to show what was possible
- Became a pre-sales engineer to help customers
- Now manage a team of pre-sales engineers
What next? I am thinking product management, or working with the experimental division in my company .. the cool thing is the more time you spend in software the more options you have.
Kim recommends the following next steps:
Morgan Ganoe, M.Ed.
Morgan’s Answer
In the non-technical realm, you can explore exciting roles like:
-Sales, including positions such as Sales Development Representative (SDR), Business Development Representative (BDR), and Account Executive (AE)
-Marketing, where you can become a Product Marketing Manager (PMM)
-Project Management, where you can lead and coordinate tech projects
On the other hand, the technical side offers a plethora of roles, such as:
-Pre-Sales Solution Engineer, where you can help clients find the perfect tech solutions
-Post-Sales Support, providing assistance after the sale is complete
-Implementation Consultant, guiding clients through the process of integrating new tech into their operations
-Managed Services, serving as a consultant on reserve, for instance
-Developer, creating and maintaining software applications
-Product Manager, overseeing the development and marketing of tech products
-Product Engineer, designing and improving tech products
-UX Designer, enhancing user experience with tech products
-Business Analyst, using data to improve business performance
While these are just a few examples, you can see the possibilities in tech. Whether you're technically inclined or more drawn to the business side of things, there's a path for you in tech. So, dive in and explore the many opportunities waiting for you!
Here's a cool resource you can use to explore some career paths: https://trailhead.salesforce.com/en/career-path
Abbey Weddle
Abbey’s Answer
Hello there!
There are also many non-technical jobs in the tech industry that do not require you to have a background in coding or development. This can include Account Management, Escalation Management, Recruitment, Office Management, Project Management, Product Management, People Ops, Marketing, Finance and sales. I'd recommend finding a company that interests you and checking out their careers page. You might find something interesting that doesn't necessarily require a traditional computer science background.
Samarth Shamarao
Samarth’s Answer
You also have a wide array of vertical and horizontal growth opportunities here and that is in abundant.
Only thing you need to look out is if living & breathing the tech industry is your real passion
Nija Jackson, MSW, LCSW
Nija’s Answer
Hello, I am glad that you asked this question about the type of careers in the Technology field because your question is very important to know. You must have a desire to be in the Tech field, which is awesome. You have every right to explore the different options in this field. There are lots of opportunities that you can choose from in the Tech field. The career options are listed below:
1) Computer and Information Research Scientist
2) Computer Network Architect
3) Computer Support Specialist 4) Computer Systems Analyst
5) Database Administrator
6) Information Security Analyst 7) Network and Computer Systems Administrator
8) Software Developer
9) Graphic Design
10) Web Developer
11) <span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Enterprise Architect</span>
12) Cloud Engineer
In addition, you can always refer to the Occupational Outlook Handbook to obtain further information about the tech industry. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/mobile/home.htm
I hope this information helps and I hope your question has been answered. If you have any questions or if you need assistance. Please let me know. Take care and wish you much success.
Nija
Netasha Raveendran
Netasha’s Answer
Depending on your interests and skills, you can go into Programming (software vs. IT/product programmers), Sales, and Operations. There are various options within each category. For example, underneath operations, you can find your home in Marketing, Customer Success, Product Management, Analytics, Enablement, Talent Development, HR, etc. Within sales, you can distinguish between inside vs. closing sales roles, business development, pre and post sales, leadership, and so much more. If you are really interested in getting technical and love programming/working with software, that's another avenue to consider as well.
In order to get into tech, try and pursue internships or rotational programs - many companies offer these and it's a great way to get your foot in the door. Once you're in, the options are endless and you can grow and shape your career however you'd like to, so long ask your skills and background align to the core competencies of a job description.
Here are some example career paths from people on our team:
Business Development Representative --> Sales Enablement
Intern --> SDR (inside sales) --> Sales (closing role) --> Sales Programs (starting in sales and then moving to supporting sales)
Post sales client management --> Sales --> Post Sales Success (tech adoption) - -> Sales Enablement with an underlying theme of Project Management
Overall, our best advice is to identify a company/product that inspires you and really speaks to what you're passionate about and get your foot in the door. From their, the options are aplenty!
daniel fitzgerald
daniel’s Answer
Hey Eldon, great question!
I work in technology and have had a few different roles in the industry. Here's a list below:
Sales, Marketing, Software Engineer, Hardware Engineer, Operations (helping to run the business), Community Outreach.
There are lots of potential options in the tech industry! What's good to think about is that each of these jobs needs different types of skills (some are technical skills, others non technical). Also, from my experience there is a lots of potential to change jobs once you are working at a company so you can definitely move from engineering to sales and vice versa (which is what I did). I know lots of people who've done lots of different jobs within tech companies over the course of their career.
My best advice is to find something you are passionate about and enjoy and develop the skills you need to do that.
daniel recommends the following next steps:
Rana Khoda, MBA, CSM
Rana’s Answer
Hi Eldon
Tech industry covers various paths from Project Manager, Product Manager, User Experience Designer, Backend Engineer, Front engineer,Quality Assurance Engineers,....
Regardless of the industry, all tech companies need these professionals to scale and operate. for more details regarding each please refer to online resources to understand what each role contains better.
I'm happy to provide more details if needed. Please comment below.
Regards
Rana