How To Get A High Paying Tech Job Without A Degree Or Experience
The future looks bright for job seekers without a tech degree or experience (or any degree at all). Digital transformation has changed the ways businesses operate, the jobs businesses need to fill and how to fill them.
Many Tech industry pioneers like Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Apple’s Steve Jobs, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and co never earned a degree. This is because most up-to-date skills are usually gotten out of School.
The Universities find it hard to keep up with the pace of Tech evolution in their curriculum. So if you’re interested in the field of Tech or proficient in Computer Science without formal experience or degree this post is for you.
The field of Tech places value on your skill set over everything else. There are many high paying jobs today that require you to have just the right skills.
11 Easy Tips To Get A High Paying Tech Job Without A Degree Or Experience
1.) Get Certification
You can get a certification from an industry authoritative body or software provider. Getting a certification can help you start up your tech career. The reason is because it provides independent proof that you have gotten the right training.
2.) Put in Effort
If you are willing to work hard, you can get a high paying Tech job. If you are willing to use the internet to learn, you should easily get a tech job.
Many experts in coding learnt on their own through online tutorials. As long as you stay focused and committed to what you are learning, practice regularly, it will be much easier for you than it looks. This is a great way to build your knowledge and skills in tech.
An affordable or free online course is a good way to discover that you have what it takes to empower yourself in tech. Several courses teach programming languages free online from scratch with quizzes and assessments. Put in effort and you will get the reward of a great tech job
3.) Pick a Niche
Tech is very broad and diverse as every part of our lives depend on IT. To be successful and get a high paying tech job even without a degree or experience, you have to find what to focus on. Pick a particular category in tech and specialize in it. Figure out what you are best at and choose this.
4.) Hands-on Practice
This is a very good way to develop your tech skills. You can develop projects, use cases and actual applications to show employers that you have Tech skills. Employers like people who can get the job done and get started from the first day.
You don’t have to work for other people to gain industry experience needed in tech. You can use your developing skills to build a personal project. Think of a product you want to use yourself like an App that does something special.
Think of a problem you want to solve with it and go ahead to build it. When you apply for your first tech job without experience nor degree, creating a piece of software on your own can blow away your interviewers.
This will show that you are good and deserve that high paying tech job even without experience or a degree.
Having a degree doesn’t equate having the ability to do things practically and employers know this. Many IT graduates cannot complete a simple task and employers don’t want this. Start doing it yourself at home. Practice, offer services to your friends and small businesses around.
There are many tasks you can take as a tech side-gig. They include technical writing, website maintenance, tech support and so on. You will make money from these while gradually better positioning yourself to land a highly paid tech job.
5.) Know the Basics of the Job
There are some tech-based knowledge that are rudimentary to specific niches and you must know them to land a job in tech. For example, coding is basic for a database manager and IT analyst. Try practicing these basics and it will allow you to gain expertise. Once you master basic skills, finding a high paying tech job shouldn’t be difficult.
6.) Network
Physical tech meetings offer you the opportunity of meeting with other professionals in the Tech field. Tech is a collaborative field and attending such meetings will help you network. You can even find a mentor to help you develop your career.
7.) Revamp Your Linkedln Profile
Over 90% of recruiters use Linkedln to find candidates. Therefore, if you must get that high paying tech job without a degree or experience, being on Linkedln is a must. You have to use your profile to position yourself to attract the right recruiters.
8.) Do an Internship
This is one way you can land a high paying Tech job without a degree or experience. Look for internships on online job boards, reach out to people you know to ask about internship openings.
An internship can help you demonstrate your skills, gather new skills and gain experience. If you do things right, you might even get a job offer from the company you intern with.
9.) Volunteer
This serves a similar function to an internship but it will be unpaid and have fewer hours. If you don’t find open volunteer positions, offer tech-related help to small businesses.
It will serve as a great resume booster and you can get recommendations at the end. You can also ask around for people who need tech help and offer services to them, then add it to your resume or CV. Like internships, volunteering might put you top of mind and you might even get a job offer from the company you volunteer.
10.) Invest in a Mentor/Coach
Look for a tech-savvy person who is willing to be your mentor. Someone who has towed the path you are looking to get into. The person will impart tech skills to you and help you settle down in the field. Or even offer helpful advice to pick a niche. This is what we do for my clients. As people who transitioned from a non-tech industry to tech with no experience and no tech related degree, we know the uncertainty and confusion you might feel. You might already know all the great reasons why you should get into the tech industry, but you still need help to decide.
Do you know that about 43% of roles in the tech industry are non tech roles? Sometimes you don’t need to learn a new skill, a simple CV revamp and Linkedin optimization can make all the difference. These are just some of the things working with a coach/mentor will do for you.
11.) Have Soft Skills
While tech or “hard” skills are important, soft skills like communication are also important. This should reflect in your CV or Resume. Soft skills are important because you may be required to pitch ideas in front of people and convince them about your ideas, etc. This requires excellent communication skills and having this can make you land that high paying tech job.
Final words
If you have the needed skills to perform well in a particular tech sector, then you can easily secure a job without a degree or experience. So, go ahead, apply these tips and apply for that tech job even without a degree or experience.