Why anyone can land a job in tech ✨
Introducing Breaking Into Tech: a step-by-step guide to landing your dream job
Every few weeks, I receive a DM on LinkedIn from someone asking for career advice. These usually take the form of:
A student who wants to learn about the tech industry, and how I got there
A recent grad who wants to level up their skills to land a job in tech
A young professional who wants to pivot into tech
For years, I’ve been helping individuals like this through one-on-one chats and mentorship. But I’ve now realized that sharing knowledge this way is not scalable. My goal is to maximize reach, so that as many people as possible can benefit from it.
That’s why I’m starting this newsletter: Breaking Into Tech.
Over the coming weeks and months, I’ll be publishing a series of posts to help you land your dream job in tech.
This newsletter will be a simple guide to:
Understanding the tech industry — what is it? What types of jobs are there?
Gaining the skills — what do you need to learn? How can you level up?
Landing the job — where can you find opportunities? How do you prepare?
Make sure to subscribe, so you don’t miss out on these upcoming posts.
In this introductory post, I’m going to share why anyone — including you — can land a job in the tech industry. No matter your background, skills, or experience.
Let’s dive in!
No formal background required
The beauty of the tech industry is that you don’t need a formal degree in the job you want. For example, you don’t need to have studied HR to become a Recruiter, nor do you need to have gone to design school to become a Designer. Even if you want to become a Software Engineer; coding bootcamps or online courses can get you there.
The reason for this is because most jobs in tech don’t have a match with a traditional bachelor’s degree; you can’t study Sales, Customer Success, or Product Management.
This means the door is open for anyone — from any academic background — to land these jobs. All they have to do is gain the right experience and skills.
Tech companies don’t evaluate you based on academics. Not once has someone ever brought up (or asked) where I went to school, or what I studied. Heck, I bet barely anyone I work with knows my undergraduate degree is in Political Science.
And while name brands of schools might matter in other industries, no one in tech cares whether you went to an Ivy League school, or a community college. The same goes for your grades — I’ve never been asked for a transcript, or what my GPA was.
Instead, when I was fresh out of school, I was usually asked by interviewers about extracurriculars I’d done, side projects I’d worked on, or interesting things I’d learned.
Hiring based on potential
The other beauty of the tech industry is that, especially for new and recent grads, companies tend to hire based on potential, rather than experience or skills.
This means that if you see a job you don’t think you’re qualified for, you should still apply! We’ve all been there — every job seems to require 2+ years of experience, so how do you get those jobs in the first place?
Companies aren’t looking for someone who checks all the boxes; they want someone who shows strong potential, a willingness to learn, and fits their culture.
We’ll get more into how to demonstrate these traits in the interview process later in this series.
Tech companies value learning on the job, and are a safe place to fail through trial and error. In any tech job you’ll land, you’ll grow into the role over time, rather than coming into it on Day 1 knowing how to do everything.
Your manager will work with you on a learning and development plan, and you’ll have a clear picture of where you sit on their levelling framework.
It’s why the tech industry is so ripe with imposter syndrome; but that’s normal, and expected.
A community that gives back
Finally, the best part of the tech industry is its incredible community. It’s ripe with individuals looking to pay it forward, because that’s how they got to where they are.
There are tons of Slack communities and Facebook groups filled with folks from the industry, who are always willing to lend a helping hand to someone trying to break in.
We’ll cover how to find and leverage these communities later in the series.
The tech industry thrives off referrals, which is why the community aspect is so key. Your odds of landing a job in tech are exponentially greater if you have a referral, rather than cold applying online. I always tell people never to apply online; anyone can get a referral if they put themselves out there and connect with the right people.
And this applies to companies of all sizes — from early-stage startups to Big Tech.
The beauty of this is that it opens the door for anyone to land an amazing opportunity. While other industries may be ripe with nepotism or favouritism when it comes to selecting candidates, the tech industry welcomes anyone who has a good heart.
From what I’ve seen, this type of camaraderie and genuine willingness to help is unique, and it’s what I believe makes the tech industry so special.
By now, hopefully you’re convinced that anyone — no matter who they are or where they’ve come from — can land a job in the tech industry.
The next step is learning the how, and that’s what I’ll cover in my upcoming posts.