Career Transition Into Tech

13 Comments

1. AnonymousMay 1,2023 at 11:01PM UTC

   Make sure to highlight ALL of your transferable skills. Even if you don't think that something is transferable, it most likely is.

2. Becca A.May 2,2023 at 1:40AM UTC

   If you going to be transferring into the Tech field with a BS in Software engineering then why not look up, " what starting positions am I qualified for with a software engineering degree?" This would help pull multiple articles from credible sources that you can then crowdsource what the repeated suggestions are and hone in on which ones look most appealing to you to then pursue. At the end of the day, you will be able to best advocate yourself when you are pursuing one that piques your interest the most.

   Good luck, welcome to the field and never forget the value that you bring to the table!

3. AnonymousMay 3,2023 at 2:47AM UTC

   Thank you!

4. AnonymousMay 2,2023 at 12:51PM UTC

   If you have 12 years of experience in the hospitality business, I would suggest you start looking there because your knowledge of how the industry works can provide a unique perspective on how you approach the applicable software projects.

   If you want to develop software for industry, look toward some software companies, particularly those that provide internships, etc. An excellent place to start is at the career center of your school or university. Software companies recruit heavily there.

5. AnonymousMay 2,2023 at 5:23PM UTC

   When moving into SWE roles best is to join forums where the software that you are wanting to work on lives. For example if its java - join the java developers groups on all platforms to include facebook, twitter, linkedin, meetup, wellfound, github and others - follow the leaders and most vocal ones on those forums and speak up in there about what you know and that you are actively looking for a new role. Shameless self promotion should be your mantra but do it in a humble way. Think hard about the type of company that you want to work in. Startups generally don't have a lot of internal support for learning but you touch everything. In larger companies its much more structured and there may be more growth but it will be slower. If you can do some contract work, unpaid is good too then do it. There are some testing platforms that also will confirm your abilities to code. Find a mentor, find someone who also made the change and ask them how they did it.

6. AnonymousMay 3,2023 at 2:48AM UTC

   I appreciate your suggestions!

7. AnonymousMay 3,2023 at 12:43PM UTC

   I would strongly encourage you to look at any assistance you can get through your school and especially your alumni association. Those both can be great networking opportunities. Check with your state or local workforce development agencies too, they usually have resources and connections available. Look for any associations for the field you are moving into and get involved with them. Many have job boards, and some have gig boards or opportunities to work in projects.

   Good luck with your next journey.

8. Joycelyn M. SiameMay 3,2023 at 1:08PM UTC

   I like the advice of side gigs. You can work at UpWork or Fiverr, just for some experience, and find a niche where you can do software engineering for the hospitality industry. This will not only build experience for you in tech, but bridge your prior experience, with your new line of work.

   Good luck, you will do great!

9. AnonymousMay 3,2023 at 2:12PM UTC

   I agree with some of the comments here. Since you are already in the hospitality industry, look for jobs related to your studies from your network. You might need a few jumps to transition into tech fully.

10. AnonymousMay 3,2023 at 2:37PM UTC

    I agree with everyone else here, especially about the idea to look at companies in the hospitality industry who have software teams. I started my career as a payroll processor and made the switch to tech at a payroll software company where my payroll experience was a huge bonus. I'd also add that many larger corporations have programs for new engineers, particularly women - and I know personally, I have 3 or 4 women engineers on my team who pivoted to tech mid-career. Look for companies that value diversity - those companies are actively looking for people who have varied backgrounds because they appreciate having many different experiences to pull from. Good luck!!

11. AnonymousMay 4,2023 at 5:02AM UTC

    Transitioned into the tech industry in 2020 (specifically in cybersecurity) after learning to code myself and getting a full scholarship to attend a cybersecurity bootcamp. I came from a nonprofit and education background, but it almost feels like yesterday. It was definitely not easy, but you do have a leg up because you have a stronger computer science foundation behind you. Congrats on taking that step and graduating soon!

    Depending on where you are located, the market is extremely saturated with entry level developers (and cybersecurity folks in my case) where if you want an interview, you really have to stand out. I agree with stuff everyone already said about looking in the industry you are already working in or (even the company you are already working at) to see if it's possible to make the jump from within and use that as a jumping off point. I also agree with checking out the career services center at your school as well. I worked in career services office at a public university, and sometimes companies reach out because they specifically want to hire from students from your school. Here are some other ideas.

    1. Beef up resume with open source projects (helpful if you are unable to land full-time, side gig, or internship work and want to build up credible experience.) Make sure you have a GitHub link that shows off the school/open source coding projects you did. If you specifically want to show off a project you're proud of, have a professional software engineer review the code such that it looks presentable or follows these rules. You can probably even review the code yourself and see how far you've come since you started and add a testing framework with unit tests! https://www.unosquare.com/blog/10-tips-for-writing-cleaner-code-in-any-programming-language/
    2. Studying up on those Leetcode algorithms and being able to solve at least medium difficulty ones. Unfortunately, speaking with multiple people who transitioned from other careers, a lot of companies require you to pass those.
    3. Make sure your resume emphasizes your desired profession rather than your current one. When I first started applying, my resume was filled with non-technical experience. I removed a lot of non-relevant experience and focused on my projects, internship, certifications to make it one page. I left the experience there unless the work I did in my previous jobs happened to be in the same industry.
    4. Apply to internships and full time roles including non-entry level ones (even if you don't necessarily find their work interesting) and use them as interview practice. When the recruiter reached out to me about my resume, I still interviewed even if the salary was lower than I wanted because the interview practice was so valuable. Whether I failed or not, it gave me exposure to the common skillsets companies were looking for and showed me what my shortfalls were.
    5. Going to tech networking events for opportunities. This is useful when hiring managers are looking for people and you want to get past the applicant tracking system.
    6. Reaching out to software engineers who share a similar background to you for coffee chats on LinkedIn to talk with them about their journey. Don't be afraid of this like I was. The worse that can happen is that they are too busy and do not respond. If they do, you gain valuable insight.
    7. Learning about the 12-factor app principles: https://12factor.net/ This is stuff I wish I knew about before,

    There's definitely a lot more stuff a professional software engineer, specifically a career changer can give you more tips on.

12. AnonymousMay 4,2023 at 5:09AM UTC

    Oops, wasn't able to finish the comment before my computer went crazy on me. Last but not least, no matter how hard it gets and how far away you feel from your goal, don't give up. It takes one yes to get that job. Apologies for the long winded comment. Good luck!!!!

13. AnonymousMay 5,2023 at 2:16AM UTC

    Thank you so much for all of this great advice, I appreciate you taking the time and putting in so much thought!