Recently I attended a high school reunion and it got me thinking about the career people are pursuing. First of all, I would like to encourage you to consider a variety of roles that an IT career can offer.
Most people I meet see an “IT” major as a coding job, but that does not have to be true at all. There are around 14,859,000 job openings on LinkedIn right now, while 3,743,670 of that number are IT related.
You can pursue roles such as
• Analyst
• Developer
• Architect
• Project Manager
• Scrum Master
• Support
• Product Manager
• Designer
From that list of roles mentioned, actual daily coding is related to the developer role only. In-depth expertise in the topic is always important but it should not mean that you cannot start your IT career unless you know everything about the role you are pursuing.
If you are just starting your career, I would recommend you look for job roles that are close to the target role you would like to do. All roles have certain overlaps with other roles so you can always learn new things on the job while closing knowledge gaps after work. In the era of the internet, all information you need is available for free for you 24/7. You can learn any skill you need anytime you need.
You can find trainee programs, junior roles, and support roles that are suitable for someone who is just starting in the IT industry.
For those who already started their career path, but would like to try some change and the shift to IT, trainee programs might not be the right thing for you. But let’s say you are a financial analyst. You already have experience with analysis and investigation. Make it to your advantage. To pursue an IT analyst role, you just need to learn a few more things. Perhaps you can start to find some excel or power bi training or learn SQL language and look for opportunities. I can guarantee that your previous experience in finance will be a huge advantage for your future employer.
People sometimes focus too much on technical skills and forget that IT is also about understanding the other majors. You cannot build a finance app if you can code but do not understand finance. So it is time for you to stop underestimating yourself and make your current market position your advantage.
Good luck.