Meet the Team: Going into Tech from a Non-tech Background
Tech is a rising industry, predicted to reach reach $5.2 trillion in 2020. This is especially true following Coronavirus, which has accelerated the shift to a new digital age.
This is part of the reason I personally was drawn to the tech industry, despite studying English Literature at university. When you choose your degree subject you’re only 17 or 18 years old, and by the time you’re mid-way through your course at university you have evolved and grown and can be disillusioned with the path you’ve set yourself on. This is what happened to me.
So what do you do with a BA in English – especially one you didn’t really want?
…You go into a nation-wide lockdown and do coding courses to fill the time.
Okay, so I didn’t do that because of a BA in English, but I had one when it happened.
I chose to do coding courses because my dad used to be a developer, and my dad is my hero. I also chose coding because, whether you want to work for a large corporation or a little start-up, a basic understanding of technology will never hurt.
Technology is ever-evolving. To keep up to date, you need to practise and nurture your tech skills to keep up with such a fast-paced industry. To do this, there are great online resources and courses such as CodeAcademy and CodeFirstGirls. I participated in a Python coding course and a Web Development course, over eight weeks. These were a great introduction to the very basics of coding, but whatever you interest may be – from statistical analysis to hardcore gaming – there’s a coding course for you.
Even more important is to seize every learning opportunity you can find from your co-workers. Every conversation is a chance to learn something with practical application, and developers are really nice (especially when they get to show off how smart they are).
As the industry expands, so does the job market for those like myself with soft skills from a humanities degree. There is a growing call for those with one foot in the world of software and the other in the ‘real’ world. Suddenly the Tech Industry is less impenetrable and daunting for non-developers. This is when I found RapidSpike, whose expansion strategy had made room for a non-nerd like me.
As RapidSpike’s Customer Success Engineer I resolve customers’ technical queries, as well as maintain regular and friendly communication with customers to address their individual needs, and liaise between them and our internal team. If you have any questions, reach out to me using the support@rapidspike.com email for anything you need.
Coming out of university with a humanities degree and facing the world of technology can be daunting. The steep learning curve you face when entering a totally new industry is exactly what is exciting about it. The future is not just tech, it’s tech bringing out the best in every other industry.
