Wherever you are in your career journey, whatever fields you’ve worked in before, and even whether you have a university degree or not; if you’re ready for a career move into the tech industry, then, chances are, the tech industry is ready for you too.
So let’s explore 14 solid benefits you can enjoy from changing course to a career in tech – regardless of your current educational or career history.
1. You Don’t Need to Be a Maths or Programming Expert
Despite what some careers advisers may like to tell you, you don’t need to be a STEM brainbox to enjoy a successful and rewarding career in tech. There is a certain logic to IT, but it’s nothing like the maths we endured in school. It’s a skill all on its own that can absolutely be learned.
We’d argue that there are three hugely important skills needed for a career in tech – none of them explicitly technical: problem solving, creativity, and elastic thinking – all softer skills you might have already!
2. Tech Careers Provide Excellent Earning Potential
As tech becomes a fundamental and inseparable part of doing business, even the most junior, entry-level IT roles become invaluable. Therefore, tech employers will be looking to retain the best talent by providing generous salaries, perks, and career prospects.
Starting salaries for tech roles – including the roles we place our nology.io consultants into – range from about £24,000 to £28,000 a year (head to our Australia site here for relevant salary guidelines). Considering that the median average salary for all full-time workers in the UK is £31,285, a small spot of career progression here and there can leave you well above the national average. Additionally, according to CW Jobs, the average UK tech salary is £62,500 – not too shabby at all!
The earlier you ‘get in on the ground floor’ in tech, the earlier you can pave the way to multi-varied career progression, generous earnings, and excellent job benefits.
3. You Don’t Need a Tech-Related Uni or College Education to Work in Tech
According to the UK Government, the tech industry is expanding more than two and half times faster than the rest of the British economy!
However, the same report acknowledges the industry’s huge talent shortage, with some existing computer science curricula unable to meet the practical needs of tech employers. Therefore, tech employers may need to increasingly source talent from outside the usual tech graduate pool to plug gaps across a range of skills.
Tech values different ways of thinking, different ways of getting your teeth into a challenge, and different ways of navigating problems. Savvy recruiters may therefore be more open to consider those from different career and educational backgrounds, regardless of when, where, and how they achieved their tech accreditations.
4. Technology Is Suffering a Skills Shortage
The UK Government report mentioned above states that Software Engineers and Data Analysts are in short supply, and that our inability to plug the current talent gap could cost the UK tech sector $27.7 billion in unrealised growth by 2030. There are also numerous tech roles listed on the UK’s official shortage occupations list.
Candidates to fill mid- and high-level tech roles are reportedly rather scarce; something that can only really be solved with time and career progression. By bringing in new, keen tech talent on the ground floor and promoting them when the time is right, we will eventually plug that hierarchical gap.
So, as entry level roles are filled, that talent will eventually be sucked up the hierarchy – further adding to tech’s potential for quick promotion and progression!
5. Tech Careers Are Massively Varied and Flexible
Tech isn’t just coding and cables! It’s a varied field that encompasses roles of all kinds, from DevOps Engineers to Digital Marketers, Support Technicians to Security Experts, and Network Engineers to AI Developers – there are just so many roles to choose from and rabbit holes to jump down.
Tech is a field that is growing and changing every day; 10 years down the line, today’s tech trainees could be doing something completely unfathomable to us today!
6. You’re Never Too Old to Join the Industry
Tech is a massively varied field with space for everyone – regardless of qualifications or employment history. Whether it’s coding, design, digital marketing, or something else entirely, tech skills can be mastered at any age.
By and large, tech recruiters aren’t looking at how many grey hairs you may or may not have; they’re looking for skills and potential. Though younger, fresh-faced graduates undoubtedly bring a lot to the table, we can’t deny that there’s a certain wisdom that comes with work and life experience – and therefore, age.
Skills like relationship building, problem solving, leadership, and communication are all very much in-demand, and are likely transferable skills that a more seasoned worker can bring in from previous roles.
7. A Tech Career is Probably a Safe Career
Barring a global, apocalyptic outage, technology isn’t going anywhere. The industry is only set to grow to further meteoric heights. Tech isn’t just a part of our future. Tech is the future. Even jobs that have been previously manual are being enhanced with tech in ways that would have seemed impossible mere decades ago.
It’s been a booming industry for a while, with the number of UK workers in tech roles almost doubling over the last decade. Digital transformation, change, and development are constant factors in our working and personal lives, so taking on a role that makes that happen – even in a small way – is likely to be safer than ever.
8. You Won’t Be Chained to a Desk (Unless You Want to Be)
Many workers who were fortunate enough to work remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic reported immense productivity and wellbeing gains. Others felt cooped up and isolated, and welcomed a return to the office with open arms. Essential workers who had to be present in the office or on-site throughout the pandemic may now be considering a career-switch to claw back some well-deserved work-life balance.
One of the great things about working in tech is that there’s a role for every way of working.
Like talking to people? Consider becoming a Support Technician. Work best at home or want to travel the world? Countless Development, Consulting, Design, and Marketing roles can be carried out remotely. Love travelling for work? Consider a Mobile Engineer role. Feel most comfortable working with your hands? Become a Network Technician. Need flexibility for family or caring responsibilities? There’s plenty of flexible, remote work out there for you!
9. Tech Provides Variety in its Routes to Work
If you’re considering a career in tech after a long, arduous stint in your current/ previous role, you may be wondering ‘Will I become just as disenfranchised with my new tech role as I feel now?’. Though none of us know what the future holds, you may be relieved to hear that the various routes to work in the tech industry may provide a spot of much needed verve and variety.
If you like the security of a full-time role, then there are countless permanent roles and long-term contracts for you to explore. If you’d rather change things up now and again, you may prefer short-term contract work that presents you with a different challenge every so often. Or, for complete possible variety, consider freelancing!
10. Become a Part of Cutting-Edge Science – As it Happens
Technology props up pretty much all of the modern luxuries and comforts that we enjoy today. New opportunities and advancements in technology usually start life as expensive, off-limits innovations but eventually filter down into the tech that surrounds us all. With a career in tech, you can play a role in this fascinating and hugely beneficial process.
However, the tech industry isn’t just fertile ground for self-contained innovation. It’s an essential driver behind today’s scientific breakthroughs, too. Bringing us on to…
11. Tech Helps to Make a Difference
Tech isn’t all just about using 1s and 0s to hit KPIs and make money – there are an increasing number of tech jobs out there that support real-life advances that make the planet a better place.
There are an abundance of tech needs amongst non-profits, supporting crucial fundraising efforts, supporting care functions, and generally ‘keeping the lights on’ operationally at worthy organisations. Tech supports doctors, scientists, and environmental experts to come up with new, mind-bending discoveries and innovations every day; without tech, how would these boffins 3D-print human hearts or design renewable projects like Ocean Thermal Energy Converters?
12. Tech Companies Focus on Culture, And Increasingly On Diversity
We’ve all worked jobs that haven’t cared about company wellbeing and culture beyond box-ticking exercises. Tech firms often get ribbed for taking things too far the other way, with table football and beanbags in lieu of real work.
In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. But this stereotype belies an important fact: that tech companies are well placed to foster a positive, inclusive culture that works for all. That being said, despite 49% of the UK workforce being female, only 19% of tech workers are women – although this is always improving, it shows that the sector still has a way to go.
Though fostering a diverse workplace is the right thing for any company to do, it’s been proven that diversity truly pays dividends in business. Creativity and an ability to navigate problems are essential skills in tech, and a diverse team is naturally more likely to bring worthwhile perspectives, expertise, and social considerations into the mix.
Employers need to focus on creating great places to work for women, BAME individuals, the LGBTQIA+ community, and those with disabilities, which will hopefully encourage more diverse workers into the tech talent food chain. Similarly, today’s individuals from marginalised groups who take the leap into tech can become pioneers who inspire future STEM talent.
13. Tech Roles Are Surprisingly Creative
Roles like Software Development, Cyber Security, and IT support require a surprising amount of creativity, inventiveness, and interpersonal skills. Even data analytics – an area suffering a particular skills shortage – requires mental creativity and elasticity in order to effectively interrogate the data provided and generally ask the right questions’.
For those looking for more actively creative work, fields like online marketing, digital design, and UX development all require a constant stream of creativity!
14. Tech Jobs Aren’t Necessarily All at Tech Firms
Not all techies work for the likes of Apple or Google. All companies rely on tech, so most companies will need skilled, in-house technical minds to keep things running smoothly. From being the sole Tech Support Engineer at a small business to developing software for scientific or medical operations for a huge manufacturer, there’s a huge range of fully fledged ‘tech roles‘.
You may even be able to fulfil a much needed technical role at your current employer!
There’s really no time like the present to get into tech.
Whether you’re looking for a new opportunity, job security, a great salary, or to help change the world for the better, you may find your next chapter in tech.
Tech needs you – your insight could be instrumental in creating something good, your skills could contribute to solving a crushing skills shortage, or your mere presence at the table could add much-needed diversity and social awareness to the next big tech trend.
Today’s trailblazers light the way for those in the future, after all…