How to Get Into the Tech Industry in 2022

The tech industry is hot — and not just right now, either.

While this industry has seen its ups and downs (hello, 1990s), we now know that tech isn’t (and will never be) “just a fad.” 

Discover four skills you’ll need on your resume and a tried-and-true path to landing the tech job of your dreams.

Skills Needed for Tech Industry Jobs

The tech industry (like many other industries) is changing. 

This industry looks entirely different than it did in the days of the dot-com bubble. While it’s common to still see brilliant superstars in this industry, companies aren’t so starstruck by these types anymore.

They want dependable workers with a variety of skills. They want people who work well with others, who appreciate both praise and creative criticism. 

Want to change career paths and get into the tech industry? Make sure you highlight these skills on your resume. 

Technical Skills

Not to be too crass or anything, but… duh. Obviously, you’ll need some technical skills if you want to land a job in the tech industry. You’ll need to prove that you have the basic ability to perform the tasks you were hired to complete.

But the crazy thing is that recruiters are looking for so much more these days. 

When it comes to technical skills, most workers can be trained. And it’s pretty common to get on-the-job training to fill in where your technical education left off. Half the reason you want to work for a company is to learn and grow with the best of the best in your industry.

These days, you’ll also need a few soft skills in addition to your technical skills. In fact, soft skills are one of the biggest workplace trends of 2022.

Communication

Communication can be a tough one in the tech industry. 

There was a day when tech companies only wanted to woo the most gifted developers, coders, or engineers in their field. As long as the worker excelled at their tech skills, they weren’t required to communicate or collaborate.

These days, you’re expected to be able to effectively communicate. In fact, this skill may even trump technical skills. Again, tech companies can more easily train workers to enhance their tech skills than they can their communication skills.

If you’ve worked in an industry where communication was key, make sure to include (and highlight) that on your resume!

Organization

OK, maybe it’s a bit of a stereotype that tech workers are a little… disorganized. 

This industry has seen a lot of chaos, turnover, and turbulence. In the past few decades alone, we’ve seen the tech bubble grow, burst, and balloon again. A few times. And the only thing we know for sure is there is a ton of uncertainty in tech.

Companies want workers that can help manage the chaos and make sense of it all. 

They don’t want coders who forget to clean up their code. They want developers who can be as organized in meetings as they are in their cubicles. And they want everyone to be able to manage their own calendars so they don’t need to hire admin to do it for them. 

Creativity/Problem Solving

Everyone experiences challenges from time to time. 

The question isn’t, Will you encounter hardships? But, How will you deal with those hardships? when they arise. 

Make sure to mention how you’ve dealt with challenges in the past. Any recruiter will assume you’ve dealt with some type of challenge (if you haven’t, you probably also haven’t taken any calculated risks, either). 

How did you deal with those challenges? What did you learn from them? 

Getting Into The Tech Industry

Trying to successfully navigate a career change? The following steps are tried-and-true ways to do so. Yet, just like everything else in this world, the “norm” continues to change. 

What doesn’t change is that you’ll need to show your ability to do your desired job, either with transferable skills or through a willingness to be trained. 

Get Trained/Certification

There’s no getting around it: if you want to get into the tech industry, you’re going to need some technical skills (if you’re looking for a technical role; marketing, admin, HR, finance, etc. will only need to have enough technical background to effectively do their jobs). 

The good news is that you may not need a four-year degree (or more) if you’re trying to break into this industry. 

Often, a certification, two-year degree, or equivalent experience may be a substitute for a degree program that takes four to eight years to complete. 

Get Experience

Experience also looks great on a resume. You don’t even need “tech” experience per se. 

What you do need is to show a recruiter you have the skills to do your job (or to at least get trained to do your job). 

If you have exhibited the skills on your resume in other jobs (even in other industries), great! If you don’t, no big deal either. You simply need to find a way to show you’ve got what it takes.

You can do this by getting an internship or volunteering. Or, you can prove technical skills by developing your own app or creating your own website if you don’t want to give your work away for “free.” 

How to Get a Tech Job With No Experience

Is it harder to get a tech job with no experience? Yes. Impossible? Absolutely not. 

The tech world tries hard to stay ahead of other industries. Whatever everyone else wants, they’ve already got. 

This means that you may just need to prove you have experience and skills a company doesn’t already have. If you have transferable soft skills and can prove you are able to innovate, motivate, and get stuff done, you may be able to break into tech without traditional experience.

Tech companies want to know that you’re trainable, dependable, and reliable. 

Want to get in touch with the right people in tech? We can help make that happen. Join Rise to find out how we help champion and celebrate women and diverse professionals in the tech industry.