Building tech knowledge for your new career

David Turnbull

You’ve decided you want to work in tech.

That’s a great first step. But let’s set your goal a little higher. You shouldn’t want to simply work in tech, you want to be successful in your chosen tech career. You should enjoy your work and find it fulfilling. You should spend your days working on interesting problems alongside teams of highly motivated people.

Does this sound unrealistic? It’s not, but it won’t come automatically. If you want a successful career in technology, understanding technology is vital.

If you have previous experience and formal education, it may be enough for an easy career transition. A proven track record of success in your career may be enough to open some initial doors, and you might even get a job.

But you will be at a distinct disadvantage if you start a new career knowing that you don’t really understand the products your company is building and selling or the wider industry.

Here are a couple of quick examples of what I’m talking about.

Example 1: Tech Marketing

Let’s say you’re a successful marketing manager for an FMCG company.

You’ve done well so far, but you’re bored. You see the opportunities in tech and are interested in making the move. Surely you can simply leverage your existing skill set and experience into a tech marketing job?

Well, software products are a very different beast from consumer goods. Do you understand how software is made? The development cycles, product launches, market dynamics, and user acquisition channels? Are you up to speed with the latest growth frameworks? Can you speak confidently about N-day cohort retention and modelling conversion attribution?

I’m not saying this to scare people off. None of this is rocket science, and it can all be learned. But it’s important to understand that while you may have experience in a role, you likely lack the specialised knowledge that’s key to a successful career in tech.

Example 2: Tech Recruiting

Another example to further emphasise my point.

Let’s assume you are working in recruitment for a mid-size services company and are interested in moving into tech recruitment. You have excellent people skills and a proven ability to build out a network of candidates. These are positive attributes that could definitely help you land a job. But to truly thrive in tech recruiting, you’ll want to understand the technical elements of the roles you’re recruiting for.

I can tell you from first-hand experience that it’s very frustrating to be continually contacted by recruiters who clearly don’t understand the positions they are trying to fill. I’m not saying you need to learn to code to hire programmers, but it is useful if you understand why you shouldn’t be asking for candidates to have 10+ years of React experience.

Benefits of Knowledge

Building your knowledge in topics across technology, startups, and the broader industry will help you:

  • Choose the right career
    • You’ll know enough about the industry to choose the career path that best matches your unique goals, skills, and experience.
  • Learn quickly
    • With a solid understanding of the fundamentals of your position and industry you’ll be able to get up to speed on more complex topics quickly.
  • Network effectively
    • You’ll be able to “speak the language” of tech, feel confident contributing to tech-focused discussions and meet interesting people at industry events.
  • Get a tech job
    • You’ll be more appealing to employers and recruiters if you can demonstrate in-depth knowledge of the position, and the industry, and understand enough jargon to “talk the talk”.
  • Progress in your career
    • You’ll be able to establish credibility with your new colleagues, feel confident in your abilities, and fully contribute to your new role from day one.

You might think, “Well, of course, knowing more is better than knowing less”. But there is more to it than that. Your time is limited, and there is an almost unlimited amount of content of varying quality available online. It’s very important you don’t waste time focusing on the wrong things. Your learning needs to follow a path, and you can find one here with our free tech career guides.