The idea of a “job in tech” naturally appeals to a lot of people. Even those who wouldn’t necessarily fashion themselves “geeks” are drawn to the idea — for the money, for the excitement, and for the general energy that still seems to radiate from modern tech. But plenty of people who buy into all of this don’t really have a clear picture of what they might want to do.
Believe it or not, there are plenty of ways to jump into the wide world of tech without simply “learning to code” (or becoming the next Mark Zuckerberg). Here, we’ll look at just a few specific skills that just might land you a career in this ever-expanding space.
1. Web Design
Yes, we just said we weren’t going to recommend learning to code. And yes, as you may have seen, there’s actually some chatter these days about the death of web design as an industry unto itself. Nowadays, people who need sites designed have some cheap and easy alternatives. They can buy templates to populate easily with their own content, or they can try any of a number of design platforms (Squarespace, Weebly, Wix, etc.) that make it easy for beginners to build sites. Web design isn’t necessarily as in demand as it once was.
But you also don’t need to be a coder to offer a valuable service. Even using templates or no-code building platforms most people setting out to create their own sites don’t really know what they’re doing. Visual design, functionality, and content layout depend on more than coding ability. And if you can develop an eye for these things — and potentially some expertise working with those same no-code platforms — you can sell your ability and add legitimate value to any number of ventures.
2. PCB Design
To get involved in an entirely different side of tech, you can also open yourself up to a number of interesting opportunities by learning how to design printed circuit boards. These little chip-like boards may not look like much, but the truth is that they’re the basis for countless tech devices’ performance. And creating them, with all of their intricate connections, can actually be thrilling to those with a passion for working out how technology actually works.
These days, this sort of activity doesn’t necessarily involve much in the way of physical engineering either. For one thing, viewing downloaded PCB designs has become easy via some related software programs. This can allow anyone who’s interested to observe and study connections and begin to learn how everything works. From there, actually designing your own PCB schematics is not a particularly big leap. Naturally, there’s a learning curve involved before you can successfully build highly capable circuit boards. But it’s a more accessible option than some might think, and one that can lead to some interesting opportunities in the tech world.
3. Social Media Savvy
Rest assured, social media savvy isn’t just a casual ability, or something young people develop among their friends. Certainly, that’s one way of reading it. But true social media savvy — expertise on different platforms and with different practices — is essentially a modern tech skill and one that countless companies will value.
The reality is that there are countless functions social media platforms can perform that a lot of businesses are hardly aware of — let alone equipped to take advantage of. We’ve talked about Facebook tools for deleting old posts or transferring photos to Google Chrome, for instance; Instagram has special video features for businesses, and can support shoppable posts; Twitter works with marketing extensions for certain browsers, and has special tools to help businesses expand their user lists. There are simply a ton of features, and by mastering them you can be an asset to virtually any modern business with an online presence.
4. Video Editing
Video editing is one of those tech tasks just about anyone can learn to do in a matter of hours — but not do well. And doing it well, with some creative experience and mastery of various platforms, makes you very valuable to modern businesses.
This is simply because video marketing is gaining traction across industries. Strategically arranged and targeted videos can be extremely effective in spreading a company’s brand and message, but most companies aren’t really equipped to do this work properly. So, by making yourself an expert with video editing (something you can do largely on your own through countless software programs and tutorials), you can also turn yourself into an essential employee.
In the expansive world of modern technology, there are all sorts of different ways to carve out a role for yourself. Expertise with these skills, to start with, will certainly lead to some opportunity though.
