The tech industry is the fastest growing and most exciting area of the business world right now. Full of young go-getters that are making huge amounts of cash out of their tech skills. Lots of middle-aged people have missed out on that cash cow by a single generation and they’re pretty gutted. But they needn’t be because they can still get a slice of the pie if they want to. Even though tech companies tend to hire younger people, it doesn’t mean that they’re better suited to their jobs. The main problem that employers find with a younger workforce is that, while they’ve got the tech know-how, they don’t always have the job or life experience that is valuable in any position. If you think that you’ve got something to offer the tech industry but you’re worried about getting into it too late, just take these steps to make that goal a reality.
Know Your Stuff
Learning how to code is a big part of the education system these days, but when you were at school there weren’t any computers at all. That starts you out on the back foot and your biggest hurdle will be a lack of knowledge. Fortunately, that’s easily rectified. There are plenty of online postgraduate courses that you can take from home so you can retrain while you’re still at your current job. The financial strain of going back to college later in life is one of the things that often puts people off retraining but online courses sort that problem.
As well as official qualifications, there are all sorts of great online resources that can teach you the basics of coding and writing computer software. Codeacademy is one of the most popular ones out there and it’s completely free. It won’t teach you everything that you’ll need to work in the tech industry but it gives you a good base knowledge and its a handy way of testing whether you’ve got a natural talent for it.
Start With Baby Steps
You aren’t going to land a high paid position at a tech company straight away. A good place to start trying to find paid tech work is at your current job. Speak to your boss and see if there are any tech related tasks that you could help out with. Even if it’s only the tiniest thing, it’s still good experience that you can cite when you’re applying for more permanent positions. Even helping out friends and family with any tech issues that they’ve got is good practice, but make sure that they don’t start calling you every five minutes to ask for your help.
Use Social Media
You might not be that bothered about social media, but if you’re going to try to break into the tech industry you need to be using it regularly. Even if you’re not using it for personal reasons it’s a brilliant place to network with people in the industry. Tech companies often find new employees through social media so having a good presence is the perfect way to put yourself on their radar.
Don’t let your age stop you from finding the tech career that you want.