How To Get Started in the Tech Industry

Getting Started in Tech

I'll like to start this article by introducing myself and what I did before I eventually transitioned into tech, and in this article, I'll be explaining how you can transition into the tech world without facing the same challenges I faced. So let's get right into it.

Introduction

My name is Mishael Dada, I'm from Nigeria, and I'm a graduate of Biochemistry who transitioned to be a Front-end Developer and a UI Designer. My journey into tech started in the year 2019 after graduating from the university, I launched out to learn Cyber Security after watching a movie called hackers, well I'm sure this movie has pushed a lot of people into the cyber security field than any other movie except maybe you've watched matrix too. So I joined a cyber security community Diary of Hackers (DoH) I started learning python, shell(bash) but I wasn't really getting the hang of it, I couldn't understand some of the basic concepts like TCP/IP model, HTTPS Methods and so on, the journey at first is always really stressful (as a beginner put this at the front of your mind), so I contacted a friend of mine Teddy from my university days who I know was into programming then (currently a Data Engineer), so after a long chat with him he introduced me to another coursemate of ours Ebube(aka Busko). Now, this whole article would never exist without the two guys I've mentioned above (Teddy and Ebube), I'll like to use this medium to appreciate them for dragging me fully into the tech field cause if they didn't probably I'll be sitting in the corner of a room right now washing test tubes. So, it's time to show you how to transition into tech fully based on my own experience it might probably not be the right way for some people but it might work for you, so sit tight and let's get started.

Transitioning into the Tech Industry

What exactly is Tech Industry?

Dr Myles Munroe once said:

"When purpose is not known, abuse is inevitable!"

So therefore I can say that

"When the definition of a thing is not known, misunderstanding is inevitable"

Most times when you ask people what the tech industry means, their answer has to do with the full name "Technology" they're not wrong at all but there's a keyword missing there and that keyword is innovation, so, the Tech Industry can simply be defined as an industry, focused mainly on innovation, bringing ideas to life using different technologies. So I guess we know what the tech industry means now, so next up is Steps to getting into the Tech Industry.

Steps to getting into the Tech Industry

Don't forget what I said earlier this is just my own opinion of how to get into the tech field yours might be different but if it happens that you are a complete noob then this will work for you, so let's take a deep dive into it.

Step 1: Finding a Niche of Choice

For many of us at first, we thought the Tech Industry was just about writing hundreds and thousands of lines of codes and because of that we rushed into learning one programming language or the other (just like I did in the beginning) but here's the good new - the Tech industry isn't just about writing codes and sitting in front of a PC with a black background and green text. hack screen.jpg The industry also has a category of non-coding skills you can adopt I'll be giving you a list of those non-coding skills below, but if you're interested in finding out more and their roles you can find that information here.

UI/UX Design
Graphics Design
Technical Writer
Tech Support Specialist
Project management
Product Management
Digital Marketing

and so. There are thousands of freelancers who earn millions monthly just from these skills, you can do that too pick up a course today on platforms like Youtube, Udemy, Udacity and many more. As a kind gesture, at the end of this article, I'll be sharing links to some resources where you can learn most of these above-mentioned skills for free as well as some paid Udemy courses I have.

So with that said the coding aspect of the Tech Industry is a massive one and it can be likened to the width of the sky and I'm sure you know that's really really massive. Below is a list of the categories in the coding aspect of the Tech Industry:

Software Engineering
Web Development
Game Development
Mobile App Development
Cyber Security
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
Data Science
Cloud Engineering
BlockChain Development

and many more, Note: Most of these categories listed above have sub-categories for example a Web Developer can either be a Frontend, a Backend or a FullStack Developer.

Now after going through this list, DYOR (Do Your Own Research), find a niche or a category you're interested in or where you're passion-driven to go into because with time the only thing that'll keep you moving against all odds is your passion. Are you someone who is very good with colours and very creative with designs (e.g. students good in architecture, building tech) you can give UI/UX a try, are you a cashier who's having difficulty keeping track of daily transactions cause of the large influx of customers? try building an app that'll help you do that. I believe everyone has a space in the tech industry, as one of my mentors Danny Thompson(even though he doesn't know I exist) would say "It's never too late to learn how to code and there's a space for everyone", so, find your passion then, what next?

Step 2: Find a Roadmap

After you must have decided to go into one of the categories, the next question on your mind is so where do I start from?, what do I learn?, how do I learn what I need to learn? well, that's the essence of a roadmap. A roadmap is a visualization of a strategic plan. You need a bold vision for what you want to achieve and a solid plan for how you will turn your aspirations into reality. Let's take for example you're going to see a relative who lives in another state, you don't just get into your car and start driving in any direction right? you follow a path that leads to your destination right? well lucky for us thousands of people have gone down the paths you've chosen and they've laid down a path for us to follow to get to our destination. I almost forgot to say this, different career paths here use different stacks of programing language but a programming language can also be used in multiple stacks for example Javascript and Python can be used in more than 60% of the stacks you'll find, I'll attach an image below for better understanding.

As you can see each sector has a stack of languages, one mistake I made and I see new developers making today is "Learning all the languages in a stack at the same time", please don't do that you're only going to waste your time and gain nothing at the end, learn one language at a time if your stack is "*Javascript, Java, Python" pick one language let's say you pick "Java", find a roadmap for learning java you can find one here stick to learning it well then move to the next, in a later section we'll talk about how to learn how to code efficiently. Below are links to a list of roadmaps to different career paths you might have chosen, if you don't find any relating to the path you've chosen, do well to inform me so I can add it up later.

FreeCodeCamp Web Developer Roadmap
Developer Roadmaps includes -- Frontend -- Backend -- Andriod -- Python -- Java -- Go -- DevOps

Now you've picked the languages you want to learn and you've found a roadmap for it next is "Where do I learn from?"

Step 3: Find Learning Resources

Getting the right tutorial video for you to kick off your journey can prove to be quite difficult especially if you're transitioning into tech with no CS background. So, I've made available a compilation of youtube channels, videos and files for different categories which you can check out, and if you find your desired career path then you start learning but, I must say this Do not watch too many tutorial videos at a time, get one video stick to it till the end before moving to the next on, we'll talk about challenges you'll face while learning in another section of this article. So below is a list of resources worth hundreds of dollars and I'll be sharing it for free cause I also got it for free, finally if you don't find a video of your choice let me know so I can share other materials with you.

List of Youtube Channels

Google Drive and Mega Files

I guess with this we're ready for the last step of our transition into tech.

Step 4: Start

Well as simple as it may sound this happens to be the most difficult step to take when it comes to transitioning into the tech industry. You've found your passion-driven career, you know the stack of programming languages to learn, you've gotten the roadmap for a specific language you've decided to start with, and you have all your learning materials available next thing to do is START and as you're starting always remember it takes TIME to become good at any programming language and it might seem as if you can't do it but keep trying.

Things To Do To Enable You to Start Well

Make a timetable: This I think is one of the effective ways of starting well, create time for yourself and be ready to sacrifice a lot of your time to learn, as a beginner when I started learning how to code it was during the COVID-19 pandemic I spend approximately 14+ hours daily in front of my PC, yours doesn't have to be 14 hours yours can be 4 hours, 2 hours daily depending on your daily schedule.
Get a Mentor: This is one of the things I wasn't opportune to have during my early days of learning, a good mentor is able to impact knowledge worth 10 hours in 40 minutes, he's able to see your mistake at a glance and tell you how to correct it immediately and this I can tell you from experience will save you lot of hours of debugging. So go on Twitter or LinkedIn check through profiles and get yourself a mentor, i'm still a junior dev so I can't be anyone's mentor yet, but if you happen to run into any form of bug in your code you can reach out to me.
Get a Learning Partner: While this might not work for everyone, it works really well for others, getting someone who is starting out like you and connect with him/her.
Set Goals: This is my favourite part, I do this very very often and it has proved to be more effective in boosting productivity than any other method. Set targets for yourself - for me personally I set daily, weekly, monthly and yearly targets. By the beginning of the year, I have a plan for projects I wanna work on, tasks I'll like to accomplish and so on for example one of my plan for the year was (using was cause Its no longer a plan) to get a full-time role which currently I've achieved. So I urge you as you are starting out to make plans for yourself.

Well with these few points i wish you good luck in your journey. In case of any suggestions to improve this article or if you have any questions, please reach out to me.

Mishael Dada's Blog