It isn’t hard to see the appeal of working in the technology industry. Technology is a key part of most of our lives these days and the opportunity to be involved in the conception and development of technology is uniquely satisfying. Of course, lots of people would love to work in the technology industry, making it a very competitive field to break into.
Difficult? Yes. Impossible? Definitely not! With just a little bit of advice, anyone with enough passion and drive can find themselves their dream job within the technology sector. From ensuring that people have access to high-quality apps to making sure that medical equipment is properly designed, there are endless opportunities in tech to improve people’s lives and make a real and positive difference to the world.
Here are some of the key words of advice to keep in mind if you want to land a job in the technology sector.
Indulge Your Passion
If you want to stand out as an applicant when you apply for jobs in tech, you will want to make sure that your resume is as full of achievements as possible. The best degrees and other activities to have on your resume will depend on the specific job you are thinking of applying for. However, anything that you can add to your resume that proves you are passionate about technology and eager to make it in the industry will make you a more appealing candidate.
If you aspire to develop software, learn to code and show what you are capable of. If you want to be a product tester or reviewer, then start reviewing the tech products around you and post the reviews on your blog. An applicant might have superb qualifications on paper, but if they aren’t able to demonstrate that they have a passion for the subject outside of the classroom then a potential employer might question whether they are truly passionate or if this is just another job for them.
Work on Your Resume
It’s hard to overstate how important your resume is. In many cases, your resume will be the first time that a potential employer encounters you. They will, therefore, often begin to formulate their opinions of you from the moment that they first look over your resume. First impressions are important in all walks of life, but they are especially vital in the world of business. Your entire career could rise or fall on the back of your resume.
Don’t rush through your resume. Start by putting down all the essential information about yourself, including your academic grades and achievements. Once you have all that down, you can then find ways to make your resume more interesting. For example, any extra-curricular activities that you’re involved in or any qualifications that you have managed to earn on your own initiative. All of these things will make your resume significantly more appealing to a potential employer.
Earn a Relevant Degree
You don’t need to have a degree to work in the technology field, but it sure does help. The good news is that because of the variety of roles available within the tech industry, there are lots of degrees you can choose from that will help you land a job. Of course, there are degrees that relate directly to tech, such as computer science or software engineering.
But there are also a whole host of other degrees that can be used to open doors for you in the technology industry. Technology businesses still need all the same services that other businesses do, such as accounting and marketing, etc. so it’s possible that you already have a relevant degree without even realizing it. If you are looking for a degree that won’t just open doors in tech but which can land you a job in a variety of other sectors, click here to read about the masters of business analytics degree.
Gain Experience
No amount of studying can compare to real-world experience. In order to make your application stand out against all the others, you need to show that you are a candidate who has more to offer. Any experience you have actually working with technology can go a long way towards this. You don’t necessarily have to have worked in the technology industry to have gained useful experience with technology.
For example, if you have previously worked a retail job then you may well have already sold electronics or been involved in troubleshooting technology for customers. Both of these will give you useful experience that can easily be transferred to work within the technology sector itself.
If you don’t yet have any work experience, then you should look for ways to get some. Again, you don’t have to go straight into the technology field, you should just look for a job that will put you around technology. Alternatively, consider looking for internship and work experience opportunities. If you can find paid positions, obviously that is preferable. However, if you can only find unpaid intern work, and you can afford to take it up, this is a worthwhile investment in your future. You will be grateful for the sacrifice once it’s time to actually start applying for work.
It isn’t difficult to understand why so many people want to work in the technology field. Not only does it offer a very varied prospectus of potential jobs, but it also provides boundless opportunities to improve the lives of other people. Whether you envisage yourself leading a technology business, writing software as part of a team or even analyzing performance data and devising plans for the future, the technology industry offers a role to suit everybody.
But this is a very competitive field, one that is difficult to break into. For every position in the tech industry, there will be numerous applicants that you need to beat in order to land the job. Anything and everything that you can do to make yourself a more attractive candidate is worthwhile.
