5 tech careers you can pursue with zero experience
Looking to break into tech but unsure where to start? Discover 5 exciting tech careers you can pursue without prior experience. Learn the skills, certifications, and pathways to succeed in software development, project coordination, cyber security, data analysis, and cloud computing.
We’ve all been there; we want to work toward something without really knowing where to begin. This might just be annoying when it’s cleaning the house or that bit of DIY you’ve been putting off, but what about a complete change of career?
That takes a bit more thought, and knowing your starting point can be as important as the studying itself. We know it can be daunting, so below we’ve got 5 careers that you can move into without any previous experience and how you’ll achieve it.
Written by
Adam is a Marketing Executive at Learning People, specialising in software development and data with a background in tech and project management.
Software Developer
There are dozens of different terms you can use that the name Software Developer might encompass; web developer, full stack engineer, back-end developer, front-end engineer, the list goes on.
The basic skills you need are interchangeable across all of these roles and a lot of them don’t need any previous experience in the industry to take those first steps. With a strong understanding of HTML, CSS and JavaScript, a robust portfolio, and an industry-recognised certification, you can move into a role as a web developer.
Add in a back-end language like Python or Java, and you’re ready for that software developer position!
It’s hard work, and you’ve got to enjoy the problem-solving nature of the job, but if you do, then you’ve got a whole world of choices open to you. Think about the BCS accredited Full Stack Software Developer for a well-rounded career pathway with industry-relevant portfolio work.
Project Coordinator
A Project Manager is a diverse and multifaceted role that can span across any sector. Progressing along the ladder of Project Management requires experience and qualifications, and allows you the freedom to work in any specialisation that suits your previous experience, whilst earning a great salary.
A Project Coordinator does much the same job as a Project Manager; monitoring the daily progress of the project, writing reports, planning meetings, communication and bookkeeping. Almost all of these are skills that someone with any work experience will have a measure of, and those you don’t, you can learn easily learn!
With less than fifty hours’ study, you can gain three certifications, such as our APM PFQ, AgilePM Foundation & Practitioner and Change Management career pathways, to start that journey. Have you got that passion for leadership and organisation? Our Leap Careers will help you search for that first Project Coordinator role.
Cyber Security
There are so many elements to working in Cyber Security that it can be a little confusing to know the best place to start. Would you like to be a Cyber Security Analyst, IT Security Specialist or an Ethical Hacker?
Conveniently, they all have the same starting position; how does a computer work? It’s not just the digital world that needs considering when working in Cyber Security, but the physical one, too. If someone can simply plug into your confidential hard drive, they don’t need to hack into your system.
Similarly, if you’re not sure how a network system operates then you can’t protect it, and anyone could be monitoring the flow of information between computers in your system.
Beginning with certified training in these areas and building up your knowledge in the more complex aspects further along, will give you the strong foundations you need to build a stable and highly sought after career.
Consider the Cyber Security Analyst+ or EC Ethical Hacker pathways. Both are built from the basics upwards on the globally recognised CompTIA certifications and will give you everything you need to know to take that next step.
Data Analyst
Data Analysis has seen huge growth over the past ten years and will continue to do so. As businesses increasingly find ways to improve their models based upon the data they can collect, as well as the essential nature of data within areas like Machine Learning and AI, a Data Analyst will have any number of different sectors to move into.
For all the possibilities, a Data Analyst’s journey can start from relatively humble beginnings. Excel is still a hugely important facet of data analysis and visualisation. Anyone with any experience using Excel has already dipped their toes into the world of analysis. Add in some learning about databases, data modelling and using SQL, and you’re on your way to joining an in-demand and well-paid career.
Our Data Analyst pathway combines CompTIA’s Data+ certification with that of Microsoft Azure, giving you all the knowledge you need to move into one of the fastest growing industries globally.
Cloud Specialist
We all use it every single day, yet so few of us know how it really works. Fortunately, the route through to becoming a Cloud Specialist, and the multitude of jobs available to you from there, can be built from the ground up.
By learning the basics of how a computer operates, to studying the intricacies of network connections, through to the storage of information in the Cloud, anyone can start on this career pathway.
You’ll end your studying by specialising in a specific Cloud provider, whether that be Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud. From there, you’ll continue to advance your career into Cloud Engineering and Cloud Architecture.
Sound like your kind of job? Take a look at our CompTIA certified Cloud+, AWS Cloud Practitioner and Azure Solutions Architect pathways to see where you can begin.