This document provides an overview of getting started in a tech career. It defines what tech careers encompass, discusses in-demand first jobs like frontend developer and QA developer. It then outlines common career trajectories like becoming a senior developer or moving into roles that combine coding with other skills like product management, growth hacking, or data science. The document also discusses how to break into tech through learning skills, building a portfolio, networking, and preparing for interviews. It emphasizes that the tech industry has massive job shortages and hiring is based on skills rather than credentials.

1. Getting Started in Tech:
Building a Great Career
April 2017
http://bit.ly/thinkful-hired-in-tech

2. About me
• Connor Ericson
• Thinkful Graduate

3. About us
We train developers and data scientists
through 1-on-1 mentorship and career
prep programs

4. What is “tech”?
Tech isn’t just one industry anymore — it’s the new
business model. Every company is now a tech
company.

5. “Software is eating the world”
“More and more major businesses and
industries are being run on software and
delivered as online services — from movies to
agriculture to national defense. Many of the
winners are Silicon Valley-style entrepreneurial
technology companies that are invading and
overturning established industry structures.
Over the next 10 years, I expect many more
industries to be disrupted by software, with new
world-beating Silicon Valley companies doing
the disruption in more cases than not.”
- Marc Andreeson, WSJ, 2011

6. Some examples
• Largest retailer => Amazon
• Best movie production => Pixar
• Biggest media => Facebook & Google
• Most popular entertainment => Netflix

7. Goldman Sachs
• Lloyd Blankfein, CEO
• “Goldman Sachs is a
Technology Firm”
• 9,000 out of 33,000
employees are on tech
team

8. The good news
By 2020, there will be 1.4M computer science jobs and only
400,000 C.S. grads with the skills to apply for those jobs
- Bureau of Labor Statistics

9. The implications for jobs
• Increased demand in for technical skills
• Creation of new “software plus” jobs
• Diffusion of tech organizational culture, roles,
and processes

10. One such process — career trajectory
Junior sales
Account
executive
Sales Manager
VP Sales!

11. In “tech” career trajectories are varied
Full stack developer
Front-end developer
Back-end developer
QA developer

12. In “tech” career trajectory are varied
Full stack developer
Front-end developer
Back-end developer
QA developer
DevOps
Product developer
Growth hacker
Reliability engineer
Architect
Manager / team lead

13. Goals for tonight
• Define common first jobs
• Career trajectories after the first job
• Tips for breaking in

14. First jobs
• Frontend developer
• Backend developer
• Full-stack developer
• QA developer

15. Frontend Developer
You’ll be building the parts of an application that
people interact with

16. Backend Developer
Building the business logic and handling data storage
and manipulation

17. Full-stack Developer
Build both front and backend features
+

18. QA Developer
Write software tests and conduct manual tests to catch
bugs before they’re shipped

19. Next step: Senior Developer
Everything that came before with the ability to estimate
your work accurately, handle challenging problems with
less support, and add support for junior colleagues

20. Coding plus Roles
• Coding + Product = Product Manager
• Coding + Marketing = Growth Hacker
• Coding + Sales = Sales Engineer
• Coding + Data = Data Scientist

21. Product Manager (Coding + Product)
Turn business goals into product requirements. Work
with designers & developers to deliver — measure
success
Skills & Tools
• Customer research
• Customer development
• User stories
• Wireframes
• Project management
• Analytics

22. Growth Hacker (Coding + Marketing)
Design & implement experiments to drive customer
acquisition and engagement
Skills & Tools
• Rapid prototyping
• Analytics
• Communication

23. Sales Engineer (Coding + Sales)
Sell complex technical product by helping customer
understand how it works and how they’ll use it
Skills & Tools
• Communication
• Customer support

24. Data Scientist (Coding + Data)
Use statistics and programming to find valuable insights
from extremely large datasets
Skills & Tools
• Curiosity
• Statistics
• Analytics
• Machine Learning

25. The Good News
• Massive shortages in tech industry
• Hiring is based on skills, not credentials
• Anyone can learn with a growth mindset

26. 1M unfilled tech jobs by 2020
By 2020, there will be 1.4M computer science jobs available
and only 400,000 computer science grads with the skills to
apply for those jobs
- Bureau of Labor Statistics

27. Many firms recruit from code challenge sites

28. Technical interview is cornerstone of the process

29. Anyone can learn how to code
Students with a growth mindset - the belief that intelligence is
not just something that you are born with - have higher levels of
success. Neural connections grow and become stronger the
more you struggle with learning and correct your mistakes.
Carol Dweck, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University

30. How to get in the door?
• Learn the skills
• Build a portfolio of high quality work
• Develop a relevant network
• Prep for technical interviews

31. Learning the skills
• Build stuff + Google
• Free online resources (e.g. CodeAcademy)
• Flexible coding bootcamps (e.g Thinkful)
• Full-time coding bootcamps (e.g. GA)
• Full degree programs (Georgia Tech)

32. Building your portfolio
• Find a niche (based on your background)
• Build a personal website
• Get your portfolio on GitHub
• Try and find contract work
• Have professionals guide & review your work

33. Networking the right way
• 80% of job openings are never advertised
• 120 average applicants per job posted
• 20% get an interview
*https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/04/26/why-every-job-seeker-should-have-a-personal-
website-and-what-it-should-include/#578fbf6f119e

34. Networking the right way
• Cold applications suck!
• Figure out what you want (size, industry, role, etc)
• Reach out to someone that works at company
• Ask them about their work, genuine interest, build
a relationship
• Eventually (1-2 months in), ask for referral

35. Tech recruiters
• Tech recruiters serve as your agent
• Can leverage their relationships to arrange
interviews
• They are incentivized to find you a job
• You might get less say in where, but are helpful
• Can be great in getting you feedback

36. Thinkful students find jobs through referrals

37. The technical interview
• Phone screen
• Take home tech challenge
• In-person interviews

38. Resources
• Prep sites (e.g. Interview Cake)
• Books (e.g. Cracking the Coding Interview)
• Mock interviews with technical friends

39. Ways to keep learningLevelofsupport
Learning methods

40. 1-on-1 mentorship enables flexibility
325+ mentors with an average of 10
years of experience in the field

41. Support ‘round the clock

42. Our results
Job Titles after GraduationMonths until Employed

43. Try us out!
• Initial 2-week trial
includes six mentor
sessions for $50
• Learn HTML/CSS and
JavaScript
• Option to continue
onto web
development
bootcamp
• Talk to me (or email
jasjit@thinkful.com) if
you’re interested