How to Find a Role in Tech You Actually Want

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Computer Science courses are only good at a few things.

They teach you all about language syntax. Code style. And algorithm analysis.

But what they forget to teach you is: there’s a world outside the code editor.

There are hundreds of industries in need of programmers. From pet walking to car driving. They all need people to write software for their service to come to life.

So how do you bridge the gap between writing algorithm in the classroom to writing algorithms for a software product?

Focus on the product, not the tech stack.

Most students don’t get a chance to think this way. And it’s not their fault. But here are a few reasons why:

• Courses are focused on a specific subject. Not a specific project.
• Academic assignments only focus on small code snippets.
• Students don’t have industry connections to ask for help.

But, we can tackle each of those with these 4 steps:

Step 1: Understand the landscape.

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Computer Science is… a large domain.

And that makes Technology also a large industry.

To narrow in on a specific role, spend 15 minutes learning the landscape and find out where you want to go. Setting firm goals is critical here.

For example, you’ve got roles that focus on the front-end:

• Product Ergonomics
• Mobile App Design
• Animations

And there are others that focus on the back-end:

• Server Reliability
• Data Pipeline Engineering
• High-Performance Computing

What interests you more? What gets you excited?

Step 2: Learn the skills for that particular role

Chances are, your classes taught you something you found interesting.

Your hundreds of hours of lecture contained a lot of noise.

But let’s try to hone in on some signal here: which class did you actually enjoy attending?

• Computer networks and working with the internet?
• Compilers and language tooling?
• Statistics and Linear Algebra?

Let’s imagine it was that last one. I would do a quick Google Search on “Statistics for Programming” and find job descriptions. It yields 579,000,000 results.

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If you naturally find yourself falling to down this rabbit hole, fueled by curiosity, move onto the next step.

Otherwise, go back a step and try something else.

Step 3: Find people already doing that work, and set up a coffee chat.

Since my search led me down a rabbit hole, I discovered “Data Science” was a popular choice for those who liked Statistics and Programming.

Next, let’s go to LinkedIn take a company I admire (AirBnb) and glue that to my job role (Data Scientist).

Now I have a list of people doing exactly what I’m interested in doing.

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Shoot 3 people a connection, and write them a message you’d like to chat over coffee and get to know more about their work. High odds that 1 person responds.

Step 4: Ask them how they got there.

People love talking about themselves.

To spark a meaningful connection with someone, it’s much more important to be interested than to be interesting.

Here are three questions I love to ask to get to know someone.

When you ask these grab a pen and take notes. Follow up on what they said. Dive deep.

These signals show the other person you are interested in what they have to say.

• When Monday rolls around, how are you feeling about the week ahead?
• Why did you choose Data Science as opposed to Software Engineering?
• What other opportunities were you considering before this?
• Do you find your work purposeful?

Then, lastly ask yourself: “Would I trade lives with this person?”

TL;DR

To find a role in tech you actually want to do for work...

1. Understand the landscape.
2. Find a particular role.
3. Learn the skills for said role.
4. Find people with said role.
5. Ask them how they got there.

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That's about it.

Talk soon,
Ricky

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P.S. Whenever you're ready, here's how I can help you:

If you’re a student or new grad looking for your first role in tech, pre-order my upcoming book How to Start Your Career in Tech.

→ Go from broke college student to highly-paid software engineer with this ultimate guide to getting hired in Tech. This guide will teach you the 5-step system I used to get interviews and offers from Google, Apple, Amazon, and beyond during my college years.

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