Be it casual browsing on the internet or a relaxing time on your social media accounts, there is no way to escape the ad offering coding classes for kids. A look around your peers and you will find several aspiring software engineers and programmers. One may easily get the impression that ‘Coding’ is the master skill needed to flourish professionally in today’s tech-driven world. Yet there still are many jobs that don’t require coding. Although coding is a highly sought-after skill in the tech industry, everyone doesn’t need to know how to code to pursue a career in the tech field.
Let’s look into these ’10 tech jobs that don’t require coding’, since maybe one of these may be of your interest and skills.
Technical Writer
If you’re good at condensing complex ideas into manageable chunks of text, Technical Writing is one of the most plentiful non-coding jobs in the tech industry. Being well-versed in the subject matter, descriptive, and organized are all assets for this position. Many technical writers start as freelancers, before becoming full-time employees of the companies they now work for.
Technical writing entails composing how-to manuals, how-to guides, product descriptions and specifications, journal articles, white papers, business proposals and other supporting documents. Authors who specialize in technical writing can better explain and communicate complex concepts. This means that technical writers not only write for the end-users, but they also frequently produce tech content for internal communication, such as project plans, design specifications, and reports. Excellent research background is required for technical writing success, in addition to outstanding writing abilities. Without writing a single line of code, it’s the ideal way to put your diverse technical knowledge to use.
You can learn writing by doing online courses and training programs. A bachelor’s degree in technical fields such as engineering, information technology, management information systems, journalism or communications is a good stepping stone for a technical writing career. Along with a degree, you can invest in online courses to gain the relevant skills.
You can start working as a technical writer with a four-year bachelor’s degree along with a technical writing certificate. The certification course can take up to six months to achieve.
Skills required to be a technical writer include the ability to write clearly and concisely, familiarity with technology, good communication skills, research skills and the ability to represent ideas graphically.
Technical writers work with a project development team. Technical writers report to Subject Matter Expert (SME). Once the draft is ready, it is passed on to one or more SMEs for review depending on the technical topics.
No! There is no formal requirement for a degree or diploma in technical writing. After your bachelor’s degree, having a certificate course in technical writing, practical experience and a portfolio of writings will be equally beneficial in landing jobs.
The average compensation of a technical writer in India is around INR 5 lakh per annum. The pay scale of this role ranges from INR 2.4 lakh to INR 12 lakh per annum, depending upon your skills, expertise and experience as your writing career progresses. Also, work income could be variable depending upon the number of clients you work with and freelancing projects.
Usability (UX) Designer
Software engineers can build products, but ultimately, utilization of the product makes it a success. Therefore, the target audience needs to understand the user flow. A product that users understand how to use intuitively, enjoy using, and come back to use again, are attributes of a successful consumer product. To achieve this, it is essential to understand how a user would respond to your product and how their user journeys will be designed. Usability experts /UX experts come from various backgrounds. Web design, coding, psychology, design, and research methodology are the most valuable skills in this career path. UX and UI are increasingly important, especially in today’s times when nearly every business is focused on delivering an exceptional user experience to keep customers engaged.
A UX Designer is primarily in charge of ensuring that customers have a positive experience and are satisfied with the design and usability of the product or service in question. A UX designer ensures the product or a solution is useful by working on navigation, content, and functionality. All of these elements are tied together to create a joyful end result. It is a continuous process of tapping into these questions until the desired outcome is achieved.
- Who is our user?
- Why will they use our solution?
- Where and how will they use it?
- What should we make based on the responses to the above questions, by being in the user’s mindset?
While reading all this, if you are wondering what a typical day in the life of a UX designer looks like, then click here.
Most companies are more keen on portfolios than a degree or diploma. Also, some employers prefer graduate candidates in their hiring process. You may enter the UX design field without a degree. Remember, starting on your own has its own challenges and it has to be accompanied by design certifications, building a portfolio to show your experience and networking. Many people start in the affiliated fields such as web development, graphic design and later pick up additional skills to transition into UX design.
You need to acquire various hard and soft skills to work as a UX designer. Technical skills include but are not limited to user research and analysis, usability testing, prototyping, mockups, charting out user flows, information architecture and design skills. Soft skills also play an essential role in the UX design career such as collaboration and communication, presentation skills and teamwork.
The top 3 digital skills currently are UI/UX, Digital Marketing and Data Science. Glassdoor added UX design jobs to their list as best 50 jobs to have in 2021. So to answer this question, opportunities are plenty in various fields.
Yes, definitely. The freelance market for UI/UX designers is in demand more than ever as we move to the online era, whether the e-experience of any industry.
The five most sought after careers in UX design are – UX designer, UX strategist, UX researcher, UX writer and Information architect. UX designer roles can mean different things to different companies. In some companies (for example – startups), you may be working as a UX designer and there could be an overlap from other job titles as careers in UX are closely connected.
The UX design job role is included in Glassdoor’s list of 25 highest-paying entry-level jobs, wherein UX job ranked at number six. The compensation for a UX designer role varies based on the company they work for, experience and expertise.
Product Manager
If you have experience building product prototypes through your college projects or internships and constantly think about making it better and enhancing its features, perhaps this career is for you. How would you market that product? If you see yourself being motivated by these questions, then the Product Manager role could be your calling.
As a Product Manager, you will be coordinating with diverse teams – developers, marketing and perhaps having discussions with the management or founding team. It is an amalgamation of different groups putting in effort in building the product. You get to look into all aspects of the product and launch it with the desired features. If you have worked on similar tasks in your college projects, that would be a great start to help you get into product management. Mostly, straight after college, companies hire potential candidates as Associate Product Managers. In a nutshell, Product Managers are responsible for the company’s product strategy, design, and implementation. Even though coding isn’t required, having a working knowledge will only benefit you.
A set of hard skills and soft skills are required to succeed in a Product Manager role. These include communication skills, critical thinking, technical expertise, business intelligence, research skills and writing technical specifications, analytical skills, management skills, marketing skills, interpersonal skills, leadership and teamwork.
Yes! According to the latest Glassdoor study, Product Managers are paid well. The need for experienced Product Managers has increased in the last 10 to 15 years, especially in the tech industry. Depending on the company you work with, product management is one of the highest paying jobs in the industry.
The entry-level position is the Associate Product Manager role. After getting experience in the entry-level position, you can get promoted to a mid-level Product Manager role. After a few successful years (3 -5) in this role, you can move up to the senior product manager role. From there on, the career progression – Director of Product, VP of Product and Chief Product Officer.
Aspiring Product Managers enroll into a program with 3-5 years of business experience. When they start their product management career, they already have skills for the job role.
Most employers prefer candidates with a relevant degree related to the industry they are applying for product management roles.
Growth Manager/Hacker
If you enjoy meeting new people and networking is a strength of yours, the role of Growth Manager may be worth considering. Large corporations have a growth department tasked with expanding the reach of their products. Often known as user acquisition specialists, growth managers fall under the bigger umbrella of marketing. Growth Managers have a significant role to play in startups. They integrate marketing, technology, and business development with a laser focus on user acquisition. They create and implement onboarding tactics, experiment, measure results, and modify plans as needed based on consumer response and engagement. To be successful in such a function necessitates flexibility and agility.
If the thought of taking the product to reach from 10X to 100x excites you, then this is for you.
Growth Manager FAQ’s
Career as a Growth Hacker is a well paid and fastest-growing marketing job today. Aspiring Growth Managers/Hackers should at least have a graduate degree. You can get a bachelor’s degree in computer science, marketing or business subjects.
A growth manager/hacker is a marketer with analytical and critical skills and creative ideas. Growth hackers should possess knowledge of marketing, SEO, content, and project management to rapidly increase a company’s growth.
The job functions of a Growth Manager intersect with marketing and product development. A growth manager reports to the CEO of the company. In some companies, they report to the VP of Marketing or VP of Product.
Every company needs a growth manager to grow its business. Growth Managers create a detailed business presentation, plan out the implementation of growth initiatives and track the performance.
System Administrator
Any organisation in the tech world requires a specialist who is in charge of activities such as setting up systems for employees, diagnosing software malfunctions and troubleshooting them, configuring servers, backing up files, and many others. And a System Administrator, “Sysadmins”, as they’re commonly called, does this for them. Sysadmins manage the day-to-day operations of a company’s technology. They cover everything from unboxing and configuring equipment to restoring an email server after it has gone down.
To work as a System Administrator, you must have a solid understanding of operating systems, networking concepts, system security, databases, and so on. Along with this, having good communication and problem-solving skills goes a long way. These also include interpersonal skills, which are essential when dealing with irritated coworkers who can’t check their email or submit their project reports. While coding is not always required, having some programming knowledge is advantageous. There are numerous known IT certifications that can assist you in getting a job as a System Administrator. Here is a resource for a guide for being a System Admin!
A System Administrator reports to the system architect. The senior role after becoming Systemafter System Administrator is becoming a System Architect. The responsibilities of system architecture include – planning the architecture of an organization’s IT systems.
A sysadmin is required to write small scripts. So the answer is knowledge of coding is needed for a System Administrator.
As per the Bureau of Labour Statistics, the job prospects for System Administrators is projected to grow 5% from 2020 to 2030.
SEO professional
Search engines matter! Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and marketing specialists are in charge of increasing a website’s ranking and converting some of those searches into conversion traffic. While search engine optimization is sometimes classified as marketing, it is distinguished by technological components of its own. SEO specialists work with developers and web designers to ensure that SEO best practices are applied throughout a website/web app. The key responsibilities of SEO experts include keyword research, collaborating with content teams to drive SEO in content production, optimising web pages to increase search engine ranking, link building, tracking, reporting, and evaluating website metrics.
SEO experts should be aware that practically every online platform takes SEO seriously, and that there are ample prospects for SEO professionals, ranging from executive to managerial positions. As SEO comes under the broader field of digital marketing, you may be interested in exploring curated resources of career path in digital marketing.
FAQ’s on SEO as a career option
Data analyst
Data Analysts address data related queries. Their responsibilities include analysing historical data, designing systems for storing data and utilising various tools for analysing data. While having alternatives is usually a good thing, it may be tough to comprehend how different jobs differ in the field of data science and what kind of skill sets and educational backgrounds are necessary for each.
Data Analysts address data related queries. Their responsibilities include analysing historical data, designing systems for storing data and utilising various tools for analysing data. While having alternatives is usually a good thing, it may be tough to comprehend how different jobs differ in the field of data science and what kind of skill sets and educational backgrounds are necessary for each.
Yes! Data analysts require a solid foundation in mathematics and statistics and it is necessary to improve your math skills before becoming a data analyst.
One can start as a data analyst and then become a senior-level analyst. After gaining experience, you can take up more responsibilities in the job role of analytics manager, Director of Analytics or Chief Data Officer.
Information Architect
Do you ever find yourself browsing websites and wondering, “Why is this button here on the left when it would be more useful to have it at the top right? Why is this top menu so confusing? This could have been done so much better”? You might have what it takes to be an information architect.
This job profile is a design and user experience sub-speciality that focuses on optimising the structure and organisation of a website/application. By planning and creating the information structure for websites and web apps, Information Architect (IA) creates a great user experience. Information architects must be able to convert user behaviour into media/web page structure, create workflow diagrams, and organise data into site maps. How do these things get done by IAs? By paying attention to crucial elements including organisation and categorization, labelling, navigation, and searching.
To be a successful information architect, you will need to have a flair for creating quality information flows and templates. Is this the kind of job you’re looking for?
The primary responsibility of an Information architecture (IA) is organizing, structuring, and labeling content effectively. Their goal is to help users find information more easily to complete tasks.
These two terms relate to each other. However, they are not the same. Information architecture is a blueprint of the final design, which is developed into prototypes, wireframes, and sitemaps. So, information architecture is not the same as UX design.
Graphic designer
Graphic Designers develop graphics and other visual representations for businesses and clients using specialised design software. They design logos, banners, websites, and advertisements. They are sometimes referred to as graphic designers.
Graphic Designers should be able to plan concepts by studying relevant material available and should be able to illustrate concepts through their design. They communicate ideas by creating an overall layout that can attract consumers. Besides, one gets to exercise creativity as a graphic artist. There are plenty of freelancing opportunities for graphic designers in a wide range of industries.
Graphic Designer FAQ’s
It may take 3-4 years for a Bachelor’s in Graphic Design. Many public and private universities and colleges provide Bachelor’s degrees in Graphic Design and the duration may vary depending on the institution.
It is recommended that you pursue college studies and have a Bachelor’s degree in any of the streams (Arts or Science). You can then pursue a diploma or certification in Graphic Design, parallelly, if possible.
Project Manager
Most goals in an organization are accomplished through projects. Goals can’t be achieved without having a plan of action. Project managers are in charge of specific projects from the planning stage to the execution stage and they have a talent for understanding the large picture as well as the finer details. They collaborate in multi-disciplinary teams, bringing together engineers, marketers, product specialists, and others. They frequently coordinate the priorities and actions of various teams.
Traits a Project Manager should have are being observant of human behaviour, being a great team player, being organized, being able to delegate and motivate and keep track. Someone who identifies team members’ strengths and allocates tasks accordingly and while doing all of this brings the team together working towards a shared goal. If this sounds like something you will enjoy doing on a day to day basis, then this job role is worth considering.
Project managers keep things moving to hit the project milestones.
Communication is one of the most essential skills for Project Managers. Other important skills include – negotiation skills, the ability to resolve conflict within a team, leadership, time management, problem-solving skills.
Yes! A career as a Project Manager means a variety of work and is well paid. It is also a demanding job. Every company has project managers to initiate projects, plan, implement, and track the progress while minimising cost and boosting efficiency.
Public sector organizations, software companies, finance and insurance agencies, construction and engineering firms, healthcare, information technology and IT services, education and training.
You need to complete an undergraduate degree before starting into a Project Manager’s role. After your degree, it is recommended to do certification of diploma in project managers. The knowledge gained through the certification courses and skills acquired through work experience would be essential to succeed in project management.
To conclude, the tech world is much more than just programming!
All you have to do is assess your interests, abilities, and needs – and then choose the relevant career option for yourself!