Breaking Into Technology With A Non-Traditional Background

Learn strategies for landing a tech career without a computer science degree, or without prior professional experience.

What you'll learn

Build up your own technical experience that translates to career opportunities

Tailor your resume or C.V. to showcase what tech employers really want

Practice a mock interview with a technical hiring manager

Expand your professional network to access the hidden job market

Identify the habits and unconventional ways of approaching problems that work to your advantage in technology

Requirements

This course does not require any specific technical skills; you only need to come with the perseverance and grit that drove your unconventional career path in the first place.

Description

Do you love technology, but you're having a hard time turning that passion into a career? Maybe you're largely self-taught, or have a non-traditional career path. You're looking for your dream job online, but you keep running up against requirements for a computer science degree or professional experience you don't have yet. It may seem like an impossible problem, but it isn't!I was a technical hiring manager where I interviewed over 1,000 candidates - and I know what tech employers are really looking for. It's not just what's in the listed job requirements. I've also attacked this from the other side - I never had a CS degree myself, yet I ended up as a senior manager at Amazon leading a team of 50 engineers, and ultimately as CEO of my own tech company. This course will teach you the secrets of how tech hiring really works, and how you can turn that to your advantage - regardless of your background.The tenacity and perseverance that drove you to teach yourself the latest technology are exactly what companies need. I'll show you how to flip your non-traditional career path into an advantage, by stressing the valuable habits and ways of thinking your unconventional path gave you. This concise course will cover:What tech employers really care about (it's mainly what you can build, and not your background.)How to gain the prior experience you need, when you need experience to get a job. It's not the impossible situation it seems.Building your professional network - the connections you make are essential to getting past the gatekeepers to the best tech jobs.The essential habits your non-traditional background gave you, and how to build a narrative about their value to prospective employers.How to turn your unconventional education or experience to your advantage - you can "think different" from other engineers, and that's a good thing.You'll also get 6 hands-on activities to turn what you learn into action:Optimizing your resume or C.V. when you're largely self-taughtIdentifying projects to build more tech experience you can do on your ownIdentifying organizations and projects that lead to professional networking opportunitiesArticulating your unique and valuable habits in the form of narratives for interviewersPreparing stories for behavioral interviews that highlight the strengths of your non-traditional backgroundA mock interview with a technical hiring managerIf you're tired of being held back from an interesting and lucrative career in technology, enroll now. You don't need to go into debt for hundreds of thousands of dollars and get a PhD in computer science. With just the right strategies from this course, and dose of your own determination, you can start a technology career that will change your life.This course was created by an experienced human - no generative AI or ChatGPT was used to generate its content.

Overview

Section 1: Introduction

Lecture 1 Introduction

Lecture 2 Get the slides

Section 2: What employers really care about

Lecture 3 What you can build vs. what you've learned

Lecture 4 The importance of communication skills

Lecture 5 Technical certifications: are they worth it? And some cultural caveats.

Lecture 6 ACTIVITY: Tailor your resume or C.V. to highlight your accomplishments

Section 3: Beating the catch-22 of experience

Lecture 7 Making your own experience

Lecture 8 Self-employment: is it for you?

Lecture 9 ACTIVITY: Identify 3 tech projects to tackle on your own

Section 4: Building your network

Lecture 10 Networking: why it's essential, how to make new connections

Lecture 11 Casting a wider net to smaller companies

Lecture 12 ACTIVITY: Identify 3 organizations or projects to expand your network

Section 5: The essential habits (that are more important than your background)

Lecture 13 Curiosity and lifelong learning

Lecture 14 Building things for fun

Lecture 15 Ruthless efficiency, a sense of ownership, and a bias for action

Lecture 16 ACTIVITY: Demonstrating these habits to a technical interviewer

Section 6: Turning your non-traditional background into an advantage

Lecture 17 A bias for simplicity and delivering results

Lecture 18 Self-motivation and approaching tech problems holistically

Lecture 19 Working backwards from the customer experience

Lecture 20 ACTIVITY: Prepare stories about applying your unique background to tech problems

Section 7: Preparing for the interview

Lecture 21 Turning behavioral interviewing to your advantage, and preparing for objections

Lecture 22 What to expect on interview day

Lecture 23 Filling educational gaps in computer science fundamentals

Lecture 24 Practicing coding and system design interviews

Lecture 25 General interviewing tips

Lecture 26 ACTIVITY: Mock interview with a technical hiring manager

Section 8: Wrapping up

Lecture 27 Conclusion - what we learned, and congratulations!

Lecture 28 Bonus lecture

Developers seeking technical careers, without a computer science degree or without extensive professional experience.,Engineers struggling with getting past educational and experience requirements for technical jobs.