There are ways to get started in tech and stay in tech consistently, without learning how to code.

Of course coding plays a big part in the tech game. But not everyone wants that.

So, why not consider jobs in technology without coding experience?

How can you do that?

Here’s how…

There are certain transferable skills that you can gain, anywhere, it doesn’t just have to be in tech.

Skills develop, but the game remains the same!

You want skills that can help you get started quickly in the tech space.

You can do that by trying out the 7 non-technical roles described below that will get you started in your tech career.

Customer service can mean anything, essentially, that’s customer-facing or any work that requires you to be on the front line.

Customer service has its hand in many pots — it’s like the bread and butter of non-technical roles.

When starting in tech, or even before jumping straight into tech, it’s great if you can first work in a customer service role.

All of the soft skills you need in a tech role can be picked up from a variety of customer service roles.

For example, at first glance, you may not see working at the front desk of a clothing store as something transferable for tech.

However, you pick up more here than you would just write code.

The point is, at the heart of tech is people.

We need to cater to people. There’s no way around that, unfortunately.

Therefore, knowing how to navigate people is a brilliant skill to have.

Knowing your way around people; how to speak with people; understanding different styles and characters…

Paying attention to different needs and knowing how to respond to them is something you can only get through face-to-face encounters.

It’s common to find that the people skills of a hairstylist are probably better than a full-stack developer.

Some of the problems dealt with at the customer service level can be quite abstract, requiring a lot of mental toughness.

Challenges will include, but are not limited to, a change in mood/preference.

For example, customers changing their minds; unrealistic expectations; negative feedback, and a change in habits.

For the most part, as a starting point, customer service roles will give you around 80% of what you need to work in a tech role.

Remember, tech is a people’s business.

It requires a constant focus and attention on the trends and behaviours of people, to remain a growing industry.

Support roles are another great way to get started in tech.

From the sound of it, you would think IT support roles are technical and complicated, but no it’s the complete opposite.

IT support roles are customer service roles with a little dash of IT to them.

You do not need to be a tech wiz to thrive in this role.

I mean it would make your job easy, however, it doesn’t take away the customer service element attached to it.

OK, so you have different types of support roles. Consider its levels! It’s levels to this.

Support roles are often broken down into three lines of occupations first line support, second line support, and third line support.

A 1st line support person deals with front-end customer service queries.

Or in other words, they are the first point of contact for customers.

The first people customers speak to when an issue arises is with the 1st line support agent.

We’ve all had our experiences with them.

When you get locked out of your online banking app and you need to log back in, who you going to call?

Ghostbusters? No, you call a customer service support agent to help resolve your issue.

It’s usually the person you get annoyed at and want to hurry up so that you can get on with your life.

Working as a 1st line support agent is a great way to ease yourself into the tech industry.

The role itself is more customer service-based and not as technical as one may seem.

Your technical ability doesn’t have to be great, a nice entry to the industry.

The 2nd line support agent, unlike the 1st line support agent, goes one step further.

These individuals troubleshoot issues using different tools and diagnostics to quickly resolve incidents.

Essentially, where an incident is too difficult to resolve for a 1st line support agent, this is usually passed onto the 2nd line team.

These individuals have a bit more of the technical competence and experience to resolve such issues.

The role of the 2nd line support agent is important because it will provide you with hands-on technical skills that can easily be applied across many tech roles.

The key skills it will bring out include, identifying the cause of an incident, diagnosing the incident, and trying to understand the root cause.

As a 3rd line support agent, you focus on the nitty-gritty of what’s messed up in the back end so that this can be thoroughly investigated.

Here the 3rd line support agent investigates possible root causes and blockers.

Usually, the works that get prioritised are escalations and issues that are heavily technical by nature.

If you aim to build upon your technical skills then working as part of a 3rd line support team is a great move.

In the field of IT Service Management, the 3rd line support role is one of the most technically challenging positions.

You must be technically sharp.

There’s an expectation that you have the knowledge and skills to work on complex issues and problems that are critical to an organisation.

Essentially, if you’re able to work as a 3rd line support agent then it’s fair to say you have the same skillset to work as a developer across the tech industry.

There are rarely any differences, just semantics.

This post is about the non-technical roles that will help you get started in tech.

We didn’t need to cover all the different support roles mentioned above, this is just for your information only.

The one you need to pay close attention to is of course the first one, 1st line support.

That is your ticket into a career in tech.

It’s a great starting point, a great non-technical role majority of people can do.

Knowing your way around people; how to speak with people; understanding different styles and characters…

Paying attention to different needs and knowing how to respond to them is something you can only get through face-to-face encounters.

It’s common to find that the people skills of a hairstylist are probably better than a full-stack developer.

Some of the problems dealt with at the customer service level can be quite abstract, requiring a lot of mental toughness.

Challenges will include, but are not limited to, a change in mood/preference.

For example, customers changing their minds; unrealistic expectations; negative feedback, and a change in habits.

For the most part, as a starting point, customer service roles will give you around 80% of what you need to work in a tech role.

Remember, tech is a people’s business.

It requires a constant focus and attention on the trends and behaviours of people, to remain a growing industry.

Essentially the same thing as 1st line support, however, the emphasis of this role is more towards ensuring a great user service experience.

The Service Desk Analyst acts as the first point of contact for the IT support team.

1st line support agents and Service Desk Analysts are seen as the same thing for some individuals.

The common factor being, that both are focused on ensuring a great service experience for the customer.

Service Desk roles can be found at many organisations.

Some even combine all levels of IT support roles under one umbrella, such as Service Desk Analyst.

There may be an expectation within a Service Desk role to do all three levels of support, given you possess the required knowledge.

More often than not, this isn’t required.

The role of the Service Desk Analyst is pretty straightforward.

If you’re looking for a solid non-technical role that can quickly get you through the door in tech, then this is the role for you.

If you just want experience, testing the waters, then working as a Service Desk Analyst is awesome.

This will help you find your way into the Service Management side of tech, particularly ITIL processes, etc.

Don’t worry if you don’t know what that is, ITIL is just a set of practices for IT service management.

It stands for Information Technology Infrastructure Library.

This isn’t relevant to this blog post. To know more about it if interested, search online.

The sort of skills you get through working as a Service Desk Analyst will similarly prepare you for IT/Tech support roles.

You practically get the same qualities, as both focus on the same thing, which is customer service.

All the soft skills you can think of you get from this role including, communication, teamwork, time management, and organisation.

A Virtual Assistant is someone who works remotely, or contractually on a piece of work.

This can range from administrative tasks to financial, or sales-related.

Virtual Assistant roles have become popular side hustles for those wanting to earn an extra income, mainly.

The main benefit of this role is that all the work you do is done remotely, hence the name.

You decide on what software and tools you’ll use to carry out your work.

It’s common to base your work around the software and tools you have available.

There are some software that companies wouldn’t want to pay for, so they’ll outsource work to a contractor.

This is where the work of a Virtual Assistant becomes interesting because you can make a whole business out of it…

You start with one service you provide, then expand to other services.

The interesting thing about virtual assistant roles is that you get value from both sides – as a business and as a user.

We touched on a brief business example above. The greatest benefit to a business is cost.

The cost of hiring a virtual assistant is a lot less than businesses paying to do it themselves.

Virtual assistants have the knowledge plus the skillset.

The value it has from a user perspective is that you get to capitalise on a growing market that offers a flexible style.

You work from your laptop, everything you do is online.

The fact that you work from a laptop and provide support virtually, enhances your tech skills subconsciously.

Without even knowing you’re building upon your tech skills from the day-to-day tasks you do as part of your as a virtual assistant.

The online chat support agent is the real help you get when the automated robot can’t help you solve your issue.

It usually goes like this…

Something goes wrong and you want to speak to someone in the fastest way possible.

You notice the chat icon at the bottom corner of the website, so you click on the chat icon, and then you receive a popup saying something like ‘Hey, how can I help you?’…

The only thing is, this is an automated response, which is good because it gives you options to help resolve your issue.

However, when the automated response fails to resolve your issue, you get transferred to a support agent (human) who will work to help you.

An online chat support agent usually has the solution next to them to resolve your issue.

The role doesn’t require technical skills per se, it’s more analysis and diagnosis of a problem that’s required.

What helps with these roles is that they grow you to think technically.

The value you get working in a role such as this is the transferable skills.

An ability to think technically and under pressure.

Working in tech requires you to be technically competent and sharp in many situations.

So a role like this is a nice way to segue into a different situation where you’re able to push your tech career to the next level.

Taking on an administration role, working as an administrator, is one of the pillars of getting started in the tech industry.

What you need to understand is, tech, despite the product creation, visioning, and technological innovations that come through.

At the back of that comes a backlog of administrative tasks, which, for the most part, have to be done.

Admin work is often looked at as boring and not fun, but the impact it has on a business is critical, and at times, high-risk.

Remember, admin tasks can involve anything that needs to be done operationally, such as ensuring file storage is up to date; checking emails; assisting with financial reports; assisting with sales, and other stuff.

The work admins do is challenging and gest misinterpreted at so many levels.

So for those who think it’s a piece of cake, go for it!

But jokes aside, the role of an administrator is critical to the everyday work of a business, without them, businesses will struggle, if not fail, to operate.

You get a lot of value from such a role, one being you gain a range of tech startup skills that most specialists do not even possess.

What do I mean by tech startup skills?

When starting in tech, I always like to suggest people start with the basics… And what are the basics?

Knowing how to use software, systems, and general computer applications, as you never know where you’ll find yourself.

For example, spreadsheets and databases are things businesses love.

So what happens if you don’t know how to use them? Yeah, awkward.

The point is, that there are a lot of transferable skills you quickly pick up that will make life a tad easier when working in a tech role.

It wouldn’t surprise me if you’re wondering, what the hell is a data entry clerk?

I don’t meet a lot of them myself.

However, it doesn’t take away the effectiveness of the role and its part in easing your career in tech.

Data entry clerks do as its name suggests, they focus on data.

This isn’t the same scary data stuff that you hear in the tech industry, it’s simpler than you think.

The role of the clerk is to ensure data is being entered, recorded and checked correctly and in line with company/legal standards.

There! Wasn’t that scary, was it?

When we talk about the type of data, this varies from general information such as customer details (name, email, unique identifier), etc.

And it can go as far as country, years spent working, address history, etc.

The importance isn’t within the detail or content of data, the real value is in the role.

There are certain skills you need to have to be sound at your job.

Data entry clerks possess good attention to detail, are very critical, and organised.

They can work under pressure, good at managing time, and solve problems if or when they occur.

All of the aforementioned skills are what you need to be competitive in the tech industry.

You can’t have a successful career in tech without these – and you need all of these.

It’s better to have all of these skills in hand so you can focus your energy on building those technical skills that are specific to different types of work.

There’s a lot that goes on in tech, and organising yourself and keeping up to date with the latest technologies is the bare minimum.

The data entry clerk role isn’t technically challenging in the sense of coding or programming.

But it is equally challenging in the context of staying ahead and not getting left behind.

The way you can just reuse and transfer skills between roles is the best thing when you have it.

But when you don’t, it becomes a case of biting your fingers and contemplating your situation.

We’ve done a walkthrough of 7 non-technical roles that will help you get started in tech.

Getting in isn’t the problem, anyone can get in – the question is how…

It’s not all doom and gloom when you have roles that are consumers of tech.

Think about it, all of the above roles covered are posts that utilise technology as their primary mode of operation.

Whether that’s being a Virtual Assistant, who works remotely with software that allows them to do their job.

Or an Administrator, who manages a variety of tasks, usually on one system, sometimes more.

The value you get from any one of these roles is second to none.

Though we’ve brought these under ‘non-technical’ roles, from some of the examples, you can see where there’s a fine line between technical and non-technical.

For example, although the nature of the Service Desk Analyst role is customer service focused, there are cases where technicality is required.

For the most part, these roles are not heavily technical, tech-wise, but build upon your analytical ability and problem-solving skills to look at things technically.

Which will later become those skills that will help you write code and program effectively.

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