Career Development Category Archives - General Assembly Blog | Page 16

Getting into tech doesn’t have to be complicated. Nowadays, it’s common for people to change careers even if you don’t have a university degree. As a result, it’s becoming increasingly common for career changers to do online courses, part-time classes, or bootcamps to pivot into a new career.

Despite Brexit and the pandemic, UK’s tech industry is booming. According to last year’s Tech Nation Report, the number of unique tech jobs advertised in the UK outweighed that of other European countries by 259% on average.

UK employers are always looking for new tech talent — keep reading to discover our top 10 tips to break into tech without a university degree.

Tip #1: Your Transferable Skills are a Gold Mine

You’ve probably heard about transferable skills as someone looking to change careers. But what are transferable skills, and which are the most important?

Meet Megan Cruickshank🧑‍🎓, a proud GA User Experience Design graduate and now a successful Designer. Find out why she made the decision to join General Assembly’s User Experience Design Immersive (UXDI). She shared with us her learning journey, how she prepared for the course and what the transition to a new industry was like for her.

What were you doing before you came to GA?

I started my career in public relations and social media before I realised that what I wanted to be doing was more holistic problem solving – it never made sense to me to spend huge budgets to market products that (sometimes) were flawed! I felt like I was solving the wrong problem. 

What did you enjoy most about your course? 

I loved how practical the course was in replicating real working conditions – completing projects within constraints, rather than only learning UX within a perfect world. Susan was an amazing instructor and my biggest learning was how to trust my gut, learn the rules, and how to break them. I’m still friends with many of my fellow students even now and appreciated meeting new people who shared the same passion as me. 

What are you doing now professionally? 

I work as a Service & Strategic Designer at a Design Studio in Melbourne now – my favourite thing is always working on different projects and different problems – every day is so different. Personally I also love working as a generalist designer so I get to flex different muscles all the time and continue to learn constantly. 

What advice do you have for individuals who are looking to change careers?

Lean on your past experience and the soft skills you already have as much as you can, especially if like me, you don’t have any previous “design” experience on paper. Think about all of the things you can offer that other designers can’t and what your own unique value proposition is! Get good with telling your brand story to anyone who will listen.

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

You get out of the course what you put in. Go above and beyond, listen to your instructors and career coaches. Everyone is here to help you win – the only person standing in your way is YOU! Decide you’re passionate about it and go all in. 

Feeling inspired to start your own path as a UX designer? Check out GA’s part-time and full-time UX design courses and introductory workshops. 

How old were you when you chose your career path? 

Likely it was some time in your early 20s — when you chose your university or college major, started looking for full time work, or maybe just felt societal pressure to make a decision about what career you wanted to pursue. 

Whenever it was, you’re likely a different person then you were at that age. You know more, there are new career options and your interests might have changed altogether. People evolve, and it’s okay for your career to evolve with you. 

But a big change comes with obstacles, both internally and externally. 

“I’m not good enough”

 “It’s financially impossible” 

“I don’t have the right connections”

…these are some of the lies we tell ourselves that get in the way of making a positive change. We get it, change is scary and hard. But you know what’s more scary? Staying in a job you don’t like. That’s why it’s time to put those anxieties aside.

In this blog, we’ll walk you through some common career change myths and actionable steps to help you overcome your fears.

The month of May is traditionally associated with new beginnings. In many parts of the world students graduate in May, moving onto their next level of education or into the workforce. How fitting, then, that last month, we attended the Talent Acquisition Institute event in Nashville, Tennessee from May 15th to 17th. Across the street from the conference at Vanderbilt University, just a few days earlier LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman delivered the university’s 2022 commencement speech.

The Talent Acquisition Institute event represented the opportunity for a new beginning for the over 70 talent acquisition leaders who had come together for the opportunity to share experiences with each other through this unfathomable era that has been dubbed the great resignation. Most importantly, it brought us all together to learn from some of the top talent acquisition minds in the industry about what we can–and must–do to adapt with these changing times and build a robust workforce of the future.

We learned so much from the leaders and my colleagues, not only about the shared challenges we are all facing when it comes to filling talent needs, but about the employment landscape as a whole. These are different times in talent acquisition, this is a different workforce, and it demands of us a different approach.

Here are three great takeaways from the Talent Acquisition Institute Event:

Working in tech means good pay, flexibility, and a chance to solve big problems and advance in the tech industry. There’s a reputation for having an “it” factor. Known for hip offices, perks, and collegiate atmospheres, it can seem from the outside like a party you aren’t invited to. 

Especially if you never went to college.  

We’re here with some good news: the exclusivity is ending. According to research by LinkedIn, 72% of employers think that bootcamp graduates are just as prepared and likely to be high performers as candidates with computer science degrees. Another 12% think that bootcamp grads are more prepared and more likely to succeed than traditional job candidates.

Yes, you can find a job in tech without a degree. We’ll tell you how. 

If finding a great, new job sounds challenging, the thought of transitioning careers altogether might feel downright insurmountable. There’s a lot to consider!

Folks will often engage a career coach when they need some extra guidance working through personal goals, professional development, and the job search process. At GA we have a team of skilled Career Coaches who play a pivotal role in our students’ job-seeking journeys. 

The value of a coach lies in their ability to listen carefully and ask you open-ended questions that spark insights and encourage self-discovery. This gained knowledge helps you navigate from where you are now to where you’d like to be.

Did you know that UX designers are one of the most in-demand talents in technology today? With 87% of hiring managers saying that acquiring UX designers is a top priority. Even top job sites like Indeed and Glassdoor have ranked UX design as the fifth most in-demand role in tech. 

But is a UX design career the right fit for you? To find out, keep reading. 

WHAT IS UX DESIGN? 

The origin of user experience (UX) was first defined by Don Norman, Co-Founder of the Nielson Norman Group, in the 1990s. According to Norman, “user experience encompasses all aspects of the end-users interaction with the company, its services, and its products.” 

Recently the Chief Data & Analytics Officer (CDAO) Apex East gathered more than 40 enterprise data leaders from businesses like Unilever and Walmart. Since data analytics is one of the fastest-growing fields today, we were excited to attend and learn more about how leading enterprises are creating data-driven cultures and implementing emerging technologies like AI and machine learning (ML).

While the event covered important technical topics ranging from data quality to data lakehouses, the biggest challenge facing data leaders wasn’t on the formal agenda. Almost everyone we spoke with echoed the same theme: recruiting, training and retaining data talent is becoming increasingly difficult in today’s hot labor market.

We spoke with multiple data leaders about how they are getting creative and innovating to solve their talent challenges.