With over 100,000[1] new tech roles being created in the UK alone since the start of the pandemic, it is clear there is demand for more talent in the industry. So whether you are currently studying for a career in tech, or looking into changing careers from a completely different sector, Linaro, an open-source collaborative engineering organisation, has shared their seven best industry secrets that will give you an advantage when applying for roles to begin your new and exciting career path.
Find a Mentor
If you are studying at university or attending online classes, finding someone to learn from will help you grow and begin to create industry connections. If you are just starting out in the industry, working with someone who is more tech savvy will both build your confidence and help you develop faster outside of lectures. By developing industry connections this way, a tech professional may be willing to offer you experience in your area of interest, which is a great way to fast-track success. For underrepresented groups, finding a mentor is critical to getting a successful start.
“It is sometimes really hard to find a mentor you can relate with”, Thara Gopinath, Power Management Engineer at Linaro explains, “the main skill needed here is grit and perseverance. Be prepared to face at least a few unpleasant situations. Be positive, don’t give up and never sell yourself short.”
Learn More Tech Skills
It may not be possible for everyone to enrol in a four-year degree, but some form of education or training is worth the time and investment. There are online courses, night school, and crash courses to choose from to suit your lifestyle, making learning new, niche, and more specific skills easier than ever.
Vicky Janicki, Director of the IoT and Embedded Group at Linaro says “research your area of interest to find what is the most used technology or coding language as well as what is emerging areas. Often jumping ahead into a new area gives you an opportunity to showcase an in-demand skill that others lack. For example, Rust is gaining popularity for its security features within the tech community.”
Live Best Practice
Learn and always use best practices for software development, whether it be design patterns, common coding standards or testing. “Try, try and try again and then ask”, explains Joakim Bech, Distinguished Engineer at Linaro. “The tech industry is a lot about trying things out. Our systems are complex with lots of dependencies, and it is pretty uncommon that things just work on the first try. You often must solve issues in areas in adjacent technologies and that is something that can be quite tricky to do. But by doing this repeatedly, you will gain more and more experience and you can often re-use tricks, patterns and solutions that you came up with in the past.”
Stand out from the Crowd
To make yourself stand out from other candidates for roles that are in demand, be sure to impress with more than just a CV. As well as technical strengths, it is key to highlight important people skills, such as adaptability and perseverance, including examples of your work in a portfolio.
“Open-source projects, big and small, offer a great way to show-case both your technical abilities and people skills. Do not shy away from offering small contributions like bug reports or documentation improvements — every single bit counts”, says Maxim Kuvyrkov, Toolchain Tech Lead at Linaro. “Also, keep in mind that industry demand for open-source expertise is continuing to grow as more and more companies use and deploy open-source software. Joining a new developer community is a skill that tech companies increasingly value.”
Take on Technical Projects
Outside of studying or your current job, the best way to see if you are technically inclined and gain experience with the basics is to expose yourself to the field. If you are considering a career in Open Source, there are often sample applications and demos you can try to get started. Side projects will also help build your confidence and understand where your specific interests lie within the world of tech – do you enjoy software development, programming, or data diving? As a beginner, this is the best time to find your niche.
Target Start-ups
Start-up businesses may offer more flexibility on experience and roles than a more established company if you can assist them with well-rounded skills to help them grow. Start-up businesses often require employees to wear many hats, so by showing potential employees that your skills are well-rounded, you are more likely to succeed. Much like start-ups, open source projects are a great place to learn as you can be coached to write code that is reliable, maintainable and meets requirements.
Immerse Yourself
Going beyond expectations will highlight work ethic and passion to employers, trainers, and teachers. Show that you are immersing yourself and exploring the industry by attending networking events, workshops and conferences, in addition to outside learning. Take the initiative to impress outside of the nine to five. Immersing yourself in open-source work gets you noticed and you have a built in CV!
Joakim Bech says, “Interact with people – it might seem like an impossible task to get into certain open-source communities, but the fact is that we again and again see new people – previously unknown to us – showing up, listening, engaging in discussions, and suggesting things. Suddenly they’re a respected and appreciated community collaborator.”
