I read an article few days ago about a 19 years old Nigerian boy called Njoku who was rejecting thousands of dollars because he wanted to focus on starting up his own tech company for digital payments called Lazerpay You can read the article here. He is a Blockchain and web developer and the fact that he has the choice to either accept or reject huge amounts of money like that left me speechless!
Money is just one of the numerous benefits and opportunities that technology presents us and if you’re reading this, I’d like to assume that you have heard just about a lot and finally, you want to get in on all the tech goodness. Unlike Njoku, you may have no tech background at all and you may be 32 years old. Njoku started coding at 12, I spent my 12 years old days picking out rare candies to impress my friends at school. So don’t worry, you’re not the only one starting now, trust me. It’s not too late to start at least not until you’re dead.
“but shallie, I keep hearing to start, I don’t even know how to start or where to start from or what to even start, I’m just confused and my anxiety levels are rising!” I know, I know exactly how you feel but the fact that you’re reading this article means you’ve already started, you’re well on your transit into tech. Take a deep breathing exercise and follow the steps below:
1. CONSIDER WHY YOU’RE GOING INTO TECH: Is it for the money, curiosity, exposure, knowledge, because it’s necessary to your career etc. If your reasons are strong and valid enough, it’ll save you when you face challenges as you move on your tech journey. For someone like me, getting into tech felt like I had no other option, I’m quite lazy and I hate manual labor, the idea of making money sitting comfortably in my house and dealing with people all over the globe resonated deep within me.
2. PICK A NICHE: Just like there are many courses in the university for you to pick from, there are equally many areas of tech that you can pick from. To make the best possible choice for you;
• Make lots of research: If you don’t do this you probably would be among the larger less informed group of people that often mistake tech to be for mathematicians, coders, nerds and every sad and boring person in life that likes unnecessary stress with money they don’t know how to spend. I saw a job opportunity recently for a technical advisor with a pay of 8,000$ monthly! Yes, you guessed right, you’ve been wasting all of your advice on your friends in relationships! Research will help you know the exact opportunities available for you, what it entails, where and how to get them etc.
• Pick a niche in the line of what you love and already do: I’ve always loved reading and writing, now all I have to do to be in tech is to read and write about tech. Say you like talking, you can start a YouTube channel talking about emerging technologies and how you feel about people in tech, bad tech ideas etc. A lot of lawyers are transitioning into “legal tech”, fine and digital artists are creating NFTs and moving into the metaverse. The opportunities are endless.
• Start with any: If what you love doing is to sleep (though you could consider learning to develop AIs that can help you do your job while you sleep but that’s not the point) and you’ve been trying to think of other things you love that makes more sense in the tech world but coming up with none, then you should probably consider reducing how much you sleep and just start with any tech opportunity. In the course of doing that, you may just as well fall in love with it or not, at least you would’ve gotten more ideas and options that resonates with you.
3. START LEARNING (AND PRACTICING): It’s best to get a mentor who’s focused on your chosen niche. They’ll help you to filter the information online and give you a concise step by step process of how to get things done, faster and easier. But I understand the fact that not everyone can afford the services of a good mentor at the start. If this is your case then you need to make do with the ton of free/cheap resources online. To make the most out of the free/cheap resources online;
• Treat it like you paid thousands for it: The fact that they’re cheap/free doesn’t make them worthless. I paid about $250 for a Technical analysis course and learnt absolutely nothing! But then I had an opportunity to learn from a friend for free and soon became good at technical analysis. People tend to think the higher they pay for a course, the better that course is, from my experience, that’s not always the case.
• Start small, don’t overconsume resources: Don’t become too greedy. Take things slow and easy, make sure you fully understand the concepts a particular course is talking about before moving on to the next one.
• Take only the best of them: If only I knew your chosen niche, I probably would’ve helped you out with the best online courses you need. But you can source for them yourself online, the best will save you a lot of time you may waste on the wrong resources.
• Don’t pack them up, study and practice them: Since most of these free/cheap resources are self-paced learning, some people tend to procrastinate on them till forever! Please don’t do that, stop doing that. Make sure you are completely done with one resource before moving on to the next.
Remember, you learn best by doing. Get to work, don’t dwell too much on theories, be practical, make mistakes, fix them and repeat, that’s how you grow and soon not only would you be able to afford a mentor, you could be one yourself.
4. JOIN ONLINE TECH COMMUNITIES:
I was sitting close to Njoku on a Twitter space on international women’s day listening to some women in tech talking about their tech journeys and this is one of the greatest benefits of tech communities.
They give you the right network/connections necessary for your tech journey. They serve as an accountability platform for helping one another grow, they share job opportunities, trending news in the tech space and they’re the best people to share your progress with. You can find them on Hashnode, Discord, Twitter, Slack, Telegram etc.
5. LOOK OUT FOR JOB OPPORTUNITIES AND FIX YOUR PORTFOLIO: Keep an eye out for job opportunities in your niche. You necessarily don’t have to apply for them right away but they’ll help you to know what skills you need to pick up on, how much experience you need to be considered an “expert” in your niche, what your exact role would be etc. then use the information gotten from this to grow a community and build an online presence by sharing details of your journey; the skills you’re currently picking up on, challenges you’re facing and how you’re overcoming them, where you got your learning resources from etc. This would help greatly for when you’re finally comfortable enough to apply for the job as it’ll serve as an evidence to your growing tech experience. (Please note that you don’t necessarily need to have all the qualifications/requirements needed to apply for a particular job. Be confident enough, you just might get it.)
6. BE DISCIPLINED, CONSISTENT AND PATIENT: Even though this is last on the list, it is the most important. If any part of this is neglected, the potency of the other steps above automatically diminishes. If it takes nothing less than 3 years to complete a university degree, why give up on tech because you’re not getting the hang of it in a month? Consider yourself a tech student and understand you can never fully learn it all, so allow yourself the space to take on new concepts and grow. Give yourself tests, deadlines, rewards, punishments etc. to make sure that you show up everyday and be the best you can be.
Transitioning into tech is not as hard as it seems, even if you wake up one day at 43 and decide to learn how to code. All it takes is the decision to start, the right learning resources, practice, determination, dedication, discipline, consistency, the right community, the willingness to fail and start over, a positive mindset and attitude and eventually you’ll figure it out. I believe in you, go start your tech journey!