Do you want to start or build a successful career in tech? congratulations because you are heading towards one of the most promising and rewarding careers now and in the future
A career in tech is a career without boundaries. From web development to product design to project management to app development, even graphics design, motion graphics and 2D and 3D modeling and animation, the range of job roles and opportunities in the tech ecosystem is huge.
You might think you’re not good enough to have a career in tech – but give yourself a chance. You can do it.
Most people you see doing well in IT, never studied in IT-related courses, most did not even go to the university.
So relax, you can do it.
The truth is you, don’t have to be a genius to work in technology. And in this article, I’ll explain how you can kickstart your own career in tech in Nigeria. Technology is a very broad field. This means that there are different areas in tech that require certain skills. In order to discover the right role for yourself, you need to do some research.
You can start by researching the major areas in tech below:
- Web Development
- Mobile Development
- Product Management
- Technical Writing
- UI/UX Designing
- Product Design
- Data Science
- Data Analysis
- Graphics Design
- Motion Graphics
- 3D Modeling and Animation
- Digital Marketing
After reading through the resources listed above, you will have a better idea of the major areas in tech. With this knowledge, you can go ahead and explore the area that you found most interesting.
You can either do this online using your favorite search engine like Google or by asking someone who is doing well in tech.
Avoiding asking those “online Gurus” who have never build anything worthwhile in Technology but go about with the name coach. They will rip you off.
Most of the time, its better to ask someone or an organization that has been into tech for years and have achieved something in tech.
Like I said earlier, Technology is a very broad field and can be confusing in the beginning
Here are steps to start a career in Tech
Decide Which Path to Take in starting a successful Career in Tech
After carrying out the necessary research, you need to take a moment and decide on the tech career path you want to pursue.
Perhaps you’ve read about graphics design, but you’ve never had an eye for designing or using colors effectively.
And maybe your friend in tech also told you about the benefits of being a web developer and you were impressed. But you are not sure yet which tech role to pursue because they all sound good.
You may love selling online and helping brands to attract paying customers and grow, but you don’t understand how digital marketing works
Here are some tips for things to think about when trying to make this decision.
Think about your current (transferrable) skills
Before you decided to kickstart a career in tech, you were mostly doing something else that you found interesting. Let’s assume you have been into selling before.
that means a package like digital marketing might be a good fit for you. The goal here is to try to connect your current skill or hobbies to your proposed tech career path.
Just get started – no matter how that looks
Choosing an initial tech career path doesn’t mean that’s what your career will always be about. No, you can move into another tech area later. My point is, it is totally fine to start out as a front-end web developer and switch to mobile development or UI UX designer later.
For instance, I started out as a CMS web developer but eventually switched to full digital marketing. So go ahead and get your feet wet before you narrow down to exactly what you want.
Go for passion, but be practical too
Pursuing a certain tech role or career path because you are passionate about it is great. But I can tell you from experience,it’s better to choose a role because you believe the opportunities are better, even if you have are not very passionate about it. If you go for something you are very passionate about, but it can bring no food to the table, then there is a big problem
So, I’d recommend that you do a mixture of both: choose something you will enjoy doing and become so good that you get tons of opportunities and make real money
If you want to build a successful Career in Tech—Just Start Learning and keep on learning
This is the most important part of your journey in tech, according to Mark Twain
The secret of getting ahead is getting started. –
Yes, I had to share Mark Twain’s quote because it is something we all need to remember when we are about to take up a new challenge.
Deciding to kickstart a career in tech is great, but putting in the necessary work to learn is even greater.
Think about it this way: you did your research about different roles in tech, you chose your preferred tech career path, and you found the right learning resources. But now you don’t want to put in the work and learn? No!
You didn’t spend all that time and effort to give up at the most important point.
Choose any of these hot digital skills in high demand and start learning today
Register today and get up to a 20% discount.
Fill out the form below and choose the course/s you would want to learn:
You have to start learning if you want to build a successful Career in Tech.
Even though there are so many free resources out there claiming to teach your one ICT skill or the other.
The truth is if you want to build a solid career in tech, you need the training to take you by the hand and teach you all the necessary skills and also how to discover new skills that will come out in the future.
The best way to learn IT skills is through practical hands-on training where training will be assigned to you. A crowded classroom will not give you the best.
You are not learning to pass an exam; you are learning to do, to create things. So practical and project-based learning where you build what you are learning is always the best way to learn new ICT skill
It better to look for a good ICT and computer training school in Nigeria where you will get a practical hands-on nad project-based leaning
Build projects
Once you have a good foundation of knowledge, start building basic projects.
Most people think they need to know everything about a particular programming language or tool before they start building a project. But most times, this only results in watching tutorials for months.
The truth is that building projects lets you improve your coding skills in ways you can’t imagine. It also gives you something to show off in interviews when you are telling your interviewers about your tech skills.
Stay consistent
This is the most important step in kick-starting a career in tech. It’s highly unlikely you’ll achieve great things if you’re not consistently trying to improve on your chosen tech skill.
Consistency forms habits that become almost second nature. So if you code or design for at least 1 hour every day for a month, you will become better and better.
It is not compulsory to stick with the 1 hour scenario above – just find out what works for you, and be very consistent. Only then will the sky be your limit.
Summary
Kickstarting a successful career in tech in Nigeria is definitely doable and possible if you follow these steps. And I strongly encourage you to try, because of the diverse opportunities that come with it. Just know that technology is the future, and learning a new IT skill now prepares you for that future and helps you earn a lot of money.
Anybody who is willing to learn can start a career in tech with or without any formal knowledge from school. Just go ahead and start.
Yes, it may not be really easy, but there are so many supportive tech communities willing to help you through.
