Is technology a good career path? Getting started in 2024

Who is the tech industry for?#

There’s a good chance that your personality and work preferences line up with an in-demand tech career. Based on Hired’s 2023 State of Software Engineers findings, there are four principal reasons people are intrigued by tech outside of the many remote opportunities and high compensation.

1. An environment offering new challenges, continuous learning, and upskilling
2. The opportunity to utilize problem-solving and critical thinking skills while building usable products
3. The chance to express yourself creatively with the projects you build and problems you solve
4. Working in a highly collaborative team and community environment

Let’s examine each of these reasons a little more closely.

New challenges and continuous learning#

The tech industry is packed with emerging technologies and practices, so continuous learning is necessary if you want to keep up. Take the recent explosion of artificial intelligence that’s been making significant waves in the past few months.

As a developer, you must stay up to date by consistently taking the time to upskill. If you’re someone who appreciates learning and wants to be challenged, tech is absolutely a career that fits your desires.

Problem-solving and building products#

At the core of every successful developer are the foundational problem-solving and logic skills needed to write programs. Coding is far less about knowing everything about math and much more about using the knowledge at your disposal to find the most optimized route from point A to point B. Problem-solving under constraints leads to beautifully constructed projects and products that are utilized worldwide. This problem-solving foundation is vital to learn as a beginner because no matter the language or technology in use, the ability to problem-solve through logical thinking enables programmers to create successful products.

Express yourself creatively#

Outside of the office, learning how to code opens up an expansive world of open-source projects that spans endless possibilities. Inside the office, you can continue to let your creativity and innovation fly with the products you create. For example, consider the emerging world of augmented reality and all the game development opportunities that come with that technology.

Regardless of the product you’re building or supporting, creativity in development relates directly to our previous point about problem-solving. Every developer will encounter a piece of code that stumps them at some point. To get past this barrier, it’s up to you as the programmer to devise a unique and inventive solution. The problem-solving nature of development means that there will be plenty of scenarios where you don’t know the correct path and have to navigate through it creatively.

Work in a collaborative team environment#

While a stereotypical programmer is often portrayed as sitting silently behind a computer screen, this is far from reality. A career in tech rewards the ability to flourish in a team environment. After all, a product is only as successful as the team of developers behind it. Developer teams must communicate and plan carefully to ensure that every member is on track and striving for the same goal.

Teams use various tools to keep the collaboration alive, such as GitHub to share and save code, Slack or Google Meet for communicating with remote employees, and project management tools like Asana or Monday.com. Tools and services like these prevent a fully functioning dev team from becoming a loose group of developers employed by the same company.

Note: You do not need to identify with all of these reasons to excel in tech. If you feel passionate about only problem-solving and product building, you’re still likely to find an excellent fit for yourself in the industry if you wish to pursue it. If all of these statements ring true for you, then it might be time to take a more extended look at tech in 2023.

A tech career is surprisingly attainable#

An all-too-common factor that keeps people from entering the tech industry is the idea that it is too challenging to get in the door without an advanced degree. Luckily for all of the self-taught developers out there, this is far from reality. IT jobs in 2023 are great to get into because of their salaries, remote flexibility, and because it has never been easier to learn to code and break into the tech career of your dreams.

According to Hired’s 2023 State of Software Engineers, 64% of employers surveyed are actively seeking and considering engineering candidates with a non-traditional educational background. Most junior developers, including those with a non-traditional education and one or fewer years of experience, made an average of $145,000 per year.

There are plenty of routes to achieve a programming education without spending the money and time required for a bachelor’s degree, including:

• University and FAANG certifications (such as AWS)
• Implementing your knowledge with open-source projects
• Posting your achievements and progress to platforms like LinkedIn and GitHub
• Online learning platforms and courses
• Bootcamps
• Freelance work

These are just a few ways to get tech companies to recognize your value. A high-paying tech career is closer than it may seem right now. Planning how you will learn and demonstrate those skills is the first step toward new jobs and high salaries.

Pretty soon, you’ll be able to go after those job openings confidently!

Popular career paths in tech#

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a software developer made a median salary of $109,020 per year in 2021 compared to the U.S. median salary of $45,760. This trend continues in Hired’s 2023 State of Software Engineers survey results. This disparity in pay to other careers is a massive reason why people flock to the tech industry.

Because of the lingering pandemic, remote work positions are the highest-paying and most in-demand they’ve ever been. Remote tech jobs are making higher salaries than ever before. According to the Stack Overflow 2022 Developer Survey, 43% of developer jobs are fully remote, while 85% of employees reported having hybrid options. It is no wonder we are starting to see higher salaries to accommodate all the employees who enjoy the flexibility of working from home.

Clearly, the salaries and flexibility that come with a tech career are enticing factors. Let’s quickly summarize a few of the most in-demand roles in tech today to get an idea of the various positions.

Salary estimates were derived from the Stack Overflow 2022 Developer Survey.

Data scientist#

Data scientists require advanced technical and non-technical skills, such as communicating complex ideas and making decisions based on data. The role requires employees to be effective communicators and analytical problem-solvers while having the technical ability to unearth insights from data that can alter future business decisions.

The data science path is looking especially promising because emerging AI and machine learning technologies are so data-intensive. You can expect to see increased demand for all big data professionals in the coming years. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, careers in these fields are expected to balloon by 21% from 2021-2031.

• The U.S. average salary estimate for data scientists in 2022: $150,000

• Common skills and technologies:

  • Skillful in programming languages such as Python, R, and SQL

  • Knowledge of libraries for data science, such as NumPy, Pandas, and matplotlib

  • The soft skills to communicate the visualization of essential data to other departments so that critical decision-making can proceed

Machine learning engineer#

Like data science, machine learning utilizes big data, statistical models, parameters, and algorithms to train computer systems to learn and adapt. This subset of artificial intelligence allows software applications to generate more accurate predictions. Machine learning is used to teach machines how to think worldwide, such as in revolutionary products like ChatGPT, and offers high-paying careers across the tech world.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are becoming increasingly integrated with the tech world daily. Marketing, finance, retail, education, and healthcare are just a few industries embracing the AI revolution. Having machines that can think independently and intelligently is a massive efficiency boost for all these industries. The possibilities for AI applications are truly endless.

This industry fascination with artificial intelligence has recently brought an entirely new distinction of career into the light: the AI prompt engineer. AI prompt engineers are tasked with creating more productive and efficient NLP models by constructing and improving the inputs they receive. This work involves:

• Analyzing and selecting the ideal words and phrases for a specific use case
• Developing technologies or techniques to generate prompts automatically
• Testing prompts based on performance metrics and data.

Above all else, a successful AI prompt engineer needs to be well-versed in the capabilities and limitations of an AI language model.

To dive deeper into all that machine learning encompasses, take a peek at this article about how to become a machine learning engineer on the Educative blog.

• The U.S. average salary estimate for machine learning engineers in 2022: $150,000

• Common skills and technologies:

  • Natural language processing
  • Mastery of ML programming languages such as Python, JavaScript, Java, and C++
  • Skillful in ML and AI libraries such as Tensorflow, NumPy, Sci-kit learn, Tensorflow.js
  • An ambition to explore new frontiers

Web developers#

Two significant distinctions of web developers are front-end developers and back-end developers, who work on the client side and server side of websites, respectively. There are also full-stack developers who work on both the client and server sides of the site. Front-end developers specialize in developing a seamless user experience, user interface, and UX design, while back-end developers build and maintain the servers and database communications that support the product. Cybersecurity web developers also typically fall under the “back-end” distinction.

You’re more likely to encounter full-stack positions at smaller-scale, startup-type businesses that value the efficiency of having one engineer handle the whole stack. FAANG companies, like Amazon or Google, are more likely to hire for the back-end and front-end separately because they can afford to have larger teams focus completely on specific aspects of a more complex design. As a beginner, look out for entry-level jobs in mobile app development to get your foot in the door.

Web development positions, especially for back-end developers, were some of the most interviewed for positions in 2022. This is unlikely to change much in the future as every business depends on websites and mobile applications to perform essential business operations.

• The U.S. average salary estimates for web developers in 2022:

  • Front-end developers: $133,000
  • Back-end developers: $150,000
  • Full-stack developers: $140,000

• Common skills and technologies:

  • Languages like Python, CSS, JavaScript, and HTML5
  • Web frameworks such as AngularJS and Django
  • Familiarity with databases such as Oracle and MySQL
  • Communication skills to collaborate with other teams and explain technical concepts

A look toward the future#

It is becoming increasingly evident that emerging technologies have profoundly altered the workforce. It is not the first time this has happened, either. Cloud computing changed the technology game in the mid-2000s and became the industry standard by introducing increased scalability, data storage, and automation. In fact, complex distributed systems and general System Design were not industry standards until the 2010s.

Now, we are witnessing the rapid acceleration of artificial intelligence and machine learning and how they’re improving business operations.

Integrating AI into business opens up so many possibilities that it’s almost overwhelming trying to think of them all. Because AI and ML can make quick work of mundane and tedious tasks, we’ll likely see employers across industries focus on hiring more creative and complex skills that are harder to replicate in machines. So, for all the creative developers out there, the AI revolution is working in your favor!

The best way to catch a wave is to ride it. Getting into the tech industry during a transformative period such as this one means you’ll be catching onto the new momentum of business instead of catching up with it.