A step-by-step guide for non-technicals to get into tech
How I landed a tech job as a non technical before graduating. And 10 tips on how you, a non-technical, can do it too!
A lot of people ask me how I landed a job as a Machine Learning Engineer at a Series A startup before I graduated, especially coming from a non-technical background. Here is the story of how I did it, and 10 tips on how you can do it too.
Sections
My Backstory
How to learn coding quickly
How to get a job in tech as a non-technical
My Backstory
Before all this, I was just a 19-year-old psychology student studying language sciences. I’ve wanted to be a clinical therapist since I was about 15 or 16, and back then, the plan was to finish a bachelor’s and pursue a Doctorate in clinical psychology, which would eventually allow me to practice.
In the summer of 2023, I took a gap year after being accepted into a year-long entrepreneurship programme. I decided to build a chatbot using LLMs to facilitate cognitive restructuring exercises (a type of therapy exercise).
It felt like a project within reach, and I thought my background in psychology and understanding of therapeutic frameworks might give me an edge. The market back then only had either rule-based chatbots for mental health or LLM-driven therapist chatbots that were clearly thrown together by an engineer with no idea how therapy works.
But there was a big problem. I have no idea how to code. How was I going to build a therapist chatbot with technical skills?
There were two options: Option one, the startup program gave me a grant, so I could afford to hire someone to build it for me. Or option two, I learn how to build it myself.
I chose the second option. Something about being handed a black box that I didn’t understand just didn’t sit right with me. How could I claim ownership over something if I didn’t even understand how it worked?
So I committed and started coding. For the next three months, I learned on the job, figured things out as I built, and asked friends for help. By the end of those three months, I had built the first prototype of Calmi, my therapist chatbot.
This is the single most important decision that allowed me to land my job. Learning how to code.
Pivoting into Tech: Tip #1
Take some time out, learn how to code. It’s easier than you think.
How to learn coding quickly
Here are some tips on how to learn coding, how to start, and my recommendations on what you should do.
It’s never been easier
In the age of AI, learning how to code has never been easier. The bar has been lowered so much that it’s criminal not to know how to code.
For the first time in human history, you could paste a line of code into ChatGPT or Gemini to get personalised and contextual explanations. Foreign and confusing concepts are now easily accessible with a simple instruction to an AI.
Looking back at my old chat history with ChatGPT, I used so many chef and cooking analogies to understand basic coding concepts (Don’t judge. It worked).
Nevertheless, “It’s too complicated” and “I need someone to explain it to me” are no longer valid excuses for not learning how to code. Ask ChatGPT to explain it to you like you’re a 3-year-old using an analogy.
Pivoting into Tech: Tip #2
Use ChatGPT to explain difficult concepts. I find this prompt particularly helpful: “Explain {concept} to me like I am a child using a cooking analogy.”
Where to start?
One of the biggest considerations for beginner coders is what languages to learn. I like getting my hands dirty and learn while building, so I recommend this beginner-friendly frontend stack:
HTML
CSS
JavaScript
React
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is what you see when you click “Inspect Element” on a website. While it’s not technically a programming language, HTML is helpful because it’s a nice introduction to coding syntax (grammar and structure of programming languages). It is a sweet spot between plain English and typical coding syntax. For example:
```
<div>Hello World</div>
<div>Subscribe to my Substack :P</div>
```This might look intimidating, but the <div> tags just tell the computer to add whatever is in between these tags on a “new line”. So it just renders this on a page:
```
Hello World
Subscribe to my Substack :P
```Learning how to read HTML gets you started on reading documents that aren’t written in standard English, so you can familiarise yourself with the language of computers.
Pivoting into Tech: Tip #3
Familiarise yourself with programming syntax by learning how to read simple HTML.
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is what makes a website look good. Think of it as instructions on how to display things to the computer. While it’s still not a programming language, understanding how containers interact is essential for web development.
It looks something like this:
```
<div style="color: red; font-weight: bold;">Hello World</div>
```Here, the “Hello World” in the <div> container will render as:
This is a simple example, but CSS is really important when telling the computer where to put your containers. For example, if you want squares to be stacked vertically vs stacked horizontally, you will need to understand CSS behaviours to get the computer to render what you want.
With HTML and CSS, you can start making some simple static websites! Get your hands dirty and make something. I still remember the first time my document was rendered, it was almost magical!
Pivoting into Tech: Tip #4
Go make something with HTML and CSS!
JavaScript is the first programming language I recommend learning. First, spend a couple of hours familiarising yourself with the syntax of JS and how to write basic functions. If you know basic math operations, you can do a lot if you just learn these four things:
Basic Data types (integer, boolean, string, etc.) and JS Operators
Declare a variable
Declare a function
Use an if else statement
JS is probably where you’ll spend a bit more time learning. When I was doing it, I followed Meta’s Frontend Engineer Course on Coursera. I found the course structure very helpful, but you can also just watch YouTube videos. This one by Programming with Mosh is good.
Remember to ask ChatGPT to explain any concepts you don’t understand, like you’re a 10-year-old using a cooking analogy.
Once you learn these basic concepts, go build something! I suggest building a calculator using HTML, CSS, and JS. Here’s a step-by-step tutorial by BroCode.
Pivoting into Tech: Tip #5
Learn JS and build a calculator with HTML and CSS.
React is a development framework, which is just a fancy way of saying it’s a tool that helps you build websites faster and in a more structured way.
React builds on top of what you already know in HTML, CSS, and JS, but it introduces a better way to organise your content as your web app gets more complex. At its core, React splits your websites into components, which are reusable parts like buttons and cards that have their own bit of code.
Here’s an example of a basic React button component:
```
function ReactButton() {
return <button>Click Me!</button>
}
```And then you can use it like this:
```
import ReactButton
<div id="buttonContainer">
<ReactButton />
<ReactButton /> // We can reuse this component!
<ReactButton />
</div>
```Like JS, React will take a bit of time to learn, but once you understand the framework, building websites becomes a breeze. I recommend finding a React tutorial for building a blog on YouTube and build along to learn. Here is a good one that uses the MERN stack by Coding with Dawid (MERN stands for MongoDB, Express, React, and Node. These are popular web development frameworks).
Pivoting into Tech: Tip #6
Learn React. Start by building small component-based projects. Find a YouTube video and build along!
And Boom! If you’ve successfully built your web app, you probably already have a better idea of what you like doing. If it’s moving containers and making things look pretty, then specialise in frontend. If you enjoy the logic side of things, then start looking into backend engineering. Regardless, you can now proudly say you are technical.
Next step, getting a job.
How to get a job in tech as a non-technical
Let’s get a few things straight. Even though you are now ‘technical’, you have nowhere near the same experience and knowledge as someone who, for example, studied CS as a degree. So how do you compete with these people?
The key? Play to your strengths, Find your niche, and Build, Build, Build!
Play to your strengths
Technical skills alone should not be your main sell to employers, it should be technical skills PLUS some other speciality!
As a former non-technical, you probably have knowledge or skills in another domain. This additional specialisation should be your main draw.
Let’s say you’re a musician and composer. Your technical skills in the short term will be no match for developers with more experience than you, so you shouldn’t be competing in the “general SWE” lane (i.e. FAANG Internships). But what makes you special is your ability to code AND your ability to write music.
For example, if a company is hiring someone to build music editing software, your understanding of the composition process will offer you a massive advantage over a more experienced engineer with no music experience. Integrating and aligning you into the company will be far easier because you are familiar with music composition products. You will also have better intuition when designing their product as a composer yourself. All these factors will differentiate you from a standard CS graduate.
In my case, I had strong foundations in psychology and a good understanding of therapy frameworks. This, combined with my new technical ability, makes me stand out as an ideal candidate for the mental health tech startup I am working at.
Pivoting into Tech: Tip #7
You can differentiate because you have technical AND other specialisations.
Find your niche
This step can be summed up into one word: research.
Find companies working on products where your unique skills may be valued. Pay attention to the market in general, and stay in touch with the latest news in your particular domain.
If you find something interesting, reach out to them! Even if they’re not hiring, people love talking about things they are passionate about. If you share a genuine interest with the company, it could make you stand out as a strong candidate in future hiring rounds (or in my case, they make a position for you).
Nevertheless, this can be a very frustrating and scary part because most of it is out of your control, but you just have to keep trying and believe in yourself.
For me, I got in touch with Limbic because I came across their published research whilst writing my dissertation. I reached out to every single author on those papers to get a second opinion on my diss, and miraculously, one of them replied.
On the call, I talked about Calmi, what I’m doing, and a few months later, I joined the team! I love my job because it aligns perfectly with what I’m genuinely passionate about, and I believe that enthusiasm came across in our early meetings.
So remember, it’s going to be hard, but you’re making an active effort to create a future tailored for yourself. If you succeed, you’ll be paid to do what you love, and work won’t feel like work.
It’s tough, but if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.
Pivoting into Tech: Tip #8
Find where your specific combination of skills fit in.
Build, Build, Build!
Talk is cheap. Show proof.
Especially you, a self-taught engineer with no formal technical experience, you need to prove that you have the skills more than anyone.
Once you’ve identified your strengths and found your niche, go build something! Not only will building it polish up your technical skills, it’s also physical proof of your passion in a niche domain.
If you were the hiring manager of the music composition SaaS company looking to hire an engineer for your dev team, whose profile looks most appealing?
CS Graduate with internship at Microsoft
Music Graduate with technical skills
Music Graduate who built an AI song writing algorithm
Applicant 3 not only has both technical and domain-specific skills, they’ve also demonstrated interest in integrating tech and music with their own project. Easy choice.
In my case, I got in Limbic because of Calmi. I built something they were interested in, and proved my passion and technical foundations. It provided them the confidence to bring me on board and allowed me to pivot into a technical role as a non-technical.
Pivoting into Tech: Tip #9
Less talking, more doing. Build something to prove that you’re interested and have the skill.
Closing Thoughts
Pivoting your career is scary but it is 100% worth the risk. I wake up every day excited to go to work because I love what I do. Working in tech really makes you feel like you’re at the forefront of innovation, and every day I feel like my work is contributing to a future that I’d be proud of.
Being a non-technical should not bar you from this opportunity. You are not at a disadvantage, you just need to regroup and play a different strategy.
Pivoting into Tech: Tip #10
You can do it!
I hope you have enjoyed reading and taken away something useful from this article! Please consider subscribing to my Substack! I write frequently about tech and lifestyle :)
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If you’d like to reach out, you can message me on LinkedIn or email me at remuspoonbusiness@gmail.com. Have a wonderful day!
Goat 🐐
Amazing!