How to Break Into a Tech Career Without Experience

The pandemic inspired many people to reconsider their careers, leading teachers, nurses, and retail workers to quit in record numbers. Meanwhile, tech companies are hiring at a breakneck pace. And as companies hire en masse, hard requirements like four year college degrees and strict coding backgrounds are quickly disappearing.

In recent months, Insider has reported on the actors, line cooks, and school teachers who were able to land six figure salaries by pivoting to careers in tech. Some attended coding bootcamps, which are shorter training programs that help people learn tech skills. And some were able to make the switch simply by applying the skills they learned in different industries. 

Everywhere, people are excited to share their stories, with many others excited to replicate their success. People are going viral online for sharing their #breakintotech journeys. But coding bootcamps have come under fire for scamming students and inflating job placement numbers. And while viral TikToks make breaking into tech look easy, some tech workers have criticized the content for romanticizing a troubled and hypercompetitive industry.

With all this conflicting information, it’s hard to tell what’s good advice and what’s just hype. In this webinar, we’ll talk to three tech workers across skill levels to discuss their journeys breaking into tech, the most in-demand skills firms are hiring for, different routes into tech like certifications and bootcamps, and how to navigate the real advice versus hype online.

Sadiq Dorasat is a former investment banker turned product manager at Marks and Spencers, one of the UK’s biggest

retail companies

. Gina Moreno is a program manager at Microsoft who has over 70,000 followers on Tiktok, where she posts about her journey going from a first generation college student to now working at one of tech’s biggest companies. Natalie Davis is a frontend engineer who came into the career “late in life” by going to a coding bootcamp. 

Join Insider on May 9 at 1 p.m. ET, where Insider reporter Kylie Robison will speak with tech workers on what it takes to transition into such a coveted industry.