Getting hired in tech starts with knowing you belong in tech. Join me as we talk about translating your skills and experiences into demonstrations of how techy you are now, not how techy you will be. Remember you are techy and companies want to hire techy women.
Getting hired in tech starts with knowing you belong in tech. Join me as we talk about translating your skills and experiences into demonstrations of how techy you are now, not how techy you will be. Remember you are techy and companies want to hire techy women.
You are listening to episode 156.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the You Are Techie podcast, where it's all about growing in your tech so you can find the tech job of your dreams. And now your host technology learning coach, Ellen Tomi.
Speaker 1:So many moms returning to work have asked me how to get hired in a job that pays well, but also allows them to be the mom they want to be. And I've seen so many women make the mistake of taking a job teaching English at 3:00 AM for$15 an hour. That's just backwards because your skills are highly valuable and so is your time. That's why I put together this free training to help you jumpstart your tech career by learning about the fields of UX design and front-end development so you don't waste one more side hustle that isn't a career and doesn't give you the flexibility and income your family needs. I only offer this training twice a year, and it's available right now at the release of this episode. So sign up now for the helpful and interactive free training. Three strategies to jumpstart your UX design career, or three strategies to jumpstart your front end development career. Sign up for one the other, or both, it's completely free. Go to u techie.com/signup. That's Y O U A R E T E C H y.com/s I G N U P. I can't wait to see you there. Welcome to the podcast. Today we're talking about how to get hired faster and for more money. Who doesn't wanna do that? No one ever comes to me and says, I'd like to get hired slower and for less money. But I know we've talked about this topic in a few different ways, and today I wanna talk about it in terms of the macro trends that are going on in tech as well as with the nuances that I'm seeing in some of my students. I think it's gonna be really helpful to you and for you to understand where you wanna be when it comes to the getting hired, the interviewing period, and how to best prepare for that along the way. Okay, so to start off quickly, we wanna get hired faster and for more money for a few different reasons. Number one, the value is there with technology. So we're likely going to make more money than we did before. Now one of the caveats with that is that not everyone makes more money immediately. Many do, but not everyone. I've seen some pretty high salaries for things like tutoring and being a va, but the point is that the trajectory of tech is much higher, right? Those are not really scalable in terms of leveling up in your career. That's just the price is what it is. That's what you're gonna make today. That's what what you're gonna make ongoing. But when it comes to technology over the course of your career, you're going to get raises faster and you're going to be able to add more value in for the organization. And so you're gonna top out higher. Really, there is no high end, there is no upper end of technology it, it just pretty much keeps going up. But even if you're someone who doesn't plan to go into management or change jobs a ton of times or anything like that, you're still gonna end up at a higher salary because of the increases and the way that you can add value in tech. Now, in terms of getting hired faster, two reasons for that. One, my students tend to overlearn, they tend to learn things that don't really need to be learned until you've been hired. And so one of the things I literally advise my students to do is filter out those things that they really need to learn now as a skill to get hired. And then for those things that are still very valid and relevant skills that they'd like to learn throughout their career, just document those so that you can learn them after you get hired when there's less pressure and more time and space to work on those things. The other reason for getting hired faster is, besides for overlearning, being comfortable throughout this process is not really the goal. Any type of personal growth that we have, and make no mistake to transition into a new field like technology. You need to grow as a person. You are not there today. You need to become someone that you are not today, but that you want to be in the future. That requires personal growth, that requires stretching and growing. Think of yoga, you've gotta stretch where you are, what you're comfortable with. You have to stretch, and that's how you grow into some of those fantastic poses. Okay? So that isn't always comfortable, but it is very valid and helpful. Now for some of the macro trends that are going on, I know it can be really scary when we hear of the layoffs from these large companies, for example, Facebook, right? They're laying off all these people. What does that mean for the future of tech chat? GPT is coming out, AI is taking over the world. We're not actually even gonna need developers anymore because artificial intelligence is going to handle that for us. Well, I don't agree, and I think that having a technical background is only becoming and technical skills is only becoming more important, not less important in this world. And when we look at the layoffs of Facebook, they actually did really well. The quarter that they laid off. They just wanted to redirect funds towards different things, basically working on innovation, new ideas and the metaverse. And so that's a decision that may seem cruel or harsh, but it is a decision that Mark Zuckerberg can make. And you shouldn't let that scare you. You shouldn't let that think, oh my gosh, they just let go of all these people. That doesn't necessarily mean you can't get hired at Facebook. It might mean that they wanna hire people with lower salaries. It might mean that you just need to work in their innovation department. But regardless, even if you don't wanna work at Facebook, you are one human who needs one job. And so with a lot of these layoffs, a lot of other people are hiring. They're hiring like crazy, and you just need one of those jobs. So I encourage my students to really not worried too much. I mean, pay attention to the macro trends in terms of learning about and listening to what's going on in technology. But if it starts to create paranoia in your mind, like, oh, I can never get hired anyway, this is never gonna happen. That is just drama. It's not actually something that is moving you forward in your career because with only needing one job, you are able to do that. You are able to build the skills to grow as a person and to be in a position where you can get hired in a job and not even necessarily an entry level job. So we just have this discussion in the membership. I do not consider you an entry level employee. When an organization posts for entry level, what they typically mean is a recent college graduate. Unless you are 22 years old and you just graduated college, they're not talking about you. I can consider you a mid-career transitioner. So you do need to acquire new skills to get hired in this position, but your previous skills do not go away. Those are still relevant and valid. So prior experience plus new skills equals mid-level career transitioner. Those are the types of jobs that I encourage you to look at and to look for. Okay? So that's a little bit about the macro trends and what's going on in UX and in development and just tech generally, and how it applies to getting hired faster. And for more money, there are definite shifts going on. So that's the piece for the macro trends that I think you should look at. There are shifts going on. If anything though, you should be looking to get hired even faster and for even more money because the trends that are coming out in ai, you are gonna wanna be someone who has a hand in creating the future of technology. And those people who don't have any of those relevant skills are just getting further and further behind. So it is an important time to be in technology. It is an important and interesting world that we're living in, but there are definite shifts that are happening in terms of what type of organizations are hiring and growing their design and development needs, okay? In terms of nuances, some of the things that have been going on with my students that I think are really gonna help you look at the future and the result that you're looking for. And that's what we're talking about today. How to get hired faster and for more money and look at what that is going to look like for you, and then backtrack so that you are starting with the right steps and the right pieces. So here's what I mean. We've been talking a lot in the membership about the interview phase and the application applying and interviewing and asking people for a job. And I literally mean looking them in the face and saying, do you have a UX design job position for me? Are you hiring developers right now? I'd love to be considered. So I literally mean that. So you didn't hear me just say applying. Do not get caught in this applying process. Applying cold is not a good position to be in. And so if you're just doing that, you are unlikely to make great progress. Okay? And if you're saying, well, what else do I do? We're gonna go through that. But in this interview phase, looking at your story, I wanna just offer you this piece that your story of prior experience plus new skills is your story. And I encourage you to journal on it, to talk to your friends about it, to talk to your husband about it, to get comfortable with that story. But that is not the story to deliver to an interviewer. And the reason for that is that interviewer has a problem. There's something wrong with their product and they need help figuring it out. Maybe it's a design problem, maybe it's a development problem that is what they need help with. And your story of transitioning from being a nutritionist to a UX designer is not immediately relevant to them. But your story as a UX designer solving real-world problems in this example, and that real life example in this example is highly relevant to them. Okay? So again, we're backtracking. So let's look at the end result. The end result is, I wanna get hired faster and for more money. Okay, what does that look like? Well, when I get to the interview phase, I'm gonna wanna talk to someone about UX design experiences I've had, or development experiences I've had. Here was this time that I wrote this function that did this, it solved this problem. Here was this time that, you know, this was the design challenge that we were looking at, and this is how I came up with a solution. And it was really helpful and it was really interesting. So when you sit down with the interviewer, you wanna be talking as if you are already in that position, maybe not for that company, but I'm already a UX designer. You're hiring me as a UX designer, I'm already a developer. You're hiring me as a developer. Now, for those of you who are just starting out, you're like, yeah, that's backward. Can I be that? If I'm not that? Okay, well, let's take it a step back. So what do I teach? I teach You need two projects, one self-selected and one free in quotes, Lance project. So one project in exchange for use in your portfolio, you do the work. Those two are the way that you build that. You begin to build these stories of yourself as a UX designer, as a developer, right? You build your story in tech. You're no longer a physical therapist transitioning into tech. You're no longer a nutritionist turned UX designer. You're a UX designer, and you solve these problems. And as they dig, you may reference prior experiences, but the more relevant experiences are going to be in that field of technology because you are solving a problem for them. So this is the meta piece of UX design, is that you really need to be empathetic and think about the user. Just play that role with the interviewer. What do they care about? And what happens is we lack the confidence. We feel insecure because we haven't done that before. And so when we come from that place, it's really all about us. So when we're insecure, it's about us. That is a hard thing to step out of. The more you can focus on them, the interviewer and solving a problem for them, the more confident you'll sound and the better you will come across. It's also nice because it relieves you of your insecurity, even literally in the moment. It relieves you of it why you're too busy thinking about them and the problem that you're solving for them. So think about a cover letter and this nuance of a cover letter telling your story. Use UX design and development examples from these two projects. Okay? Now, when you start these projects, these self-selected almost universally, the beginning, it feels overwhelming. And like you're never going to possibly be able to finish this in the middle. It's exciting. You're cranking it out, you love doing it every day. It's super fun. And at the end, it feels like it wasn't very much. This is exactly the mistake that you need to not make. You need to look at that work that you did as highly valuable. Now, I would be remiss. So that's all about building your portfolio. I would be remiss if I did not say that getting hired faster and for more money means going to a meetup on week one. Even before you start yourself selected, even before you start your freelance, you don't even know exactly what's going on. And going to those events, going to a meetup, talking to people, letting them know, Hey, this is my goal. I'm willing to do the work in exchange for use in my portfolio. Do you hear me keep saying that? That's because it's so important that you understand that this work is going in your portfolio. You are doing it, you're doing the full project, it's going in your portfolio. You're not doing it for free. You're not doing it to be nice. You're doing it in exchange for use in your portfolio, but you're also meeting people along the way and taking them on your journey. Hey, remember when I told you I was breaking into tech? Hey, look, I've made my progress on my project this far. Hey, look how far I've come. So getting hired faster and for more money means having stories to talk about at the end to an interviewer about that you've been working on. And it also means having someone to interview you who isn't. Maybe it's one of those people you met at at the meetup. Maybe it's someone that they connected you with, but it certainly is someone that you met alone. The way, because you're building your community or someone that you already knew, someone that you knew from a prior life who trusts you and understands that you'll gain the skills. So building your community is about hate leveraging, talking to people that you worked with a long time ago. Can they help you out? And building new relationships. You don't know where it's gonna come from, right? Could be from one the other, both. Some combination isn't that great when there's a combination. So that piece is really important. The building your community piece. The sooner you start that, the better off you're gonna be. But when you say, okay, Ellen, I'm at the beginning, I'm starting that. I can't talk like a UX designer, that is still your goal. That is still your lens when you get to the interviewing piece. And so every day or once a week, you can look at it and say, am I working towards that? Oh, yeah, I can see what I've done. This is, I definitely have people who might interview me one day. I definitely am building some stories that I can talk about in that interview. It's really, if you think about it, at its core, that's what you're doing. Am I talking to people who could potentially interview me? And am I, and am I building the skills that I could potentially talk about as relevant stories of a tech professional in design or development? That is how you can get hired faster and for more money is to look at everything through that lens. Okay? So there's another piece about, remember that you are not just, you are not talking about your transition from your prior work to this new work. And let me tell you my story in the interview, they don't care that much. And it's not because they're mean or they don't love you, it's because they have a problem and your job is to solve it. And so you wanna talk about what is relevant to them. Okay? If they ask you why did you make this transition into tech? Then you can go into that. But I would still look at why you love UX design, why you love development, what excites you about it? What's interesting? So that is what you wanna talk about. But this other nuance that I'm seeing from my students, and it's not something I'm seeing from just my current students, it's definitely been a consistent theme from my students throughout the years. And so to kind of encapsulate this, I want to tell you a story about Kevin, right? My my husband. And it's a story. It's pretty funny. So this took place before he and I were together. He was in high school. This incident, he worked at a fancy restaurant, just kidding. It was fast food called rallies, and it's like a hamburger joint, but not as nice as McDonald's. Okay? So that you've got the piece, you got the picture there. And he worked at the drive-through window. And here's what he literally did. He moved the condiments that go on the burger into a different order. That would be an accurate description of what happened, okay? But on his resume, so in college, now we're together and he's writing about this prior experience. Here's how he describes it. I'm not gonna get it perfect, but this is close, improved throughput through increasing efficiency of pro. Something about system or process. And that's basically the word, right? Ef effective<laugh> efficiently produced increased throughput for the system, and they did get ranked based on how quickly the car could go through the drive-through. So this is what he was referencing. I mean, he had an internship at Chrysler, so it worked.<laugh> we're gutless of whether you think that's embellishment, it doesn't exactly describe what happened in detail. He was describing the highest value way to look at that situation. And it's a little bit funny. I remember making fun of him at the time when he did it, but it's really relevant because this is a broad generalization. But in general, I see men making statements like that, doing something and then selling it really when they're talking about it, selling it like it's this huge value add activity. And what I described, what I just described, I mean, you probably did 20 things like that in a day. I mean, from what the moms that I see, they can do amazing things and they're like, oh, it's nothing. Oh, it's no big deal. So my challenge to you is that I don't think you're describing your work with enough value. And I believe that if you look at it through the lens of what is the highest value way to describe what I'm doing, I do not think that you're going to lie or even exaggerate. I would challenge you<laugh> to go that extreme, because in my experience, you're not going far enough. You don't go far enough to describe the value that you are providing. So why don't you try to stretch it a little bit like that? Yoga stre, you know, we gotta stretch. You gotta feel the pain a little bit to get the output, try to stretch it and say, how valuable can I make this sound? Because what I suspect is you're doing great things. And then at the end you're thinking that it's not really that big of a deal. But remember, like before you did it, it was kind of a big deal. It seemed really hard and maybe even impossible. And then you figured it out. And then once you figured it out, then you diminish the value. So check yourself, see if that's true for you, because I think that's true for my students. I think it's true for my current students, my previous students, that may be the one nuance and change that will change everything in your trajectory and help you to get hired faster and for more money. I had so much fun being with you here. Thank you so much for sharing your time with me. Hey, if you enjoyed listening to this podcast, you have to sign up for the techie email list. Imagine being in the tech job of your dreams. Join me to get the strategies training and never ending support to get hired. Sign up@techie.com. That's Y O U A R E T E C H y.com. I'll see.