Career advice for ambitious women - 4 IT jobs where women lead
Tech career advice for ambitious women
The world of tech used to have a reputation for having a diversity problem. Although things are much better now, many still think of male coders dressed in hoodies in dark rooms. Thankfully, IT and the world of tech is nothing like that. Women are thriving in tech, but as the industry evolves into something much more inclusive, women are rocking the world with their technical abilities and leveraging their existing skill sets and passions.
One of the biggest things holding women in tech back was traditionally everything from their crippling self-doubt to wrongly convincing themselves that IT didn’t want intelligent and ambitious women. The reality is that the industry was desperate for more women in data science, networking, cyber security, and much more.
It’s easy to forget that the tech industry stretches across every industry you can imagine. But, as a woman in tech, the only limit to your opportunities is your imagination when building or being a part of a team creating new products and services that can change people’s lives, businesses, and even the world. Transitioning into a new industry can be incredibly daunting, but here is some advice to help make the journey a little easier.
Women in tech | career advice for women
Did you know that female tech positions are increasing over 238% faster than male colleagues? Midwives, teachers, career-break mothers are all learning that they don’t need a maths or tech background to retrain and reinvent themselves to enjoy a tech career. Gender diversity has the potential to transform the world of tech for all the right reasons.
The perception of women in tech has also changed in the media, with movies playing a pivotal role in inspiring female tech talent and STEM students worldwide. Every business is challenged with solving various problems and finding solutions by leveraging emerging technologies and delivering new projects. Those that are successful quickly gain a competitive edge, while those that fail run the risk of becoming the next Blockbuster Video.
The incentives of a 0% unemployment rate and 3 million unfilled cyber security positions highlight the scale of the opportunity for women. Ultimately, the world needs more women in IT, cyber security, networking, and cloud technology to fill this critical skills shortage. With attractive salaries for women of over £60,000 a year, it represents a fantastic opportunity for more women to retrain to thrive in a new tech career. Here are 4 IT roles that women are leading right now.
Network Engineer
When a corporate network goes offline, the shutters to a business quickly come down, with everyone unable to work in a digital world without a connection. Documents, critical applications, customer data, communications, and the ability to accept money are all unavailable without a network. But what about the unsung women in tech who ensure that the network is always available?
Network engineers work on a variety of networks integral to running any business. Therefore, a career in networking is best suited for women who have a passion for learning more about the magic behind the internet connections and virtual private networks that we all take for granted. If this specialism excites you, candidates can bring their dream job to life with a range of certifications that will turn that exciting career into a reality.
Upon successfully obtaining a qualification, women in tech relish the responsibility of ensuring the integrity of network infrastructure and optimising performance for users across a business. Network engineers are referred to as the plumbers of the technology industry, and for a good reason. They play a critical role in ensuring that IT is seen as the enablers rather than the blockers of the business.
If you are looking for inspiration, check out the Tebogo Mackgatho, CEO at Netcampus video below. She explains where the opportunities lie in the tech industry and why female network engineers are in high demand.
Cyber security Analyst
Our news feeds are bombarded with headlines of cyber and ransomware attacks, and every business is investing in bolstering its defences. However, there is a well-documented skills shortage needed to analyse vulnerabilities in the industry. A recent report revealed it has recently further risen by a third. But ambitious women in tech are leading the way and helping to plug these gaps while securing an exciting career and lucrative salary in the process.
Regardless of their background, it has never been easier for women to begin a career in cybersecurity. For example, the Cyber Security Analyst collection contains everything for women in cyber to thrive in the industry. One of the most appealing aspects of this approach for women with busy lives is the ability to learn at a time and location that best fits their lifestyle and schedule.
When attempting to kickstart a new career in tech, 24/7 support from expert mentors also keeps any self-doubt or imposter syndrome from holding you back. When combined with unlimited access to practice labs, women have all the help they need to ace their exams and are also leading the way by forming their communities to help and support other women in cyber security.
Cloud computing
Cloud technology now plays a critical role in driving remote and hybrid working forward. Many of us take the ability to access our data and software from any device for granted, no matter where we are located. All we need is access to a Wi-Fi connection. But behind the scenes are teams of female cloud specialists supporting the administration, security, development, and engineering of cloud computing.
More than 100,000 plus jobs are currently waiting to be filled, with a further half a million more to come in the next few years. As a result, many ambitious women begin with the AWS Cloud collection to reskill and enter the cloud job market as an Amazon Web Services (AWS) specialist. Still, there are many different ways for women to get into a career in the cloud.
One of the biggest myths in the tech industry is that you must have a background in tech to enter the field. That couldn’t be further from the truth. The tech sector has opportunities to grow at any stage of your career. You can start from anywhere, including in the cloud.
Business Analyst
A business analyst can speak to non-tech stakeholders about their business needs and how technology can help them. But they can also seamlessly switch and talk with IT teams about the technical aspects of a system or potential project. As a result, they are often referred to as the bridge between the business and its IT department. Women naturally thrive in this role and successfully leverage both technical and soft skills in equal measure upon completing training.
The individuals best suited for a career as a business analyst are those with analytical, critical thinking, written, and communication skills. Maybe they have worked with business analysts on the other side of tech in corporate departments and want to step up and upgrade their career. Many women find that the BCS Foundation Certificate in Business Analysis is the perfect place to start which can also help them secure a role where the average annual salary is over £42,000
The globally recognised certification in Business Analysis is designed to help women kick start their journey of understanding business analysis, which empowers them to support business change through new technologies and improving business processes. One of the most appealing aspects of this career for ambitious women is making a real difference in an organisation.
Learning People | Career advice for women
The skills needed for a successful tech career are not dependent on gender. It’s simply a positive attitude, curiosity, empathy, communication skills, and desire never to stop learning. With the skills shortage and digital divide widening, the UK government recently advised it was investing £23 million to boost skills and diversity in AI jobs. The funding aims to bring more underrepresented groups such as women, black people, and students with disabilities to join the UK’s world-leading Artificial Intelligence (AI) industry.
However, this is just one example of how stereotypes are being removed from IT as businesses increasingly invest in diversity, equity, and inclusion. For too long, women have been wrongly made to feel that they are under-qualified or lack enough technical knowledge to enter a career in tech. All of which is not true, so don’t let your self-doubt get in your way, and remember it’s never too late.
There are many IT courses offering everything from basic to advanced and specialist skills should you decide to niche down. So whether you want to become a lead network engineer, cyber security analyst, or business analyst, it has never been a better time to begin a career in tech. Skills for all of these job roles are in high demand worldwide and within every industry.
We have a vast selection of courses to give you the unique set of skills you need to secure the tech job of your dreams. But we also appreciate that having a bewildering number of options in front of you can be challenging. That’s why whether you want to explore the gender gap in the coding industry or learn more about how women in tech are thriving, expert career advice for ambitious women is only a message or phone call away.
Before diving in and learning new skills or building a portfolio on what you have learned, researching, and understanding what roles appeal to you in the tech industry is crucial. For example, there’s a misconception that working in tech means learning how to write code which puts many off. But many people in IT have never written a line of code in their life. Thankfully, navigating around these industry myths is not something you need to do independently, and we will help mentor you throughout your new tech career.
It’s essential to highlight the different skills and perspectives women bring to tech roles, to solve problems and find solutions across various technologies and projects. For example, data scientists are problem solvers. But to solve some of the most complex issues, teams are waking up to the importance of diversity of thought.
By providing women with professionally mapped pathways of training that advance their skill sets and careers, businesses can focus on solving their most significant challenges more efficiently. In addition, more and more leaders are stepping up with mentoring programmes that lead to an increase in success stories of women in technology. So what are you waiting for -if you’re an get in touch with one of our expert tech career consultants today for the best career advice for ambitious women – and discover what you can do.
