Make ???? Easy | IT Jobs for non-IT People?

Question #4

Is there a way to try IT-related positions part-time, not go into a full-time corporate 9 - 18 job? Can someone with only general business skills enter the IT project team without IT knowledge?

I will address every part of this question separately.

1. Starting Your Career and Part-time Opportunities

The most straightforward answer is a freelance, but it can be difficult for people with limited experience. By freelancing, you can capitalize on your existing knowledge and build it further. However, before starting freelance, you must decide on the narrow area you focus on and what value you can bring to the market.

Alternatively, I have seen many people entering Latvian IT industry through Bootcamps and building their careers from Juniors to Managerial positions. Bootcamps will provide you with IT fundamentals and prepare you for the first assignment. After Bootcamp, a part-time load can also be considered when your employment starts, which can be especially useful for students or young parents.

Recently, considering work equality concerns and diversity at the workplace, there are some programs that ladies can apply to kick-start their carrier in IT. One such example is the She Goes Tech initiative, which I can suggest to the women that want to build careers in IT.

2. IT Job for Non-IT People

It can be a surprise for someone, but there are many roles in IT projects closer to the general business and people management than engineering. I have compiled the list of some that first come to my mind (feel free to follow up in the comments).

• Business Analyst - There is an alternative name to the role (System Analyst), but I like the Business Analyst name more, as it sounds less technical. Before the Technology Experts start the engineering work, significant responsibility is put on the Scope Definition and Requirements Management process. Business Analysts must possess general business knowledge and developed communication skills to capture the requirements, analyze the business process and design the solution that will meet the business needs. There is also a technical part of the job, but I believe that business thinking and communication skills are a good start, and technicalities you will learn while working with more experienced colleagues and the Engineering Team.
• Functional Consultant - Do you know deeply how a specific industry works? Examples can be Banking, Insurance, Manufacturing, Retail, Natural Resources, etc. You will be required to learn the technical part of the process, but industry knowledge is a base that will fast-track your carrier in the Functional Consultant role. Functional Consultants are working with Enterprise Resource Planning systems (like SAP, Oracle, Microsoft), working with the clients, and trying to find the best off-the-shelf solutions. If customizations are required, - Technical Consultants will be invited to help.
• Project Manager - As it is defined in the most recognized standards, Project Management is industry agnostic. So the good news is if you ever led the Team towards joint success and were responsible for the budget, time, and quality constraints, becoming an IT Project Manager will be easy, as most techniques are transferable across the industries.
• Project Manager Assistant - If you are not yet confident about being a single point of accountability for the project, the good news is that there is a team of Managers that oversee the project for the largest projects. You would be able to assist the Leading Project Manager if business administration or similar roles is something that you like.
• Internal IT Project Auditor - Do you like to follow up on the compliance to the internal quality policies, monitor KPIs, catch the exceptions and help Project Teams succeed? If yes, you might consider the role of Internal IT Project Auditor.
• Manual Tester is not a very popular role this time because Quality Engineering is moving towards Test Automation (Development) approach. Still worthy of mentioning. Being a long-time System User is enough knowledge to start your carrier in IT as a Manual System Tester.

Hopefully, this article will help those seeking to switch their careers toward the IT direction to decide and try out new challenges.

If you want to learn more about the opportunities that Accenture Baltics is offering, feel free to reach me, and I will help you find the right people to discuss the employment options.

I am not pretending to know all the right answers, and I would much appreciate it if you could express your opinion and follow up in the comments section.

Thank you,

Konsta Osh