Switching careers into Tech? How to stand out, with advice from a pitch coach

Here are some of Lee Jean‘s practical tips from the talk delivered during Le Wagon’s Career Week for turning that into an advantage.

Don’t start from zero

One of the biggest mistakes career changers make is treating their previous career as irrelevant.

A former teacher, for example, might think: “Now that I’m a developer, nobody cares that I taught for five years.”

But teaching gives you communication, presentation, adaptability and problem-solving skills. A former recruiter understands people and business needs. A designer brings creativity and an understanding of users.

These skills don’t disappear when you learn to code. They become part of your new profile.

So instead of saying, “I’m a former teacher who learned to code,” think about how to present yourself as someone who combines communication and teaching experience with new technical skills.

Your previous career isn’t something to hide. It’s part of what differentiates you from others.

Show how you think, not just what you built

Your coding projects are more than something to put on GitHub. It’s an opportunity to show a potential employer how you approach problems.

Lee recommends structuring your story around four simple questions:

What was the problem? What did you do? What was the result? What did you learn?

For example, instead of saying:

“I built a React app for fitness.”

You could explain:

“We noticed that busy professionals struggled to keep track of their workouts. We built a React app that helped users create and manage personalised training plans. Through testing, we discovered that users needed a simpler onboarding process, so we redesigned that part of the product.”

Now you’re demonstrating much more than technical skills. You’re showing that you can identify a problem, make decisions, respond to feedback and think about the user.

And be specific about who you’re building for. “People who want to get fit” is a very broad audience. “Busy professionals who want to exercise three times a week but don’t have time to plan their workouts” gives a much clearer picture of the problem.

Have a good answer to “Why should I hire you?”

This is a question Lee challenged the graduates to think about.

Your answer shouldn’t simply be a list of technologies you’ve learned. Think about the combination of skills you bring.

Maybe you spent years working in marketing before becoming a developer. You could bring an understanding of customers and business goals alongside your technical skills.

Maybe you worked in education. You might be particularly good at communicating complex ideas to non-technical colleagues.

Maybe you worked in hospitality. You understand customer experience and how businesses operate.

Ask yourself: What can I do that someone with the same technical skills but a completely different background might not be able to do?

That’s where your story becomes your advantage.

Build proof, not just potential

As a junior developer, you may not have professional experience yet. So give employers other evidence of what you can do.

Keep your best projects on GitHub. Make your portfolio easy to understand. Join a hackathon. Build something outside of your course. If you can, work on a real project for a client or organisation.

The goal isn’t to fill your CV with as many projects as possible. It’s to have a few things you can talk about confidently.

And when you present them, focus on the problem you solved and the decisions you made — not just the technologies you used.

“Built an app with React and Rails” tells an employer what tools you used.

“Built a booking platform to solve X problem, decided to use React because…, and changed the user flow after testing it with five users” tells them how you work.

Don’t rely only on job applications

Sending applications online is only one way to find your first role.

Lee encouraged graduates to build relationships with people in the industry: talk to alumni, reach out to recruiters, connect with people working at companies you’re interested in, and attend events.

And don’t approach every conversation with “Can you give me a job?”

Ask questions. Find out how people got into the industry. Ask what skills their teams are looking for. Show genuine interest.

One conversation might lead nowhere. Another might lead to an introduction, a freelance project or an interview.

As Lee put it, “You have to create your own luck.”

Keep learning, but start acting

You don’t need to know everything before getting your first tech job. In fact, you never will.

What matters is being curious enough to ask questions and learn when you don’t know something. Lee encouraged graduates to see challenges as part of the process rather than something to avoid.

A useful way to turn that mindset into action is to set a 90-day goal. Decide what you want to achieve, then work backwards: what needs to happen in 30 days? What can you do this week? And what is one thing you can do tomorrow?

It could be updating your CV, publishing a project, contacting an alumnus or applying for a role. Small actions add up.

And ultimately, that’s the difference between knowing what you could do and actually moving your career forward.

As Lee summed it up: “Knowledge is potential. Action is power.”

Let us know if you have any questions about Le Wagon’s coding & AI programs at tokyo@lewagon.org, or simply book a call with our advisor !