This article is written by Russell Barreto, a former engineer turned digital marketer. As a digital nomad, Russell explores the world while sharing insights on the latest trends in technology and marketing.
Alice is a 28-year-old social media manager looking to break into tech. Like most people from a non-tech background, she’s not quite sure where to begin, and all her research leaves her feeling overwhelmed. Should she learn Python or R? Does she need a degree? How long would it take to land a job? The more she Googled, the more confused she became. Analysis-induced paralysis put her dream on hold and led Alice to believe that breaking into tech was only for ‘geniuses’ or people who have been coding since childhood.
Alice’s story is all too familiar. Since 67% of developers write their first line of code before turning 18, by the time they’re working in the industry, they’re already quite familiar with tech and know how to approach learning. But for people with a non-tech background like Alice, simply beginning is a monumental task that feels overwhelming.
Fortunately, with a clear, actionable roadmap to learn high-impact skills, build a portfolio, and land entry-level roles, Alice and anyone who shares her dream of breaking into tech can do so in a matter of a few months – give or take.
Tech skills are no longer confined to Silicon Valley—they’re in demand across every industry, from healthcare and finance to entertainment and retail. This means that while basic proficiency might be required for college courses, in practice, advanced math skills or extremely advanced coding abilities are required far less than most beginners assume. Questions like “I’m not good at math or coding” or “I don’t have a tech background” are some of the most commonly addressed questions in tech communities online, including on Microsoft’s Educator Developer Blog.
A commonly addressed question on r/AskProgramming is about the requirements for a tech career.
So, where should you begin? A great reference point would be learning high-impact skills. For a beginner or someone with no tech background, this means learning beginner-friendly skills with abundant learning resources and supportive communities, making them accessible to beginners.
Because of how diverse tech jobs can be, it’s best for beginners to approach learning by getting started with skills that are a combination of versatile, in-demand, and yet still beginner-friendly. This gives someone like Alice flexibility over her career path as she develops her skills and allows her to break into tech without compartmentalizing herself too early in her career.
Most beginners are best starting with Python. It’s a programming language that’s known for its simple syntax and readability. Learners should begin with the basics: syntax, variables, and data types (like strings, integers, and lists)—and practice writing simple programs, such as a calculator or password generator.
The language also has a gentle learning curve, and you can use it to explore various fields since it’s extremely versatile. Once you’re comfortable with the basics, there’s plenty of support online for you to explore building basic projects to add to your portfolio and a huge community in case you run into difficulties and need guidance.
Proficiency with Python can lead to a career as a data analyst, software developer, or machine learning engineer.
When people talk about breaking into tech, the first careers that come to mind are usually front-end developer, full-stack developer, and web developer. These are careers that rely heavily on JavaScript, which is the magic behind every interactive website you see. JavaScript is the language used to bring webpages to life with features like forms, animations, and real-time updates.
Combined with the language Node.js, which is needed for server-side operations, JavaScript is necessary for any front-end development, back-end development, and full-stack development. To properly grasp how essential learning JavaScript is, it’s worth noting that it powers 98% of websites and is supported by almost all major browsers.
JavaScript is best approached by starting with the fundamentals – variables, functions, loops, and DOM (Document Object Model) manipulation. Take on small tasks to gain confidence and proficiency, like adding interactivity to a static webpage or a button that changes text when clicked. As you get more confident, start working on projects and begin building your portfolio so you have something to showcase to a potential employer.
HTML and CSS are essentially the building blocks of the web. While HTML structures the headings, paragraphs, and images that constitute the content of a webpage, CSS styles it with colors, fonts, and layouts. HTML and CSS together are responsible for the visual appearance of every webpage you see. If you’re planning on a career as a web developer, UI/UX designer, or content manager, then HTML and CSS are foundational skills that cannot be ignored.
There are plenty of projects to practice and get comfortable with HTML and CSS, but a great point to begin is creating static websites. Practice the basics, and once you feel comfortable, try adding interactivity to make your websites more dynamic and responsive design technique with CSS Flexbox and Grid to make sure your websites look great on all devices, from desktops to smartphones.
Finally, learning Structured Query Language is your last stop on the list of beginner skills, and it’s your key to working with databases. SQL is heavily used in almost every industry, from finance to healthcare, making it a versatile and in-demand skill. SQL is essentially the language used to communicate with databases, and it lets you retrieve, analyze, and manage data efficiently
Careers like data analysts, business analysts, and database administrators rely on SQL to make data-driven decisions as they depend on the language to extract insights, generate reports, or maintain databases.
Git and GitHub are essential tools for collaboration and version control in tech. What this means is that Git helps you keep track of changes in your code and allows you to easily revert to previous versions or collaborate with other developers. GitHub is a platform for sharing, storing, managing, and showcasing your work. Learning to use Git and GitHub is crucial for roles like software developer, data scientist, and DevOps engineer, as these roles are extremely collaborative, and proficiency with Git and GitHub is essential to being able to work in large teams or organizations.
Excel and Google Sheets are often overlooked as foundational tools for data manipulation and analysis, but they’re essential for breaking into tech. Because of how vast their applications are, it’s best to learn these tools in the context of the industry you’re trying to break into. Of course, the basics are always important, so start by mastering functions like SUM, AVERAGE, and VLOOKUP, and practice sorting, filtering, and organizing data.
If you’re planning on a career as a data analyst, business analyst, or financial analyst, then you might also want to learn to create visualizations like charts, pivot tables, and conditional formatting to turn raw data into actionable insights. As for portfolio projects, practice applying these skills to real-world datasets, generating reports that demonstrate your ability to analyze and present data effectively.
Source: Power BI
Careers like data analysts, business intelligence analysts, and marketing analysts help organizations make data-driven decisions by clearly presenting insights and trends. As such, being able to analyze data and use it to tell a story is a crucial skill set needed for such jobs. The tools you’re going to use for this purpose are Tableau and Power BI. Two powerful tools for transforming data into compelling visual stories, letting you create interactive dashboards and reports that make complex data easy to understand.
Let’s rewind a little and recall Alice. Unlike Alice, you’re going to focus on the foundational topics that get you the most bang for your buck and avoid trying to read up on everything at once, ending up overwhelmed
These are the practical job-ready skills you’re going to master first and avoid the trap of endless theory or trying to learn everything at once.
Given that self-learning is the most easily accessible method, it’s where most people begin. YouTube tutorials, free workshops, and documentation are usually the easiest accessible resources however, the absence of mentorship and lack of structure are two of the biggest contributing factors to why most self-learners end up quitting before reaching proficiency. Unless you’re extremely motivated and disciplined, this method might not be the most effective in the long run, and it is probably best if you don’t have any immediate goals of breaking into a career in tech and you’re just looking to learn a bit more about the field.
Most self-learners quickly stumble upon online courses fairly early on in their journey to learn tech skills. Platforms like Coursera, Udemy, or freeCodeCamp provide a flexible and affordable way to learn the same skills with the added benefit of having structure and a clear syllabus. To their credit, most courses are affordable, cover a wide range of topics, and offer a certificate of completion, which comes in handy while trying to prove proficiency and boost your resume – something an employer will definitely look for. However, much like self-learning, these rely on the motivation and discipline of the learner and, as a result, have only slightly better completion rates.
Bootcamps are designed to quickly teach job-ready skills that are in demand in a matter of months. They usually have a well-structured curriculum tailored to a specific role or based on industry needs and also have several projects available to build competence.
Their biggest advantage remains the mentorship from experienced instructors and the career support services they offer. This makes bootcamps an excellent choice if you’re a career switcher who wants to break into tech quickly and efficiently.
But unlike self-learning and online courses, bootcamps can be expensive. Despite the high initial cost, they remain popular due to the quicker entry into the job market. Fortunately for committed learners, Le Wagon offers financing options individually tailored to you, ensuring that circumstances won’t become an obstacle to learning. The fast-paced, immersive environment also mimics the real-world industry, preparing learners for a career in the industry once they’ve broken into tech. Well-structured bootcamps should offer part-time options and often have an alumni network to tap into as a new graduate.
This is the traditional pathway that most people looking for comprehensive knowledge and recognizable credentials choose. While this might be ideal for those with a long-term plan, this pathway can be expensive and time-consuming (often taking 4+ years), and includes coursework that may not be directly relevant to current industry needs. If breaking into tech is something you’d like to do on a shorter time horizon, then this might not be ideal. However, if you’re committed to having a degree, then this is the only pathway that offers a traditionally recognised credential.
Let’s imagine that Alice managed to get past the learning and now wants to begin earning. How would she get started? Someone self-taught should begin by applying to in-demand, entry-level roles like Junior Developer, Data Analyst, QA Tester, and IT Support Specialist. The projects she’s built should help with demonstrating a strong portfolio. Something essential for showcasing skills to potential employers.
If you’re looking for a career at an established company, you can begin by applying for an internship or even an entry-level role to get your foot in the door. But keep in mind that you’re up against people from universities with career centers and graduates from bootcamps that often have partnerships with companies that offer internships exclusively to their graduates.
Graduates from the Le Wagon bootcamp have access to a network of over 1000+ hiring partners as well as three paths for new graduates depending on whether they’re interested in a full-time career, founding a startup, or freelance work.
If you’re looking to be a freelancer, then using platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and Toptal can be a great way to search for clients looking for help.
A self-learner can expect to pace themself by dedicating around 10 hours a week if they’re expecting to have a solid grasp over the basic skills in about 6 months. Factoring in the projects you’ll need to build your portfolio, a realistic timeline can stretch anywhere from 8 months to a year for a dedicated self-learner, however, this is without the support services needed to land a job in the field afterward.
As you progress through the basic skills, you’re naturally going to gravitate towards fields that interest you more. While this will change the timeline around how quickly you learn things, it will shape your skillset to be better suited to the job and industry you eventually want to work in. If you’re a self-learner who’s reached this point and has a clear idea of which path you’d like to take, you can always switch to a bootcamp more in line with your needs.
At Le Wagon, the bootcamps differ for those interested in a career in data as opposed to web development. Data and AI bootcamps will focus on learning to use additional tools such as Docker, GCP, BigQuery, PostgreSQL, Jupyter, Pandas, Hugging Face, Scikit-Learn, Kubernetes, and more.
While these might not all be tools that beginners start with, they’re essential to being a good data engineer and are introduced at the right time during the bootcamp, depending on whether you’re looking to be a Data Analyst, Data Engineer, or just want a general Data Science and AI bootcamp. Similarly, the Web Development bootcamp at Le Wagon will instead focus on beginner-friendly programming languages like Ruby on Rails, CSS, HTML, and JavaScript, alongside tools like Figma and Heroku. Ensuring not only that you’re only learning what you need but also that you have the tools to learn new languages on your own after completing the course.
Because of how varied learning approaches can be based on individual goals, a realistic timeline is a timeline associated with the most effective method of learning – the method with the highest completion rate. Le Wagon’s bootcamps estimate that most part-time learners will require roughly seven months while a full-time student can cut this down to just two months. This is while completing 16 hours/week and 40 hours/week, respectively.
You don’t need to be an expert to land your first job—you just need to be confident in your skills and able to demonstrate what you’ve learned. Start small, stay consistent, and you’ll be surprised at how much you can achieve in six months.
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