How to Get into the Tech Industry with No Experience

It’s no secret that the tech industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. So here’s how you can get into the tech industry with no experience.

Everyone’s on their devices, so there’s plenty of demand for new and convenient tech solutions. It’s also one of the most remote-friendly industries, so if you’re looking to work abroad or get some much-needed flexibility, a job in tech might be the move for you.

The question is, how do you get into the tech industry if you don’t have any experience? Luckily, we’ve done the work for you.

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9 Steps to Get into the Tech Industry with No Experience

Like any industry, the more experience you have and the more people you know the easier it is to get a job, but just because you don’t know how to code or you’re not best friends with half of Silicon Valley, it doesn’t mean you can’t break into the tech industry.

1. Work Out What Your Current Skills are

First things first, with any kind of career change or research piece, you need to find your starting point. What do you have to offer? What are you good at? What do you actually like doing?

Go through any work experience you have or volunteering that you’ve done and pick out all the skills that you’ve learned along the way – no matter how small or irrelevant they seem.

Things like cash handling or customer interaction might not seem relevant or transferable to becoming a coder, but it shows responsibility and the ability to get along with others and problem-solve. There are always ways to spin your experience.

The same goes for any skills you’ve learned in college or university. Research, deadlines, timekeeping – all of these go a long, long way in the world of work.

Any graduate who’s gone through the grad scheme application process will tell you that the skills and university projects that you can talk up go a long further in interviews than your actual final grade.

While you’re listing out these skills, make a note of which ones you were especially good at or the ones you enjoy. If you’re amazing at analytical work but don’t really enjoy it, it’s probably not going to be the right career for you in the long run.

On the flip side, if you love graphic design or art, but aren’t very good at it, you’re going to want to upskill yourself before you think about applying for these kinds of roles in tech.

2. Learn a New Skill That Fits the Tech Industry

That brings us nicely to learning a new skill. Coding isn’t taught in high school, it’s something that most coders teach themselves online. Same for a lot of the creative work that goes on behind the scenes at tech businesses.

You can go to film school if you want, but if you’ve got a great portfolio and are passionate about videography, you can definitely put yourself in the mix for a job.

Even if you have some experience in the field that you’re pivoting into, you can always brush up on your skills or take an extra course or two either online or at a local community college. It also shows a willingness to learn, as well as bulking up your resume!

Here are my most recommended courses to take if you are interested in pivoting with your current skill set.

These courses won’t break the bank like some of the coding-boot camps on the market so they are well worth the investment even if you decide to go in a different direction.

3. Find Out Which Skills are Transferable

We’ve spoken a little bit about transferable skills and it’s probably a phrase you’ve heard a lot from career counselors or at job fair days. It’s such a critical part of landing a role if you don’t already have a way into a certain industry.

So, you can’t code but you want to work in tech. Are you super organized? Can you keep everyone on their toes and get them where they need to be? Are you a people person?

You can get through the door as an admin or an assistant to a department head. Companies are way more likely to recruit internally to save recruiter costs, so if you really want to work in tech, you can start at the bottom and try out different roles and departments.

4. Discover Non-Tech Roles

The tech industry like every other industry has a whole host of roles inside it that make it tick. From HR to marketing to account manager to sales to finance, there are a lot of ways to work in tech without having to be the brains behind the software.

Essentially if you have experience working in an office, you’re going to be able to pivot into the tech industry. Tech businesses need creatives and payroll as much as any other organization!

Here are a few examples of non-technical jobs that you could potentially pivot into without direct tech experience:

how to pivot into tech without experience

Have a Google to see what these non-technical roles are all about. The easiest way to pivot into tech is to start in a non-technical role and gain experience in the industry first.

Then you can move into more technical roles that are still not engineering-focused.

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5. Ask Around & Build Your Industry Network

Look, no one likes the saying “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”, but unfortunately it’s true. Tech, like any industry, prefer to hire people they’re already aware of, so get curious.

If you don’t know someone already, hit up LinkedIn, go to some networking events and ask people who work in tech what it’s like, how they did it, and whether would they recommend it.

Like anything in life – things, destinations, restaurants – personal reviews and experiences are normally the best things to go off if you’re looking to do the same.

After I graduated from my Master’s Program at SOAS, The University of London, I immediately started attending networking events whenever possible. Every week, I would attend at least 1 or 2 events that were put on by companies or groups that specialized in the industry I was interested in.

At the time, I was initially interested in Energy (Solar, Gas, Oil, etc) and the policy surrounding these resources. If you’re interested in technology, I would recommend that you explore websites like:

Then of course filter by city and topic. People that you will meet at these events may or may not have the power to influence the right people to get you an interview.

At the very least, lots of people were willing to give me a referral and that put my CV at the top of the pile!

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6. Build a Portfolio

If you don’t have any experience, you still need to be able to offer examples of your work and your skillset.

For example, if you’re wanting to get into graphic design, send over some examples of graphics you’ve created – it doesn’t matter if they’re not for real clients. Create a few different briefs in your mind, write them up and work on that brief.

Not applying for a creative or technical position? Build up a portfolio of projects that you’ve worked on that have had a positive outcome, detailing the roles you’ve played.

Demonstrating your skills with context is going to be much more appealing to an employer than saying you have ‘good time management skills.’ Prove it.

7. Reach Out for Experience

The best way to get a job in tech without having any experience is by trying to get an internship or even a week or two of work experience.

Especially if you ask around at startups, they’re normally pretty stretched when it comes to the little tasks, so an extra pair of hands for free or for expenses is a welcome offer.

Obviously, most of us can’t afford unpaid internships for six months in the expensive tech hub areas, so target smaller tech companies. Not only are you more likely to get a response, but if you do get experience there, you’ll see the whole business in one room.

You’ll work out the different roles everyone plays and be able to see what you want to do and how you can contribute. You can then use this experience to get a full role in a startup or translate it into another opportunity at a larger tech firm.

Internships at large tech companies, unless they’re full-year schemes, are a lot of running coffee and sitting in on meetings, rather than doing.

Startups and smaller teams are a lot more hands-on, so it’s all about what you prefer – having a go at the work itself or seeing how a big corp works and runs so you can figure out how you can add value.

8. Start on the Ground Floor

If you really want to work in the tech industry, work your way up. It takes time, but you build a lot of useful connections along the way, and, most importantly, you see how everything really works. You can see who the big players are and the people who think they’re the big players.

There’s a ton of variety in the tech industry, so it opens a lot of different doors. If you’re creative, a techie, organizationally minded, or think you can sell anything to anyone, there are likely to be opportunities for you in tech.

Especially if you know that you want to work for a particular tech firm or style of tech firm, like travel tech or health tech, look for that kind of niche and find an entry-level role that gets your foot in the door.

9. Keep Up-to-Date

One of the most important things to remember if you want to work in the tech industry is that you want to stay current. Things are changing all the time, so make sure you’re up-to-date, especially in the field that you want to explore.

If you want to be a social media manager, do you know about the latest update to the Instagram algorithm or know what really works on TikTok rather than what you like to watch personally?

If you’re working on written content, do you know what SEO is and the changes that Google has made to its search criteria? If you’re a coder, do you know which coding language this particular company works in?

My best advice is to sign up for a load of tech newsletters and get the headlines straight into your inbox. Not only is it a good idea for professional development, but you can also drop current events in the industry into your interviews.

If you want to go into a certain industry with no experience, you need to make a concerted effort to learn about it in order to help you get an edge over other entry-level applicants.

So, thanks to the sheer size and variety of the tech industry, there are plenty of job opportunities even if you don’t have any experience.

Talk up the skills, interests, and aptitudes you do have, stay curious and ask questions, and don’t be afraid to start at the bottom of the ladder and see where it takes you.