The amount of black women entering the tech industry is growing rapidly every year. From detail-oriented data analytics to fast paced customer-facing technical roles, we’re doing the work to not only find, but create spaces for ourselves within a male-dominated industry.
And with all of these brilliant, creative minds still looking for a career home, can you believe that they’re overlooking a pathway in tech for one reason and one reason only: they have no desire to learn any coding skills.
But the truth is, you don’t need to cultivate coding skills or even basic knowledge of coding to have a thriving career in the tech industry. In fact, there are actually quite a few jobs that are both high-paying and don’t require coding.
UX Design
Average Salary: $93,196 (2022)
Requirements: Varies; Bachelor’s Degree, UX Certification.
Growth Rate: 18%
Behind every positive, helpful, and fulfilling experience with a product or service (digital or otherwise), there is a team of people who helped make it happen. One of the core members of said team is called a User Experience, or UX, Designer.
The job of the UX Designer is to create meaningful, relevant experiences for users of apps, websites, and other products by utilizing research, visual design, usability, and function. The catch of UX Design is that it doesn’t actually require any design skills.
Of course, if you plan on being on the User Interface (UI) side of things, you’ll need to know how to work various design programs to create a visually pleasing graphic layout of a product or service. However, UX is all about what comes before that.
You’ll be doing things like research, identifying and defining problems, empathizing with users to help them create solutions, and creating a fulfilling service experience.
All you need is a solid portfolio. No experience? No problem. You can go back to school and get a bachelor’s degree; or go the easier route and take a bootcamp or course that helps you exercise your skills and abilities by helping you build a portfolio of concept projects.
Project Management
Average Salary: $88,907 (2020)
Requirements: Varies; Bachelor’s Degree, PMP or CAMP Certification.
Growth Rate: 33%
At first glance, project management doesn’t seem like a tech profession. However, project management is the application of a unique set of skills, methods, knowledge, and experiences to create and deliver something of great value.
While it sounds like anyone can do that without formally being a project manager, that is a gross misconception. Being a project professional requires you to be familiar with industry-standard Project Management software, scrum management, agile and scheduling systems, and even budgeting and finances.
The wonderful thing about it is that you can take project management to any industry you’d like! Healthcare, banking and finance, information technology (IT), and construction are among the most popular fields to enter for project management.
A quick heads up: this path will require years of investment if you’re looking to make some real money from the profession. You don’t necessarily need a degree or certification, but it makes the difference between having a full blown career or just working a job.
Just to attain the PMP Certification, you’ll need:
- A four-year degree
- 36 months leading projects
- 35 hours of project management education/training or CAPM® Certification
— OR —
- A high school diploma or an associate’s degree (or global equivalent)
- 60 months leading projects
- 35 hours of project management education/training or CAPM® Certification
So, we advise that you only take this career path if this is something that you’re seriously considering investing in for a longer period of time.
Technical Writer
Average Salary: $68,555 (2022)
Requirements: AA, BA/BS, or Certification in Technical Writing or related subjects.
Growth Rate:10%
Technical writing isn’t a career path we hear about very often, which is a shame because it’s quite an important one. Simply put, being a technical writer requires you to take complicated, complex information and turn it into documentation that is clear, concise, and much easier to understand than before.
The purpose of a technical writer is to ensure that there is proper communication and comprehension between two or more parties. For example, a medical technical writer may rewrite various medicine and health-related documents in a way that marketing agencies, publishing companies, and physician groups all can understand.
Different from simply writing a blog post or doing microcopy for products, being a technical writer requires a high level of understanding of the field that you’re in. If you don’t understand what is being presented to you initially, how are you going to simplify and explain it in your own words? It’ll be hard.
So, when choosing a field, make sure you pick one where you have experience or you hope to gain experience in the future. Industries that are currently hot in their search for technical writers include:
- Software Development and Programming
- Healthcare/Medical Sector
- Education and Academics
- Aerospace Industry
- Accounting and Finance
There are so many things you can do in tech without having any coding skills whatsoever. All you have to do is find your niche, figure out what you’re willing to invest in terms of time and money, and you’re good to go.
