A Guide to Surviving in a Tech Company as a Non-Technical Staff

“How can I perform well in a tech company that demands coding know-how when I don’t have an IT-background and my head aches each time I look at coding scripts?”

I questioned as I was on my way back home after spending 8 hours of my first day at a new company and listening to my colleagues talking in a language that was foreign to me. At last, I concluded, “Tech industry is not for me!”.

That was the dilemma that I was facing just a few months ago.

Today, I am a content marketer for a global tech company “Vast Mesh” and I have registered that the way I was thinking earlier, obstructed my career advancement the most.

Thankfully, I did not keep myself stuck in those thoughts for long.

Before getting deep into the discussion as to how you can survive in the tech industry, you have to take the idea that the tech industry is only exclusive to tech geniuses out of your mind. Non-tech people like me can thrive there too. All they have to do is ask for assistance from their tech colleagues. In my case, I was lucky enough to be a part of a team that promoted collaboration. They assisted me in all ways possible to make me what I am today. Moreover, they helped me get rid of this misconception that all jobs in a tech company require in-depth knowledge of coding or how the data is transferred over the cloud.

Let’s discuss how you can succeed in such a scenario. From what I have practiced and experienced, there are two major things that you need to work on:

1. Learn about the industry

2. Show the right attitude to prove that hiring you wasn’t a waste of company resources.

Most of the time, these two parts work together, not separately.

Engage with those who started out like you

There will be times when you will feel specially demotivated, noticing how technologically informative the people around you are. In those times, one solution can be to get a good night's sleep to get out of such a depressed mental state. But sleeping undisturbed when you are expected to have a grasp of the tech industry as soon as possible, can be a far-fetched dream. In this case, you are only left with one other option - networking.

Now, you may be thinking, how can I start networking and who should I approach? Actually, It’s not as hard as you may think. There are thousands of well-known platforms where you can connect with people all over the world and get help such as Linkedin, 10times, Meetup, and many more. Once you get to the platform that you are comfortable using, try to find people who started just like you did and I’m pretty sure you will be surprised to see how many people went through the same struggles.

After finding the right kind of people, send them personalized invitations and let them know the reason why you want to connect with them. Once you have your connection list filled with a bunch of people who had the same starting experience as yours, it is time to get to the main business. reach them out personally to take help from them about anything that is bugging you. This will help you know from where you can start learning about the industry, and If you have already started, It will speed up your learning process.

In short, even If you have been recruited by a prestigious company, do not get back inside your turtle shell. Reach out, and connect.

Get help from your colleagues

Now that you are working in a tech company, you will have both tech and non-tech people around you. This means that you are living in a pool of knowledge. All you have to do is to reach out to them whenever you are stuck with something.

Many companies initiate a training program for people like us so that we can establish our basis in the tech field. Even if that is not the case, you can still seek help from your seniors, and there is no way they won’t help you as they need 100 percent output from you which they can’t get if you are stuck on only one task.

That is how you can speed up your learning process and adjust to a new field.

Now, we will move towards the kind of attitude that you should have if you want to go far in your tech company. Knowledge with the right kind of attitude is the key to your success which can help you get noticed not only in your company but also in the whole tech industry.

Show that you want to learn

No matter, where in the world you are working, or in what position you are working, the main thing that can get you to the top is your positive mental attitude.

The main point here is that no one expects you to know A-Z about the tech field in the first week of your job. But as time passes, these expectations will change. So, before that happens, you have to make sure that you know enough to perform your job well.

You need to memorise this fact by heart that managers always favor those who show interest in learning over those who just want to do their work as directed.

I know how confused people get when they are put in unfamiliar situations. Fortunately, you are living in a modern world where you can get answers to any of your queries with one click. All you have to do is to approach the right people to get help.