Understanding the Opportunity

Explore further before deciding

Ruby Kolesky & Laura-Jane Booker

Hopefully, one or more of the roles we shared interests you!

To confirm your interest, we recommend you explore what the role might entail further before deciding.

“Talking to people with experience, and experimenting with a small personal project are great ways to confirm you are on the right track before going ahead.”

Resources to help you understand the landscape

Matchstiq.io has many video interviews of people talking about their roles, and coverage from people across all types of roles in technology. In the interviews, people talk about what it’s really like, and what they look for in people they hire.

Startmate is an organisation that co-ordinates fellowships to help talented, ambitious people from a multitude of backgrounds gain the network and skills needed to thrive in the start-up world across New Zealand and Australia.

Try before you buy

If you are interested in the more technical roles, then this blog by Skill Crush lists many helpful and totally free online courses that can get you started with the basics of coding.

If you are still keen to continue after learning a few things online, it is also a great idea to try and create a small project yourself.

If you are interested in becoming a product designer, then check out some tutorials from Figma. Figma is a popular, collaborative design tool that makes design accessible to more people. Anyone can create a free Figma account.

If you are still keen to continue after watching the Figma tutorials, why not try and design a simple web page or product?

If you are interested in Product Management, then it’s a good idea to learn the different methods that software tech companies use to build software.

Agile SCRUM is the most popular, here Atlassian does a good job of describing it. Shape-up by Basecamp is increasing in popularity. Joyous has also developed its own method called Joyfully.

Reading up on these methods will help give you a sense of the structure you might be expected to support and encourage within organisations.

More broadly, Udemy have short courses on just about everything, and most cost less than $20. Try searching their courses for the role you are interested in and pick one or two options that interest you most.

Try not to see this exploration as a test of your ability, rather use it to see if you find the challenge stimulating and leaving you wanting more.

👇 You can also download the book below - it's free!

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A guide to help women, Māori, Pasifika, and other underrepresented people switch to a paid software technology role in New Zealand.
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You're one step closer to a career in tech. :)

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Pathways book cover

Pathways

A step-by-step guide to a paid job in technology

6: Explore further before deciding

Hopefully, one or more of the roles we shared interests you!

To confirm your interest, we recommend you explore what the role might entail further before deciding.

“Talking to people with experience, and experimenting with a small personal project are great ways to confirm you are on the right track before going ahead.”

Resources to help you understand the landscape

Matchstiq.io has many video interviews of people talking about their roles, and coverage from people across all types of roles in technology. In the interviews, people talk about what it’s really like, and what they look for in people they hire.

Startmate is an organisation that co-ordinates fellowships to help talented, ambitious people from a multitude of backgrounds gain the network and skills needed to thrive in the start-up world across New Zealand and Australia.

Try before you buy

If you are interested in the more technical roles, then this blog by Skill Crush lists many helpful and totally free online courses that can get you started with the basics of coding.

If you are still keen to continue after learning a few things online, it is also a great idea to try and create a small project yourself.

If you are interested in becoming a product designer, then check out some tutorials from Figma. Figma is a popular, collaborative design tool that makes design accessible to more people. Anyone can create a free Figma account.

If you are still keen to continue after watching the Figma tutorials, why not try and design a simple web page or product?

If you are interested in Product Management, then it’s a good idea to learn the different methods that software tech companies use to build software.

Agile SCRUM is the most popular, here Atlassian does a good job of describing it. Shape-up by Basecamp is increasing in popularity. Joyous has also developed its own method called Joyfully.

Reading up on these methods will help give you a sense of the structure you might be expected to support and encourage within organisations.

More broadly, Udemy have short courses on just about everything, and most cost less than $20. Try searching their courses for the role you are interested in and pick one or two options that interest you most.

Try not to see this exploration as a test of your ability, rather use it to see if you find the challenge stimulating and leaving you wanting more.

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