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How does someone with a CS degree get a non-coding tech job?

6 points| greeniron | 5 years ago

Motivated by the other post I read here, I noticed that there were a lot of people who have anecdotes on their colleagues or managers etc who are apparently completely removed from coding in their careers and yet manage to find themselves in technical leadership positions such as lead architect, etc.

i'm someone with a business degree, as well as a computer science degree. i've tried, and do not enjoy, coding. i don't mind it when doing assignments for school, it's fun because it's very guided and structured. when i tried doing it as a job, i hated every minute of it. somehow managed to find myself a job as a technical project manager where i was paid more but did no coding at all, and i like it. however, i'm finding that my career prospects at this time seem to have stagnated.

i'm very keen to move up to either product management, or some kind of technical leadership role like lead architect, where i get to make some serious decisions. most importantly, i believe these positions pay the best and would allow me to extract the most value out of my two degrees.

how should i try to find these kinds of jobs? how should i market myself? i know that these job postings often ask for actual coding experience, but that's precisely what i'm asking here: how come so many people seem to get there without it, and how can i do it too?

4 comments

order

villaumbrosia|5 years ago

First of all, no, It's not uncommon for someone with a CS degree to transition into a Product Management role. And to answer your question about “how come so many people seem to get there without it” I can say that the reason behind that is because PM is not just about developing or designing, but also about communicating effectively with users and many different stakeholders to gain multiple perspectives. And while you may have an advantage because of your technical background, great leadership and other soft skills are required to be an excellent PM, as explained in Product Mindset https://bit.ly/2CgpDtc

As for the way you should market yourself, you should remember that while many candidates have had vast educational and work experience in the business world, not as many speak the language of computer science. Not to mention have a business background as you do as well. So, what you should do is sell the fact that you know how to do both.

coderintherye|5 years ago

You are conflating many things here. To pick out your priorities, it seems what you want is:

* High Pay (top priority)

* Decision-making authority / Leadership position

* No code

* Work in tech

But it's unclear what you actually want to be doing in your job, asides being the person that gets to call the shots. I don't personally recommend goaling towards that, but if it is your goal then your fastest route there is through people management. You can be a non-coding engineering manager or product manager and work your way up eventually to Director, VPE, or CPO.

But, is making the most money possible really what you care about most? If so then go work for Netflix or similar where they will burn you out while paying you well.

Think hard on your actual goals though and make sure that is what you truly want. Personally, I'd recommend to folks to look more towards finding a good team that you gel with doing work that you find enjoyable.

data_travel_yc|5 years ago

It is not a "move up" to become a product manager, tech leader, or architect. All these are roles that increase costs and transform any agile development experience into a non stop sequence of meeting to discuss ppts that are never materialised. Stick to your dev role and be more opinionated with deliveries. And choose a position with less or none managers and architects.