Looking for my 2nd tech job as a career transitioner-what roles am I qualified for?

BrienneWong·Jun 06, 2023

Posted in:Navigating Career Transitions Advice

Hi all,

I transitioned into content writing from a museum collections background and got my first full-time tech role as a Customer Education Content Writer for a startup last year. I was laid off from my role 2 months ago and am looking for my next role. Ideally, I would like to be a Content Designer/UX Writer for my next role, but would also love to be a Content Writer for help centers because I did that work in my last role and loved it.

It seems like I'm still running into the same issue that I dealt with when I was looking for my first tech role of not having enough experience.

I probably have 1-2 years of exact experience in these roles, but if I included my reframed experience from my museum job, I have 3-4 years of experience. Do I apply for entry-level roles, or do I shoot my shot with roles that require more years of experience?

After my experience at my first tech job, where I didn't know what to do, I figured it out, and I thrived. Here's my Medium article about what I learned from that experience. Since I have this reference, I know I can do any of these roles and if given the chance, would be great at them. But the job search is making my insecurity and imposter syndrome creep up the longer I'm out of work.

marissahuysentruyt·Jun 07, 2023

Many times, job descriptions are not written by the people you’re actually working with. I know someone who is a director/manager, who ended up scrapping an entire job posting because someone else at their company tried to write the job description, put a bunch of requirements in it that he didn’t care about or want in the description in the first place. He had to be really involved in that job posting process because the recruiters were trying to work just too fast, but didn’t have any experience putting together a thoughtful description of designer position. I’m a career transitioned too, and it is SO hard for me to disregard those requirements sometimes, but I think that’s still the best advice I got as I searched for my first tech job. The place I’m at now has actively supported that idea as well (we did a learning series on job searching). Shoot your shot!!!!!!! Literally, the worst thing that can happen is they say no. You might as well apply!!!

JordanB·Jun 07, 2023

Definitely agree with this! I'd just add - don't do their job for them and reject yourself before you even apply. If you're a bit in between roles in terms of seniority apply for the full spectrum. No ones says you can only apply for entry level jobs or only apply for mid-level positions.

Kecia95·Jun 07, 2023

Apply and see if you’re getting callbacks. Another few approaches for consideration 1. take a job in an area you know you can crush and ask the company to take on more tasks in the direction you want to go once your foot is in the door. 2. Take a job you know you can crush, and side hustle in the area you want to how. 3. Take a few contact jobs in the new area to build a portfolio.

Naomi·Jun 08, 2023

Ooo I love this question! One thing that I think can help with confidence is chatting with others that are doing the role you want to do, just for fun. It will help you be able to talk about yourself and make the role feel less out-of-reach. Find a few people doing Content Design/UX writing and chat with them about what's hard/how they got into the role/where you are and where you'd like to be.Then absolutely shoot your shot. The good thing about job applications is that you can really roll your dice with a few different companies/roles -- as you know, it's hard to get an interview, so it makes sense to apply for all of the roles you'd really like and then a few here and there that you feel more confident about.