What They Do

To understand what challenges exist and what the desired end result is, technical business analysts may spend a great deal of their time interacting with many stakeholders (someone in or outside the organization that will be impacted by the end result of a business analyst's project) at different levels in an organization. These can be in the form of one-on-one interviews, focus groups, brainstorming sessions, or surveys. They'll spend a considerable amount of time asking stakeholders how they are currently interacting with the existing process or service, the problems that they're having, and why they need these problems to be fixed. This process may be referred to as requirements gathering or requirements elicitation.

Technical business analysts also spend a great deal of time documenting and analyzing the data they receive. Business analysts may be responsible for any of the following:

• Business requirements list: From the requirements gathering or elicitation, this document details the features or fixes that must appear in the final version of the proposed solution.
• Use cases: These detail the steps or actions that a user or actor must take to complete a task or achieve a goal.
• Diagrams: Rather than using words to describe a process, a business analyst may use several different diagramming techniques to show a current process—this may make it easier to identify parts of a process that should be fixed or eliminated (see Figure 2.1).

Once their analysis is complete, business analysts will have to report back to stakeholders on the appropriate course of action that should be taken. What that will be will vary, depending on the business, the issue being addressed, the timing, etc. They may recommend that custom software be created to address the issue, minor adjustments in the process itself be made, or perhaps retraining users—they can even recommend that no action to be taken at all.

Depending on the organization or the project, business analysts may be expected to implement, or help carry out, the proposed solution. As such, they may be tasked with helping with programming, project management, and/or training duties.

Top Skills Needed

Communication: Analysts must interact and interview many different people—managers, end users, architects—with different backgrounds and ways of thinking/working. Being able to ask great questions to better understand stakeholders is crucial. Analysts must also be prepared to present, and sometimes defend, their recommendations to stakeholders and their coworkers.

Because much of their responsibility is documenting information, they must be comfortable with their business writing ability, as well as how they visually present information.

Critical thinking and problem solving: Analysts must review and summarize lots of quantitative and qualitative information and be able to suggest what they think is the best way forward.

Diagramming and modeling: Analysts are often tasked with creating different types of visual diagrams, including the following:

• Flowcharts: Represents the steps involved in a work process
• Entity relationship: Often used when modeling and creating databases
• Data flow: Represents how data flows within a specific business system

Understanding when to use which, as well as the proper symbols, is helpful. Having working knowledge of how to use diagramming software like Microsoft Visio, or online sites like Lucidchart and Draw.io, is also helpful.

Interpersonal: Being able to build and foster good relationships with stakeholders will be incredibly helpful when attempting to ask them for information. Stakeholders who trust and like you will likely be more responsive to your requests and offer helpful information.

Educational Requirements

Most technical business analysts have an undergraduate degree in a computer-related field, but there are also analysts with degrees in liberal arts and social science fields who received their technical training through additional coursework or on-the-job training.

For Additional Information

The International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA), based in Canada, is one of the leading professional organizations dedicated to the business analyst profession. There are more than 60 chapters within the United States, and they offer professional development opportunities through mentorship programs, certifications, webinars, and other offerings. At the chapter level, they may also host job and volunteer listings on their chapter website. See www.iiba.org.

Bridging the Gap, run by Laura Bradenburg, a certified business analysis professional with more than 15 years of experience, is a site geared for people looking to start or transition into business analyst careers. The site offers free and paid training opportunities. See www.bridging-the-gap.com.

Here are some other resources:

• BA Times: www.batimes.com
• Modern Analyst: www.modernanalyst.com

What They Do

“The ‘day in the life’ will vary greatly,” says Hereford Johnson, an IT strategy and big data implementation consultant with Deloitte.

Indeed, a consultant's work depends on the work they have been asked to perform per the statement of work that was agreed to by the client and the consultant/consulting firm. Johnson recalled that his assignments varied greatly; one project sought to improve the ergonomic efficiency of technology for people with disabilities, while another was helping a large bank move their data from physical resources to cloud resources. No two projects are ever alike.

Consulting projects can last from weeks to several years and could require the consultant to work in the client's office, whether they are in another city, state, or even country. Consultants have reported that they spend anywhere from 60 percent to 80 percent of their workweek traveling and work very long hours. Although he did have the opportunity to work from home, “I would wake up at 7 a.m. for my first phone call, and then I would be done around 8 p.m.,” Johnson said.

Top Skills Needed

Critical thinking and problem solving: Consultants review and summarize lots of quantitative and qualitative information and must be able to find and recommend the best course a client should take. Consultants may also be tasked with writing any number of reports, memos, presentations, etc.

Communication: Consultants are expected to conduct many meetings with clients and coworkers and be able to present information to any type of audience. You may also come across times when you and others will have a difference of opinion on how to move forward in a project—consultants must be able to convey a differing opinion in a way that is respectful for everyone involved.

Continuous learning: Consultants are often considered to be subject-matter experts in their domain or field by their clients. To be a subject-matter expert, this requires a consultant to stay in the loop on any developments or advancements in their domain constantly.

Alternatively, a consultant may be put on a project where they have little or no exposure (obviously not ideal, but it does happen). In those cases, they will have to quickly get themselves up to speed on a subject through self-study or classes (if time allows). “If you're in a room full of developers who [program in Python] for a living, you're not expected to perform at their level,” Johnson says. “But you should be able to speak to them intelligently about what they do.”

Interpersonal: Consultants often work in small teams that contain members from both the consulting firm and the client's organization. Building good relationships internally and externally will be important to the project's progress.

Time management: Between travel, analysis, reporting, and implementation, consultants are often working within strict, fixed timeframes. Knowing how to manage your time and minimizing disruptions is important.

Educational Requirements

Even with extensive industry experience, an undergraduate degree is an (almost) universal requirement to obtaining a consulting position. Per Johnson, it's a challenge to be hired into larger consulting firms without one—“I've seen people with 20-plus years of experience get shot down because they don't have that 4-year degree.”

While having a technically focused degree is helpful, consultants often hold degrees in a wide variety of subject areas, including economics and English.

For certain advancement opportunities, a master's degree or a master of business administration (MBA) is needed for consideration. There are several firms that are willing to subsidize or pay the full cost of this type of education for promising candidates, usually on the condition that they will stay with the firm for three to five years after the completion of the program. Otherwise, the candidate will have to pay back the cost of what the firm contributed.

For Additional Information

A consulting firm's own website is often the best place to start to understand their strategy, values, and what they are looking for in candidates. Often, they have sections dedicated to entry-level opportunities as well as detailed information on their recruiting practices and timelines.

The following is a brief list of some of the better-known technology consulting firms:

• Capgemini
• Accenture
• Deloitte
• IBM Global Business Services
• Cognizant
• Tata Consultancy Services
• Slalom Consulting
• Bain & Co.
• Boston Consulting Group

Other resource:

Consulting magazine: www.consultingmag.com

What They Do

Within an organization, network engineers and administrators are responsible for the creation, monitoring, maintenance, and repair of an organization's computer network. Their network can include the following:

• Local area networks: A network connected in a smaller area, like an office
• Wide area networks: A network that can extend over great distances
• Intranets: A private or restricted section of a network
• Wireless networks: A network that isn't connected by cables in any way

Network engineers and administrators interact with many audiences in the course of their day. They'll need to meet with business managers to understand what their needs are, employees who may have trouble connecting to their email or other network applications, and outside vendors to understand what tools on the market may improve network performance and availability.

Although they keep mostly standard work hours (about 40 hours a week), network engineers and administrators may need to work on evenings and weekends if there is a network outage or other major technical problem that needs to be resolved immediately.

Top Skills

Computer networking: Careers in networking require a solid grasp of the following:

• Computer-networking devices that help with communications between computers, such as routers, switches, and bridges
• Communications protocols, or the rules that govern how data is formatted and transmitted between devices, like Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
• Computer networking security to ensure that others cannot misuse or attack resources on a network

Linux: Linux is a popular open-source operating system (meaning software that is publicly available and can be modified and reshared). Many businesses use Linux rather than Windows or macOS because it has built-in tools for managing, monitoring, and fixing networks.

Tameika Reed, a senior infrastructure engineer at Expansia and founder of Women in Linux, is a huge advocate for learning Linux, regardless of your ultimate technical role. “We have people who are getting degrees and PhDs and so on…. When it comes down to Linux, which runs in 90 percent of most companies, and it's time to troubleshoot something, they don't know how to troubleshoot the basics of the foundation. I look at Linux as the foundations of getting into tech.”

Virtualization: Virtualization allows you to create multiple “virtual” instances of a computer, perhaps with a different operating system, on one computer. For example, with the use of a program, like Oracle's VirtualBox, I'm able to install and run virtual versions of Linux and a Mac computer all on my Windows computer. They will look and act as if I were running them in their normal environments. Companies will often use virtualization to run many applications and operating systems without having to spend a ton of money on buying additional hardware and software.

Cloud technologies: As many businesses move some or all of their applications and data into the cloud, this is adding more complexity for the network engineer, in that they must ensure that resources contained in multiple areas (in physical form or in multiple clouds) can be accessed and protected around the clock.

Problem solving: Network engineers need to be able to quickly identify the causes for network outages or slowdowns so that businesses can operate effectively.

Communication: Network professionals must interact with many audiences, and they need to be able to share information with technical and nontechnical audiences.

Educational Requirements

Network engineers typically have undergraduate degrees in computer science, information systems, or other related programs. Others have been able to transition into networking careers through self-study and hands-on experience alone. In fact, those hiring for these positions prefer that candidates have as much hands-on experience as possible.

For Additional Information

Cisco: In addition to offering highly regarded networking certifications, like the Cisco Certified Network Associate certificate, Cisco also maintains the Networking Academy, an online portal containing entry-level networking classes. They also have hands-on resources, like Packet Tracer, which helps you to simulate network configurations on your own.

• Cisco Certifications: www.cisco.com/c/en/us/training-events/training-certifications/certifications.html
• Networking Academy: www.netacad.com

Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA)—CompTIA is a professional organization based in Illinois, devoted to those in information technology professions. They also administer several vendor-agnostic professional certifications, like the Network+ certification. See www.comptia.org.

VMware Learning Zone: VMware is one of the leading virtualization software companies in the world. It offers a free basic learning subscription to its Learning Zone, where you can learn about virtualization technologies. See mylearn.vmware.com.

Open Source Networking User Groups: Reed also recommends taking part in user groups, especially if you are in an environment where you may not be able to actively apply skills you are learning, such as those connected to the Linux Foundation. “They have ambassadors and different leadership positions within these projects. What happens is that you become the expert in those things—that's where your coding experience and your understanding of infrastructure come into play.” These groups also will introduce you to the different people and companies that exist in the space. User groups are open to anyone who wants to contribute. See https://www.lfnetworking.org/resources/osn-user-groups.

Other resources:

• The Linux Foundation's free Introduction to Linux course: https://training.linuxfoundation.org/training/introduction-to-linux
• Women in Linux: http://www.womeninlinux.com

What They Do

Typically, data scientists will spend their time collecting and analyzing large amounts of data. They assess whether this data is appropriate for the task at hand or whether data cleansing (the removal or correction of incorrect data) is necessary. Using data with errors in it can lead to making incorrect conclusions or assumptions, causing a lot of wasted time and money.

Once the data is considered suitable for analysis, data scientists need to determine the best models or algorithms to use. They'll often use software to help with this, as there's often a ton of data to go through. They review these results to see whether there are any interesting patterns or trends.

Even if nothing surprising or important comes up, data scientists relay this information to their teams, managers, or others with a vested interest in what they are doing. They may do this through written reports, visualizations, or both. Finally, they may recommend a course of action to take based on their analysis.

Teneika Askew, a Business Intelligence lead with Deloitte, described what she enjoys about her job: “Clients are used to seeing reports in Excel, line-by-line data. They don't have reports showing them the art of the possible—what they can do with their data and how to make data driven recommendations from metrics or insights that are crucial to their business. It's exciting for me because I get to curate the data, dashboard or report and demonstrate how data could drive their business.”

Top Skills

Analytical: Data scientists must be able to look at a great deal of quantitative data and determine whether patterns or trends are present.

Statistics: Statistics is the study of how we obtain, organize, and analyze data. Understanding the types of statistical analyses that exist, as well as how and when they should be applied, will be helpful.

Programming: Because data scientists often have to review and analyze several hundreds or thousands of numerical data sets, they use languages like Python or R to help model and visualize data.

Structured Query Language (SQL): Data scientists may need to access, manage, or update information contained in a database management system. Knowing how to use SQL commands to access this information will make this task easier. There are different “flavors” of SQL such as MySQL and PostgreSQL.

Communication: Data scientists need to be able to present their findings in a way that any audience, whether technical or nontechnical, will be able to understand.

While clients can sometimes “glow” when presented with positive data, Reed commented that clients may also not be happy when presented with mixed or negative data. “Sometimes it's hard, because you have to say, ‘this is what the data says.’ Having those tough conversations has to happen as well. Make sure that you are prepared for those conversations—you're prepared to be genuine, and also you're authentic in what you're displaying and demoing.”

Educational Requirements

An undergraduate degree in statistics, computer science, mathematics, or a similar field of study is an almost universal requirement for job candidates, with some employers requiring a master's degree or higher to be considered for even entry level positions. As data science is gaining more popularity, colleges and universities are now offering degree and certificate programs in the field.

For Additional Information

Kaggle: Kaggle, owned by Google, is an online platform to help aspiring data scientists connect with others and refine their skills through challenges and competitions. Kaggle also offers free mini-courses in Python, machine learning, SQL, and more. See www.kaggle.com.

Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS): INFORMS is an international professional organization dedicated to individuals who work in or are studying analytics and operations research professions. They organize several conferences and career fairs as well as publish helpful journals and articles. See www.informs.org.

What They Do

As you can see from these titles, there are a wide variety of careers in information security. The careers described here are in no way a complete and exhaustive list, but this will give you an understanding of what is available:

Security analysts may be responsible for installing and updating software to protect an organization's network. This usually includes installing a firewall, a program or device that monitors and limits incoming and outgoing Internet traffic, and antivirus software, which is designed to remove bad programs (or malware) that seek to steal information or make computers run poorly.

Analysts also monitor network activity for anything that seems suspicious or out of the ordinary. In Titilayo Robinson's role at a Fortune 100 company, she is responsible for firewall reviews, which check for any firewall weakness and vulnerabilities, as well as exception management, or handling requests that deviate from the company's standard security policy. This includes monitoring all data egress (data that is leaving your network) and identity access management (guidelines or policies that a company puts in place to ensure that the right people have the right level of access to certain tools or information).

When attacks or security breaches do occur, analysts must document these events along with detailing how the event occurred, what was done in response, and any recommendations they have in improving the response process should it happen again. Incident response analysts may be needed when dealing with incidents that require a deeper level of expertise, like malware or virus attacks.

Security consultants help with the creation of a business's disaster recovery plan. This document informs people within an organization of the actions that should occur should some type of negative event occur against the organization. In this case, analysts would define how to respond to ransomware attacks, computer destruction, and more.

Part of Angela Dogan's role as founder and CCEO of Davis Dogan Advisory Services, LLC is guiding businesses on how to minimize their information security risks. “I help businesses build up and out their third-party risk management program.” The work that's done will ultimately depend on what the client needs. According to Dogan, she and her firm may be responsible for carrying out risk assessments, helping to identify gaps in their existing security programs, or helping them create and develop a security program if they don't already have one.

No two days are the same for Dogan. “I could be home today, across the country tomorrow. My job does involve travel because I do a lot of face to face with the client and spending time at their organization to understand their culture and ins and outs.”

Ethical hackers (or “white hat” hackers) conduct testing and audits to ensure that their networks can handle attacks should they occur. One of the more common methodologies that they use is penetration testing (or pen testing), where a simulated cyberattack is performed on an organization's computer network to identify both strengths and weaknesses.

Computer forensics analysts are experts who are called in when a crime has been committed using computing devices, digital media, or the Internet. These analysts work closely with law enforcement agencies in gathering evidence that will be entered into police reports or used as testimony in a court of law. Computer forensic analysts may be asked to retrieve deleted data from computing devices, gain access to computing devices that need to be examined but are, for some reason, restricted, reconstruct damaged devices, or even determine whether data may have been compromised or corrupted by outside parties.

Top Skills

Computer networking: Analysts must have a solid grasp of networking devices and protocols.

Operating systems: Operating systems serve as the backbone of computers and computing devices. They manage how a computer uses the limited resources available, like how much of its power it should allocate toward memory management and other processes. It also allows people to interact with computers in a way that doesn't require them to enter lines and lines of code. Knowing how major operating systems work—like Windows, macOS, and Linux—is important.

Vulnerability assessment: Security professionals must be able to quickly identify where there may be weaknesses in their network or computer systems before they are discovered by other people with bad intentions. They must understand the tools and methods available to them to find these vulnerabilities (like pen testing).

Communication: Analysts must communicate with managers and employees from various departments, as well as customers. They must be able to deliver information that any type of audience can easily understand.

Continuous learning: Security threats and attacks change quickly and constantly, requiring security professionals to constantly keep up with new technologies and industry regulatory requirements.

Educational Requirements

Many security professionals have undergraduate degrees in computer science, information systems, or similar fields of study. However, many have entered the field from other disciplines through self-study and other professional development opportunities.

For Additional Information

The International Information System Security Certification Consortium: ISC2 is the professional organization that administers the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification, one of the most sought after and respected in the industry. It offers many different educational and training opportunities, both online and in person. See www.isc2.org.

ISACA: Formerly known as the Information Systems and Audit Control Association, the ISACA professional organization sets standards on the security and governance of information systems. It also administers several industry-recognized certifications, like the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC), and Certified Information Security Manager (CISM). See www.isaca.org.

Cybrary: Cybrary is a free online learning platform where users can learn cybersecurity skills for free. Instructors are practicing industry professionals from companies like Cisco and CompTIA. See cybrary.it.

What They Do

The day-to-day routine for product managers will vary depending on many factors, including the company you're working for and the product or service being developed. Generally speaking, a product manager needs to guide their team (usually made up of people across the marketing, sales, finance, and design departments) through the product development life cycle: idea conception, product design, product build-out, distribution, and servicing.

Although the solution being created may be technical in nature, product managers must address end-user challenges, as well as follow a solid business plan. Project managers must conduct thorough research (technical, market, and financial) and communicate with many different stakeholders, while making sure that a product is made correctly and within budget.

Top Skills

Communication: Not only do product managers have to collect and assess feedback from stakeholders, team leaders from other departments, and their managers, but they must act as an advocate for the customer in their interactions. Product managers need to be able to communicate clearly, effectively, and, sometimes, persuasively.

Analytical: Product managers need to be able to quickly gather and assess the wants and needs of their customers. They also need to analyze whether a specific course of action makes business and financial sense.

Empathy: Product managers need to have deep empathy for their customers. They need to be able to view and understand how their customer will interact with the final product. Because the customer is not actively participating in the product development process, the product manager should act as the closest representation of the customer during the process.

Educational Requirements

Most in product management have four-year undergraduate degrees, but many have reported to have degrees in areas such as business, marketing, communications, or related fields. While having some technical skill is helpful, it's not a strict requirement, as the duties in product management tend to be more business or project management focused.

For Additional Information

Product Development and Management Association (PDMA): PDMA is a professional organization dedicated to the advancement of product development. It is the publisher of the academic Journal of Product Innovation Management, and has several chapters and student chapters throughout the United States. See www.pdma.org.

General Assembly: While General Assembly hosts several software engineering and data analytics courses, it also hosts an intensive, part-time course on product development. See https://generalassemb.ly/education/product-management.

What They Do

A project manager's role will vary, depending on their industry or the type of project that is being undertaken. Most project managers, however, will be responsible for a standard set of tasks that align with the Project Management Institute's five phases of project management: initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, and closure.

At the start of a project, project managers help to define the goals of the project at a very broad level. They will meet with the project owners and stakeholders (who can be an external organization, or perhaps an internal department within a company) to determine what they will be able to accomplish, given the time, resource, and money constraint that are in place. The project manager will help the project to define clear and measurable goals, and the timeframes as to when these should occur.

During the duration of the project, project managers will hold regular meetings with stakeholders to ensure that tasks are completed on or close to schedule. The frequency of these meetings may be set by the project owner—meetings can happen weekly by phone, or perhaps once a month in person.

Monitoring and risk management are key responsibilities of the project manager's job—for a project manager, anything that will cause the project to be delayed, out of scope, or over budget is considered a risk. If there is a significant blocker, or something that may be preventing a stakeholder from completing a task, project managers will intervene. If there is conflict among a few or several stakeholders, the project manager will step in to mediate the issue.

Budgeting is also an important function for a project manager. They ensure that all expenses that the project incurs is in line with what was discussed at the start of the project. If there's a chance that a project could go over budget, the project manager needs to inform the owner immediately so that they can decide whether they should continue or stop.

Finally, they are responsible for bringing the project to a close—meaning that the project owner confirms that the work performed is in line with the project plan, and that no additional work or rework needs to be completed.

Top Skills

Communication: Project managers communicate with several different project stakeholders, from the people they're performing the project for to the departments and other organizations that need to be involved for the project to move forward. They must be able to share important information quickly and effectively.

Organization: Project managers must prepare and share detailed project plans for everyone involved with the project plan.

Negotiation: Negotiation is essentially a discussion between two or more people or parties to arrive upon an agreement or solution that everyone can work with. Project managers may have to work out agreements with stakeholders and vendors to get work done.

Time management: One of the key components of a project's success is that it be completed on time. Project managers must be able to manage their own time effectively as well as the time for people on their team.

Educational Requirements

An undergraduate degree in business, management, or a related field is a common entryway into the field. Those who want to transition from another career path can also take program management certificate programs that can help prepare them for the Certified Associate of Project Management (CAPM) certification or the advanced Program Management Professional (PMP) certification.

For Additional Information

The Project Management Institute (PMI) is the leading professional organization for beginning and experienced project management professionals. It offers several professional development opportunities, such as formal mentoring and educational courses at the chapter level. It also offers many well-recognized professional certifications, like the CAPM and the PMP. See www.pmi.org.

What They Do

Software developers collect software or application requirements from the people who will be the end users. They attempt to design the “skeleton” of the software and may often use things such as diagrams or prototypes to illustrate ideas or processes.

Depending on the type of software development life cycle (SDLC) methodology that they use, development teams may do the following:

• Write the entire code of the application first, test it, and make modifications when finished (waterfall)
• Write pieces of code to satisfy a specific function, test it, make corrections quickly, and move on to the next function to be coded (agile)

These are the more popular methodologies, but there are many others as well as variations of the ones mentioned.

Software developers create documentation throughout the entire development so that it can serve as a reference in case there is a failure within the program and to assist with any maintenance efforts. They may also assist with installation and with training end users on how to use the program correctly.

You may hear terms like front end, back end, or full stack developers. These terms denote the area of an application that a developer focuses on:

• Front end: Concentrates on the areas of program that an end user will interact with; primarily interested in the user experience
• Back end: Focuses on “the guts” of the application—where data is stored (databases) and the application's logic (the workflow, or steps, an application follows when a user interacts with it)
• Full stack: Focuses on both front and back ends

Top Skills

Programming: Developers must be able to create programs using a programming language. There are many programming languages out; the more popular ones include Java, C, C++, Python, Go, and Ruby. The more languages you understand and use, the more it will help with your marketability, or your attractiveness, to potential employers.

Operating systems: Software developers need to know how their code interacts with any given operating system. How a program behaves in Windows may be vastly different from how it behaves on a Mac computer.

Cloud technologies: Many companies and organizations are creating applications that are cloud native, meaning that only cloud services are used in the app's creation and operation. Developers need to understand the tools that are available to them, as well as tools and methodologies to ensure that an app is always available for people to use.

Critical thinking and analysis: Developers need to be able to think not only about the problem they are attempting to solve but about all the different systems and audiences that an app or software may impact. They need to be able to lower any potential risks, bottlenecks, and other issues before they arise.

Communication: Despite popular belief that software developers are quiet loners, software developers need to be able to talk to audiences beyond just other developers. Often they will need to speak to business managers and nondeveloper employees on how their software or app works.

Educational Requirements

An undergraduate degree in computer science or software engineering is an almost universal requirement for these types of positions. While it is true that you can learn coding through self-study and boot camps, there are underlying and complementary concepts (such as networking, computer architecture, and operating systems) that may not get as much attention as they do in computer science programs.

For Additional Information

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers: IEEE is one of the most prominent professional organizations in the world dedicated to engineering professionals and those in similar fields. The IEEE Computer Society is specifically dedicated to students and working professionals in the software engineering and development domain. See www.computer.org.

Code.org: Code.org is a nonprofit that seeks to make computer science accessible to everyone. Its website hosts free online coding classes grouped by grade level, as well as resources to find computer science classes nearby. See https://code.org/.

Cloud Native Computing Foundation: Founded by several major software companies like Google and IBM, CNCF promotes the development and advancement of applications born on the cloud. They host several open user groups, as well as events like KubeCon + CloudNativeCon. See www.cncf.io.

What They Do

Sales engineers help to explain and ultimately sell complex technical products to customers. Depending on the organization, sales engineers may be asked to give product demonstrations, build product prototypes, design customer solutions, or give presentations to technical and nontechnical audiences.

Sales engineers usually work with sales representatives who have already identified a potential customer, although in some organizations, they may also take on the responsibility of prospecting, or identifying, potential customers.

Sales engineers, depending on the organization, are paid both a base salary and a commission on any sales that they make. Sales engineers get the opportunity to travel for customer visits, trade shows, and other industry events.

On the other hand, sales engineers' performance is graded almost entirely on whether they make their quota. Sales engineers may be let go from their job if they don't make their numbers repeatedly. Hours can be very sporadic—you may be called to go to a client meeting at any time, and working during the holidays or vacation is not uncommon.

Top Skills

Interpersonal: Sales engineers must build relationships with many different audiences. This includes their clients, teammates, and coworkers who may work in completely different departments.

Communication: Sales engineers will have to communicate with technical and nontechnical clients and audiences as well as with people within their own organization. They are also expected to give presentations and product demonstrations and write reports or other types of technical documentation.

Continuous learning: As technology changes quickly, sales engineers must be able to learn new technologies, products, and services just as quickly.

Educational Requirements

An undergraduate degree is not a strict requirement for this role. Per the Occupational Information Network, only 43 percent of people who are in this or a similar profession have a bachelor's degree, and 24 percent have an associate degree. That said, professionals have been able to compensate for a lack of a degree with several years of industry experience or industry certifications.

For Additional Information

National Association of Sales Professionals (NASP): NASP is a professional organization that caters to all salespeople, regardless of industry. It offers training and networking opportunities to new and experienced sales professionals, as well as certification opportunities. Although a sales engineer's work is more technical in nature, make no mistake that making the sale is a goal. See www.nasp.com.

Mastering Technical Sales: This website is maintained by John Care, a professional with more than 30 years' experience in several sales engineer capacities. Care offers practical advice and resources to new and experienced sales engineers on conducting product demonstrations and advancing your career. See www.masteringtechnicalsales.com.

What They Do

Technical support staff members review and respond to customer inquiries and service requests through email, phone, or chat. In most organizations, the goal for tech support is to answer and resolve a query at the first attempt. They will then attempt to walk the customer through the solution together, and if unsuccessful, they will escalate to a senior-level employee or another department. Any follow-up appointments or work that may need to be done, such as scheduling an onsite appointment, will be scheduled by the support professional who originally took the call.

Top Skills

Listening: To be successful, tech support professionals need to be able to go beyond hearing what the customer is saying. They need to be able to understand what the customer is saying and not interrupt or offer a solution before they've offered all their information.

Problem solving: After listening to the customer, tech support professionals need to be able to quickly assess what the user's problem is and walk them through the solution or quickly determine whether more help is needed.

Professionalism: Customers may be in bad or less-than-ideal moods when they are calling in for help. They may be genuinely frustrated by the problem, or they may have just had a bad day. No matter the reason, tech support professionals must always interact with customers with respect and patience.

Communication: Technical support professionals may need to interact with customers over the phone, in person, or through electronic chat. In all cases, they must be able to communicate well verbally or through written words.

Educational Requirements

Although there are some companies that require bachelor's degrees in computer science or related fields for their positions, most require only a high school diploma or an associate degree to obtain an entry-level position.

For Additional Information

Help Desk Institute (HDI): HDI is an organization that offers educational and professional organization for people in technical help and support positions. It offers several certifications, including the HDI Desktop Support Technician (HDI-DST) and the HDI Support Center Analyst (HDI SCA). See www.hdi.com.

What They Do

Much of a UX designer's time is spent making sure that they understand the needs of both the business and the end user of the product or service they're working on. UX designers may attend many brainstorming meetings with business stakeholders to get a better understanding of the business goals they are trying to achieve, while also conducting user research through interviews, surveys, focus groups, observations, etc.

Despite the need to have solid graphic design skills, much of a UX designer's time is spent performing research. Small recalls, “I was pretty much in a room all day with a person who is the business lead on my team; I was collaborating with her and her lead engineer on how we were going to display certain elements on a page based on different requirements…. Maybe you're really into drawing pictures, but that's not going to be the most important part of your job day to day. You're going to be doing lots of research, talking to a lot of people, and eventually, you're going to be making the pretty thing.”

Once the research has been conducted and analyzed, UX designers can begin to flesh out their design by creating user personas. Personas are fictional character representations of end users that are based on the research performed. The more detailed and specific you can be about your persona's personal characteristics, behaviors, desires, and needs, the more designers are able to empathize with them and create products that connect emotionally with the end user.

After feeling comfortable with capturing their user(s), UX designers can now begin creating a wireframe, or a visual blueprint, of the product to be designed. Although there are many digital and online tools for wireframing, like Balsamiq, you can physically draw them using simple pen and paper or a whiteboard. The wireframe should demonstrate how elements (e.g., buttons, text) will be arranged and the flow in which a user would take to complete a process, such as completing a registration process for a website. Once complete, a prototype, or an early sample version, of the end product is designed and constructed as quickly (and cheaply) as possible.

With the prototype complete, the UX designer will conduct usability testing. Here, the UX designer will have the end user use and evaluate the prototype. Any feedback or issues that the end user reports, regardless of whether it's good or bad, is recorded and used to make improvements. This process is completed several times until it is deemed by the team that all issues have been met and addressed.

Top Skills

Communication: In addition to being able to interact with several different stakeholders, UX designers must have the ability to convey their thoughts—even if others disagree with them. Per Small, “When it comes to being a real designer, part of your job sometimes is actually pushing back against people and proving that what you believe to be true because of the research that you've done.”

Graphic Design: Having working knowledge of Adobe's Creative Suite of products is helpful, particularly Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. But more importantly, knowing how to effectively convey information and stir emotion—using color, shapes, imagery, and typography—is key.

Wireframing: Knowing different wireframing tools available is great, but knowing the important elements that should appear in wireframes, along with when to use a low-fidelity versus a high-fidelity wireframe (i.e., basic versus detailed), is crucial.

Empathy: A popular phrase in the UX community is “You are not your user.” This phrase is to point out that UX designers should not build end products that they will use but rather for the actual end user. UX designers must always design from the perspective of the end user.

Teamwork: UX design is not a solo effort; designers tend to work in teams and deal with many internal/external stakeholders. UX designers must be willing and able to accept feedback.

Educational Requirements

Many UX designers hold a four-year degree in human computer interaction, design (graphic, industrial, communication, etc.), or a related field. However, this is not a strict requirement to get into the field. There are many UX designers, however, who are self-taught and have built great portfolios through freelance work and other projects.

For Additional Information

User Experience Professional Association (UXPA): UXPA is a professional organization dedicated to promoting UX best practices, concepts, and techniques. It publishes the free online publications User Experience Magazine and the Journal of Usability Studies and hosts on online job opportunity board. See uxpa.org.

The Design of Everyday Things: Don Norman's book is considered by many in the user design community to be a great book on meaningful human-centered design. See https://jnd.org/the-design-of-everyday-things-revised-and-expanded-edition,(MIT Press, 2013).

Usability.gov: Usability.gov is a free online portal with best practices and other resources on UX design. See www.usability.gov.

What They Do

Web developers collect information from their potential clients on the type of website they'd like to create. They'll want to know things such as the audience they are attempting to reach, what type of media (video, photos, etc.) they plan to host, or whether they have any preference on a content management system they'd like to use, like WordPress. They may also assist the client in securing one or several domain names.

Web developers then construct the website according to the client's specifications. This can be an iterative, or continuous, process as the developer will continue to modify the site once the client is happy with the final product. From there, web developers will make updates to the website on an as-needed basis.

Many businesses hire web developers as full-time staff, while others work on their own as freelancers. Those who freelance have usually had several years of experience and a large portfolio of work that they can speak to.

Top Skills

Front-end web development: At minimum, web developers should understand how to create web pages using Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Understanding JavaScript can help you to build additional functionality in your website.

Graphic design: Web developers are also expected to help with the overall look and design.

Attention to detail: Writing code for websites require precision, as languages have specific requirements in order to work properly.

Communication: Developers will need to interact with customers to understand their needs for their website.

Educational Requirements

There are no strict educational requirements to becoming a web developer. There are some employers who may prefer that potential candidates have an associate or undergraduate degree for more sophisticated web development.

For Additional Information

The World Organization of Webmasters: WOW is a professional organization for people who create or manage websites in some capacity. It offers advice on best practices, certification opportunities, and a job opportunity board. See webprofessionals.org.

W3 Schools.com: W3 is touted as the largest website for web developers. The site provides free tutorials on HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and more. See w3schools.com.

What Are Your Strengths and Your Weaknesses?

In your past schoolwork, projects, or work experience, what have you done really well? And what have you struggled with?

Understanding your strengths and weaknesses will be important for your career progression. You will want to leverage the things you do really well, while devoting some time (and possibly more) toward areas you'd like to improve in. You also don't want to possibly put yourself in a career field where you find yourself constantly struggling.

For example, when I decided to go to Northwestern, I picked its Communication Systems program because it had a healthy mix of communication courses that I enjoyed and excelled at, such as public speaking, persuasion, and argumentation. The program also had several technology courses that interested me, but I knew it would require more studying and effort from me, like in discrete mathematics, object-oriented programming, and systems analysis/design.

I also knew that since programming was something I struggled with, and it wasn’t something I was passionate about, becoming a software engineer would not have been ideal for me. But because I was really good in business and communication, a career in technical sales was much better for me.

If you're struggling with figuring out what your strengths and weaknesses are, there are few things you can do:

• Review past feedback: If you have access to any past feedback you've received for assignments, projects, cases, or anything similar, take the time to review it again. As you're reading, you may notice certain praises or criticisms come up repeatedly. Pay attention to recurring themes, as these will indicate areas you perform well in or may need to give attention to.
• Ask for feedback: If you don't have access to previous feedback or the feedback you have been given wasn't descriptive or helpful, ask for it. You can ask a previous or current teacher, employer, teammate, or anyone who has had more than one interaction with you.
• Take an aptitude test: If this still doesn't produce anything for you to go off of, you can try an aptitude test. Aptitude tests are designed to measure where your natural talents and abilities lie.

There are many free aptitude tests on the Internet, as well as those that charge a small fee to take. That said, I recommend taking aptitude tests that are administered through local educational or career service institutions. These kinds of aptitude tests, like the US Army's Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB,¹ have been heavily researched, thoroughly tested, and deemed as a valid and unbiased aptitude exam.

In addition, these exams usually require you to discuss your results with a counselor or professional. This is helpful to avoid misinterpreting your results.

Results from aptitude tests should not be interpreted as “I shouldn't pursue a career in this because my ________ skills tested low.” Rather, interpret them as “These are the things that I'm good at, and these are the things that don't come as easily to me. If I do decide to pursue a career in ________, I will have to work a little harder in these areas because I tested lower in them.”

What Do You Value?

Are you someone who really enjoys working on your own, or would you prefer to work in a team? Do you want to decide how to perform your work or have someone else determine that for you? Do you want to work from home or from an office? Are you interested in perhaps moving into more of a manager role with the potential for more money but more responsibility, or would you prefer to work as an individual contributor?

These questions and more help determine what your work values are. While no one job will satisfy all your work values, the closer the job satisfies these requirements, the more satisfied you are likelier to be.

The core work values, per O*NET, are as follows:

• Achievement: Learning new skills; doing challenging and engaging work
• Independence: Using your creativity to solve work problems; deciding how to get work done with little to no supervision
• Recognition: The ability to advance your career and obtain leadership positions
• Relationships: Being able to work with, and serve, others in a minimally competitive environment
• Support: Having nurturing managers or staff; being provided all the tools and resources necessary for you to be successful in your job
• Working Conditions: Working in a safe environment; being compensated well for your work; feeling good about the security of your job

A word about money: making a good income is incredibly important and a good motivator for pursuing a career in tech. Chapter 8, “Job Offers and Negotiating Compensation,” is specifically dedicated to ensure your able to secure a fair salary. Yet, it should not be your sole motivator and, perhaps, not even your top one.

If you end up working in a career that pays you extremely well but the work itself makes you miserable, you will quickly find yourself on a path to burnout.

Now I don't mean occasional periods of stress—stress is a normal part of everyday life—nor do I mean any other difficult situations that you have with family, friends, or other loved ones, or minor workplace annoyances. I mean, you are deeply unhappy because of your work alone. You find yourself crying often, snapping at people for no good reason, always exhausted, not taking care of your body or mental well-being, or just doing things that you know are not like you.

Don't do it for the money alone. It's just not worth it.

What Are Your Interests?

What are the things that you enjoy doing, whether you are at work or school? Do you enjoy building things with your hands? Do you enjoy drawing? Do you enjoy creating and posting things on social media? Do you enjoy tutoring others in different subjects? What about playing games, video or otherwise?

These questions and more can help you determine the tasks you are interested in doing. Just like finding a career field that closely aligns to your work values will increase the likelihood of success, finding jobs that match your interests will also be helpful. Take some time to think about the tasks you enjoy and write them down.