TechStart: Your launchpad to a tech career

What is IT Development?

It is a process to create computer software using one or more specific  programming  languages  
that  addresses  particular business or personal objectives. The development of software is usually 
a planned with a number of steps and stages that result in the creation of operational software. 
Hence a good definition is: “a process with a set of activities that create computer software 
products,  including  their  design,  development,  testing,  and deployment.” Software itself is a 
set of instructions or programs that tell a computer what to do. It is independent of hardware and
makes computers programmable. 

 Why is there an Demand? 

Although the technology market is booming,  70% of the tech industry is experiencing skills 
shortages - with the greatest deficits felt in Yorkshire (73%), London (62%), and the North (55%). 
Largely due to increasing investment in UK tech companies and Software Development is one of the 
most sought-after skills of the moment, so demand for developers is set to continue into 2022 and 
beyond. Our focus is to teach you one of Java and Python. These are the two most sought after languages.

 What are the requirements?
The Pathway

▪Junior Software Developer/Apprentice starting from 18k- Level 2 in a development language course.

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▪Software Developer/Sr. Software Developer-25k-50k- 2 years experience plus level 3 in a development language.

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▪Lead Developer/Technical Architect- 45k-70k- 5 years experience plus level 4 and 5 in a development language course.

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▪Development Team Lead, Software Development Manager- 60-90k- 7 years plus experience plus level 5-7 in a development language course, plus management level 4 to 5

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▪Director, Vice President, Chief Technology Officer- 100k plus- 10 years plus experience and Level 7 management course

What is Cloud Infrastructure?

 

Is defined as storing and accessing of data and computing services over the internet. It doesn’t store any data on your personal computer. It is the on-demand availability of computer services like servers, data storage, networking, databases, etc. The main purpose of cloud computing is to give access to data centres to many users. Users can also access data from a remote server. The biggest example of this is Netflix.
 

Why is there an Demand?

 

Cloud computing is a big shift from the traditional way businesses think about IT resources. There are many reasons why organisations are turning to cloud computing services, here are a few:

 

Cost-Cloud computing eliminates the capital expense of buying hardware and software.

 

Speed-Most cloud computing services are provided as self Performance-The biggest cloud computing services run on a worldwide network of secure data centres, which are regularly upgraded to the latest generation of fast and efficient computing hardware.

 

Reliability-Cloud computing makes data backup, disaster recovery and business continuity easier.

 

Security-Many cloud providers offer a broad set of policies, technologies and controls that strengthen your security posture overall, helping to protect your data, apps and infrastructure from potential threats.

 

What are the requirements for entering the sector?

 

Cloud and Infrastructure is one of the most popular ways to get into technology without having a degree. As if you have strong communications and the ability to constantly learning new skills and understand you way around a PC, then this is a great starting place.

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The Career Journey

 

1stLine Support/Helpdesk/Desktop/Engineer Salaries 18k-20kExperience Required: Level 3 Quals

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2nd Line Support/|desktop/field/Engineer Salaries 25k-40kExperience Required: 2-3 years in 1st Line

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3rd Line Administrator/Networking/Architect Salaries:40k-65k Experienced required: 5 years in support

What is Digital Marketing?

 

Digital marketing, also called online marketing, is the promotion of brands to connect with 
potential customers using the internet and other forms of digital communication. This includes not 
only email, social media, and web-based advertising, but also text and multimedia messages as a 
marketing channel. Essentially, if a marketing campaign involves digital communication, it's
digital marketing.

 

Why is there an Demand?

 

In today’s competitive world, it is more demanding for companies to invest in Digital Marketing services either through an inhouse team or an outsourced partner in promoting their products or services. Since Digital Marketing uses online technology as the main backbone, jobseekers have to be strong in both the Marketing domain and various tools and technologies that are used for different activities within Digital Marketing.

 

What are the requirements to enter the sector?

 

There are many options to choose from the Digital Marketing offerings like Social Media, Content  Marketing, PPC, SEO, Email Marketing based on their needs which demand consultants to be more dynamic, flexible, and have the relevant skills and experience in the technologies and digital marketing functions. Now that you have an idea of the technical skills, you should have some experience in, Social, Persuasion, Analytical and Multitasking skills.

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Types of Roles available.

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Individuals with a Level 3 qualification in Digital Marketing are well-positioned for a variety of junior roles within the digital marketing industry. Here are some examples:

 

Digital Marketing Assistant:

 Assisting with social media marketing campaigns

 Creating and scheduling content  Managing email marketing campaigns  Conducting market research and analysis

 

SEO Specialist:

Conducting keyword research  Optimising website content for search engines

Tracking and analyzing

SEO performance

 

PPC Specialist:

Managing pay-per-click advertising campaigns

Creating and optimising ad copy Tracking and analysing campaign performance

 

Social Media Marketing Specialist:

 Creating and managing social media content

Engaging with followers and building online communities

Running social media advertising campaigns

 

Email Marketing Specialist: 

Creating and sending email marketing campaigns

Segmenting email lists

Tracking and analysing email performance

 

Content Marketing Specialist: Creating high-quality content, such as blog posts, articles, and infographics  Optimizing content for SEO  Promoting content through social media and other channels

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What is DevOps?

 

DevOps is a big word that can be hard to understand. What does it mean?

DevOps Engineers use their skills to deliver software quickly, continuously, and reliably. The goal of DevOps is to shorten the software delivery and feedback cycles. They’re the ones who make sure the system keeps running smoothly, day after day.

DevOps professionals also keep things up to date with the latest changes and security updates. They automate testing, scanning, and deploying. If there’d been DevOps on the Death Star, the rebels never would have blown it up.

Why DevOps is a good career?

Working in DevOps isn’t a bad way to spend your time these days. As a field, DevOps is experiencing job growth. Furthermore, the jobs in DevOps pay more than the average tech or computer science job. There’s some level of upward and horizontal mobility too.

Let’s dive a little deeper into each of the three reasons DevOps is a good career.

 

Massive DevOps job growth

 

To say that jobs in the DevOps field are growing would be an understatement.

While DevOps jobs are only part of that growth, it’s still substantial. Let’s assume, for example, that DevOps jobs growth is only 5%. With 1.8 million jobs in the field now, that 5% growth means 90,000 new DevOps jobs. And given the popularity of DevOps with employers, 5% is certainly a lowball estimate.

 

High salary for DevOps jobs

 

DevOps jobs pay very well, like many jobs in IT. If you’re into being paid comfortably and you have the right qualifications, you’re already looking at salaries for DevOps jobs.

Average base salary for a DevOps Engineer starts at around 30k and can go up to as much as 200k per year. The range is wide, but still, the pay is quite nice for a 9-5 job.

Of course, there’s always some variability in the market depending on location, experience, and the company you end up working for.

 

Upward mobility

 

There’s some upward mobility for DevOps Engineers depending on the company. You might find a career path from junior engineer all the way up to DevOps architect. If you have the right stuff, you may even end up managing the department.

It’s also possible to transition to similar roles like site reliability engineer (SRE). Of course, the higher you go the fewer positions are available. (The corporate pyramid leaves less room near the top.)

DevOps offers plenty of horizontal mobility too since DevOps engineering skills usually translate between industries. Plus, it doesn’t make too much of a difference whether the company makes widgets or life insurance. The work in DevOps is the same.