Hot off the heels of our recent report on hiring trends where we learnt that the tech sector is accelerating it's upwards trajectory, I interview Jeremy Schifeling who is based in Mountain View, California to talk about how to 'Get into Tech'.
Jeremy is a perfect example of how to make a big shift in sectors and also role. He studied education at undergraduate level and started his career teaching kindergarten children in Brooklyn, New York. He then made the change from education to marketing via companies such as Apple, Linkedin and a series B funded ed-tech start-up.
He used his MBA to press the reset button on his career, positioning himself in a new industry. He admits he had a strong focus from the get-go, knowing where he wanted to be in the end and having a singular focus on technology.
So what advice does Jeremy have for MBAs wanting to make this shift? - it bolis down to doing your homework so you can understand the different paths to your ideal role. Then to gain his internship at Apple, he connected what he had done in the past to the kind of role he was targeting in the future. He had a clear narrative about the skills and experiences that he could demonstrate.
When Jeremy had made the big shift to technology he then drilled down to the micro level to understand what kind of organisation best fitted him. He talked to people working in different environments to understand where he could do his best work. Jeremy realised that he enjoyed working with small groups of teams to be more effective and wanted to go back to the not for profit sector where he could work with others who were driven by the same purpose, leading him to the Khan Academy.
He advises that to really stand out and compete in the labour market you need the extra edge. He describes this as:
- Doing your homework - to find the right path and know where you fit in
- Tailoring your Linkedin/CV - so it's right for the path you want to follow and will help you get in the door
- Imaging you have the job already - so approaching opportunities to explain how you will execute, which also gives you confidence.
This is exactly what Jeremy did when he landed his current role at Khan Academy. He proactively discussed what he would do to increase usage by teachers.
So the key take aways is connect what you do now to the right job in technology, there are many more roles that just coders! and focus on providing solutions to the problems of your target companies.
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