To wonder if working in tech is possible…

[PossibleOrIm]

For someone who has no clue about tech?

Is it something that can be taught or do you need to have a natural ability for it?

Everything is possible if you put your mind in it. But will you enjoy it? Tech is a large area. You could be working on costume design for video games and that is still tech.

You need to be more specific. “Tech” covers hundreds of different specialisms and occupations.

What are you good at/motivated to do?

Working 'in tech' could be any job for a technology focused company (which is the majority nowadays really).

So yes, definitely possible.

“Digital” covers a whole range of professions (I recruit in this area) from programmers and testers, to analysts and researchers … depends what you are interested in

Definitely not gaming related… I’m not very creative when it comes to thing like that!

In all honesty, I don’t know. I don’t have a ‘career’ and have recently started thinking that I want something that will make me financially secure.
I always hear that tech work is well paid so wondered if I could possibly learn.

I probably wouldn’t be any good though. I guess I couldn’t compete with the younger generation who have grown up with computers.

Edited for typo

Well tech is a gigantic term. You have office managers, finance people, marketers, sales people etc who are all non technical but work in tech. Tech companies employ a range of people but it's an industry making a lot of cuts at the moment so it's not as easy as it used to be.

"Tech" is a very broad term. You might have heard it's well paid but there are plenty of people on minimum wage too. Like most industries really, there are a few people earning a lot, a fair number earning a decent amount and a large number earning very little.

You should consider what you understand "tech" to mean because whilst you can learn you will be better off having an end goal in mind. You can't learn everything, nobody can, so you need to focus one a specific area.

The people who get paid well are usually the people who got lucky - the right opportunity for their abilities came along at the right time and they were able to take it.

You absolutely can.

If you are thinking about programming then try an online free course and see if you actually like it.

Other tech roles could include project management, product owner, tester, Ux designer (though need specific skills for that), website design. There's Front end development, back end development and "full stack" (essentially both).

You can very successfully complete an 8week development bootcamp and get a job as a junior developer. Junior developers aren't paid especially well, but if you are good at it and progress then you can be very well paid.

Lots of tech jobs require excellent problem solving skills for you to be good at it.

Also depends on what you consider "well paid".

You can definitely retrain by learning to code, do software development, data, etc, but if you're not keen on that there are also lots of jobs in tech companies that are not technical. Something in operations? These are mostly jobs for very organised people. Or something like product management (which is sort of managing the development of software) needs organisational skills but not technical skills, usually.

Do some more research, but yes this is definitely doable. Even if there are not as many jobs around at the moment (as a pp said) it's still going to keep growing in general, and the salaries are better than in other areas I think.

What sort if tech job are you looking for ?

What sort of hours are you looking for ?

Have you looked at tech job vacancies

I have seen a lot of adverts for cyber security boot camps

I have done a variety of tech jobs

What do you want to know ?

You have to defund what you want to do in “tech”
you can work for a “tech” company in almost any role
do you mean programming?
Most professional roles (even in not tech industries) these days require a certain degree of tech skills
if you want a professional role in a big tech company you do need some previous training
you could join a big tech company on an admin role and train there - explain form the start that you’re interested in a career but have no previous qualifications but keen on learning- that could be a very big plus to get the initial role

If you've never worked in tech before, but have a mathematical/analytical brain (or a very logical thinker) you could try a coding course initially to see how you would enjoy being a software developer. If you enjoy the free courses online, enroll in a coding boot camp which is very intense but is a pathway to becoming a junior developer. It is competitive but age won't hold you back. This role can also be called software engineer but you don't need an engineering degree.

If you're more creative/artistic, you could become a website/user experience designer - also needs you to learn certain tools/application/software and get a certification in it.

If you're organised and task oriented you could go into technology project/product management. An entry level role would be a technology project admin or co-ordinator. And you'd work your way up learning project management techniques like either waterfall (outdated but some organisations use this) or Agile (much more useful). Once you get to project manager level or product manager, depending on experience and industry, the pay is good. Especially if you freelance and on a day rate. This still needs you to learn how technology infrastructure works together, basics of software development (free online courses) and how to manage people.

Solution architect is the other option - this is harder to get into as they tend to start off as developers and work their way up.

IT operations is normally the lowest paid option. This is help desk stuff and managing hardware (laptops, keyboards etc) and software request for a company. Much easier to get into, you'll learn about how tech depts are run, and you can move into the project space eventually.

Some jobs will be replaced with automation

Some tech jobs will be out sourced to cheaper countries (happened to one of my job roles)

Some tech jobs will change due to AI

Tech is constantly changing

Agree with previous posters - avoid any data entry/help desk jobs as they aren't very stable and will be automated shortly. The project/product, software developer, solution architect roles are probably the safest atm but the training is constantly evolving.

My suggestions are for 'tech' functional roles you do in any company. If you want to work for a tech company - there are more options. You could sell the software the company builds, become a partnership manager, work HR or marketing, team assistant etc.

All functional tech roles can be done in a tech company btw.

Depends what you want to do. Most experienced professionals can be a project manager in tech if they are willing to put the hours in. It’s often a good idea to start this in your own industry. But once you get into PM it’s difficult to then move into a proper tech role as managers see your PM experience and try to shoehorn PM into tech roles. If you want to code it’s best to join a coding bootcamp proven to find you jobs and use that to springboard your career.

My work is higher education in Maths. I assume "Tech" (whatever you mean by that) is similar.
In my experience, "talent" or "having a mind for it" or even "intelligence" is hugely overrated as an indicator if you are going to do well in the field. What is much more important is confidence and the willingness to get deep into whatever "Tech" related problem you are facing in order to solve it (I think this is what is often called "nerdiness").
So, yes, everyone can do it! Don't shy away from problems. Be confident that you can solve whatever is thrown at you given enough time, patience and perseverance. And don't be afraid of being seen as a nerd.

I theoretically work in tech - a very specific field, but tech none the less.I'm a freelance copywriter for a number of organisations in this specific sector. I have no tech function whatsoever.

There's all sorts of jobs that fall under the banner of being in the tech market, it's not all coding and digital magic. In fact, the majority of it ISN'T.

In my experience having worked in various marketing functions, from copy to marketing director, for lots of these type of organisations, the average tech company has a vanishingly small amount (never enough!) of actual hands-on techy people, the rest of it is made up of managers, wafflers and nobody-really-know-what-you're-doing-ers. And people who's job it is to raise funding rounds, always loads of them!

I agree with previous poster

Ref Tech
Too many senior managers
Too many middle managers
Not enough Engineers, that actually know how to fix things !

You can also work in Tech & not be technical !

Example
You can work in a hospital & not be a doctor or nurse
Because there are a huge number of supporting job roles

The same applies in a technical environment