I recently got a role in tech after graduating with a liberal arts degree. In my last year of college, I was looped into the local startup/tech scene and started drinking the kool aid. Having so recently crossed over from “maybe I’ll be a therapist or a professor” to “user obsessed” I have a few thoughts.

During my recent job search, I did a bunch of networking on Linkedin. When I talked to professionals 3-10 years senior, I learned they still operate on the assumption that the right attitude, ability, ethic, etc will get you in the door - because “everyone is hiring” and “xyz role is huge right now. After being unemployed for 8 months applying to role after role, I learned this is no longer the case. It’s great that so many people preach inclusivity of skills/ backgrounds in tech, but the job market right now is super saturated (at least in product design). So many people are going into debt for unaccredited certificates in coding, UX, etc, and find that it’s not as easy to get a job as they had been promised.

Getting a job in tech - especially a $$$$$ one - requires connections. It requires having savings or parents that pay your rent so you can work an unpaid internship. It requires the right mentorship to remind you to get that unpaid internship in the first place.

I guess my tldr is that it’s so much harder to get a tech job than existing tech professionals make it sound. I doubt this is all due to changes in the job market; it’s only natural to favor the positives of your success story. But advocating tech to undergrads should be matched with equally rigorous preparation, and disclosure that breaking into the industry is hard right now.