Ultimate Guide: How to break into tech without a degree

So, you want to break into the tech industry and take it by storm?

Whether you’re wanting a career change or you’re aspiring to be the next Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos, one thing is clear to you:

You don’t have any degrees in tech.
You don’t have any significant tech experience.
You don’t even know how to code.

So how in heck are you going to build the next Apple or Meta or Google, or let alone get an entry level tech position at a decent company?!

Here’s a secret —
In this new world of Web3.0 that we’re transitioning into, 🚫 no Tech Degree is necessary.

You already know how fast technology changes and advances — with new software, apps, devices and upgrades coming out every single day — so fast you can’t even keep up with it yourself.

The same is with the universities -— their degree programs simply can’t keep up with the ever evolving demands of tech.

Tech degrees are usually obsolete before the ink dries on them.

But here’s an even more interesting secret:

The people doing the cutting edge stuff in tech usually don’t have tech degrees either.

Don’t believe me? Then look at this.

These guys are true legends and OGs in the tech space.

And besides the billions of dollars they’ve made, here’s one shocking thing they all have in common.

All of these tech billionaires broke into tech and founded massive tech empires without a single college degree.

If they didn’t need a tech degree, neither do you.

You can watch the full commencement speech here.

As a matter of fact, you don’t even need to know how to code.

(more on this in second)

So how did the most influential giants in the tech space get to where they are without a tech degree?

And how can you do the same?

It’s simple:

Step 1: Disrupt Yourself (Before Others Do) by completely reinventing yourself
Step 2: Build a Crystal Clear Vision for yourself and where you want to go
Step 3: Start Building & Stacking the Skills You Need (for FREE or CHEAP)
Step 4: Start Telling a New & Better Brand Story About Yourself

Follow the detailed steps ahead and you’ll be stepping onto the bleeding edge of the tech industry in no time.

This is a simple tutorial on how to break into tech without a tech degree or knowing how to code:

Step 1. Disrupt Yourself (Before Others Do)

This idea of Disrupting Yourself is a term you’ll hear from Trice “The Unicorn” Johnson, a keynote tech speaker, best selling author and executive innovation strategists.

The idea is simple, you need to reinvent yourself – you’re going to want to quickly move to the forefront of innovation. If not — you’ll be on the backend of innovation -— always a step behind, always a day late and a dollar short.

Let me show you what I mean:

Video Conferencing software like Zoom & Google Meet have been around since 2012 – yet most corporations and workers never thought about using the technology until the 2020 Pandemic occurred and the only way to meet and conduct meetings was through the software.

Suddenly everyone was running frantically trying to figure out how to use the dang software, what webcam is best for the job, or simply how to unmute themselves.

For the 91.5% of businesses and workers who hadn’t adopted any real use of remote communication, the Pandemic served as a technological trainwreck for corporations around the globe.

COVID-19 disrupted their entire operations and created catastrophic levels of frustration and anx.

If only the world would have disrupted itself earlier on rather than waiting to be disrupted.

The Global Director for the Microsoft Black Partner Growth Initiative, Raamel Mitchell drives the point home with this question:

“Can you afford to have others innovating on your behalf, where you have no voice in this innovation process?”

You’re the next force to be reckoned with in tech.

You absolutely CANNOT afford to have someone else “innovating” on your behalf and leaving you crumbs on the table.

Innovation happens in cycles and these waves can be easily visualized and understood through something called the “Technology Adoption Curve” — it shows exactly where you need to position yourself in order to ride any massive wave of innovation that’s happening.

See here, leading the curve are the Innovators who dump billions of dollars into new things, simply for the sake of pushing technology forward.

Many times they don’t know if they’ll even make that money back. We’re witnessing this first hand with Mark Zuckerberg and the billions he’s dumped into Meta.

This phase of innovation is going to require several billion dollars to burn, which you don’t have yet, so you’re going to want to find a much less riskier spot on the wave to get in on.

Preferably you want to land as an Early Adopter, which comes in right after the Innovators have shelled out billions of dollars and have worked out all the kinks.

Two signs of an Early Adopter are that they get early access for beta software and keep a tight eye on what the innovators are doing.

At worst, you’ll land at the Early Majority phase, although you’d miss out on a lot of massive opportunities at this point.

Most importantly, you want to refrain from being in the Late Majority or Laggard phases. These groups miss the entire wave and get left with the crumbs and leftovers -— if anything.

In order to truly disrupt yourself and get on the front-end of the upcoming innovation wave, you’re going to have to get rid of two great myths in your head.

Disruption #1: realize you Do NOT need a degree

Raise your right hand ✋🏾 and repeat after me:

“I do not need a tech degree to break into tech”

Just like our OG tech stars knew, you need to know you don’t need a tech degree to break into tech.

In fact, today’s mammoth sized Tech Companies like Hewlett-Packard, Apple, Microsoft, Dell, Virgin, Amazon and Google — the companies you aspire to be like or work for, found their humble beginnings in garages -— Not Harvard, Not Yale or MIT.

So technically, you’d probably need a garage more than you’d need a degree.

Peter Thiel, a tech billionaire venture capitalist — is paying college students $100K to leave school and start a tech business.

That’s insane! But why?

Because you don’t need a tech degree to break into tech.

Google even stresses that you don’t need a tech degree to break into tech and they are putting their money where their mouth is.

Google is skipping college altogether and offering Career Certificates so you can get real positions with Real Companies paying Real Cash money — they’re even shelling out a ton of money to offer scholarships to companies wanting to upskill their employees with Google Certificates.

Google is very clear about the requirements — No Experience is necessary, you can learn at your own pace and you can form a direct path through them to in-demand jobs.

And companies like Google, Salesforce, Walmart, Verizon Wireless, Nasdaq, Snapchat, Target to name a few.. and many more huge companies like them are ready to hire you TODAY -— with no tech degree.

There’s over 200 companies ready to hire you without a degree and without coding experience.

So all of this should be music to your ears, because now you can almost literally smell those big Tech paychecks rolling in.

But there’s something else you’ll have to get over before the dough comes rolling in.

Disruption #2: realize you DO NOT need to know how to code

You know Steve Jobs, the legendary co-founder of Apple, known for revolutionizing the computer world by making personal computing mainstream and bringing us the iPod and the iPhone and Pixar (to name a few)?

What most don’t know is that Steve Jobs didn’t know how to code — innovating and marketing were Steve Jobs’ biggest gifts — not coding.

Coding was the job of Steve Wozniak — Apple’s other co-founder.

Even back then in 1977, you didn’t need to know how to code to bring value to the tech world.

The same goes for today.

And now there’s an army of coders ready to code whatever is needed.

So instead of coding, you’re going to want to look at areas in tech where there is a mass shortage, such as:

Data Analysts
Digital Marketers
E-commerce Experts
IT Supporters
Project Managers
UX & UI Designers

This way there’s much less competition and the value you will bring will be at higher demand.

Google estimates that there are 1.5 million jobs available today — which is good for you because that’s a lot of jobs.

But look at this:

The World Economic Forum or the (WEF) states that 85 million jobs will be displaced by machines by 2025. At the same time 97 million new roles will be created in this new Web3 environment.

Putting any ideas you have about WEF’s politics aside for a second — these are some staggering projections.

If that’s not enough, groups like the Reskilling Revolution Initiative exist mainly to provide one billion people with better tech education, tech skills and jobs by 2030.

That’s 1 Billion people with a “B”.

Now let’s add this up:

1.5 Million Jobs right now
97 Million by 2025 +
another 901.5 million jobs years later

Equals 1 billion positions by 2030

The remaining jobs (aka the crumbs) will be handed out by 2040.

Notice this rollout of tech positions matches the Technology Adoption Curve nearly exactly.

And we’re currently here, right at the sweet spot of this on-coming wave.

So before you move forward, once again, raise your right hand ✋🏾 repeat after me:

“I do not need to know code to break into tech”

Good.

With this in mind, you’re gonna want to get the train rolling asap while the timing is perfect.

This means it is time to figure out exactly what areas of the tech space you’re going to break into.

Step 2. Build a Crystal Clear Vision

Look – one of the keys to success in tech at any level is, you’ve got to have vision. You’ve got to see it clearly!

You might ask, “but Jesse, Why?

Because building a clear vision disciplines your path onward, it creates a guide for FOCUS.

And you’re going to need it badly.

If everything goes the way you plan, offers are going to be flooding at your door once the word gets out that you’re breaking into the Tech space.

So you’re going to need a system, a compass of sorts to inform you of your next moves.

How else are you going to know what offers to say “no” to, and what to accept?

Trice The Unicorn Johnson says it like this —

“Vision imposes discipline on your actions so that you can get to the end state or destination you’ve envisioned for yourself.”

You’re going to want to do this quick exercise to Help You Build Your Vision”

Think deeply about where humanity is going and what role do you want to play in it
Spot possible opportunities — Look around and study the needs of others
Listen to what others are talking about constantly related to tech. You’ll find them in:
1. Discord Groups
2. Facebook Groups
3. and even local Meetups
What are the future barriers to overcome now?

Write all this stuff down, either on paper, a Google Doc or somewhere safe -— this way you’ll quickly get familiar with the terrain.

Now that you have some insight on the world and some possible problems that need to be solved, you’re going to want to know what positions are available for you.

The positions we talked about earlier 👆🏾 are great starting points.

If you need more options, I have an extensive list of no-code, no tech degree Tech Positions you can use to get inspiration.

Think about which of these are in alignment with your history and your interest.

This tells you exactly what direction in the tech space you want to go in -— aka your vision.

Step 3. Start Building & Stacking the Skills You Need (for FREE or CHEAP)

This step is what most people think about first when it comes to breaking into tech. They also get overwhelmed with not knowing what skills to actually start with, the costs or simply where to go to learn the skills.

This is why the first 2 steps are important so that you have a clear head and a clear vision on where you want to go.

In the tech world this stage is called skill stacking — skill stacking is what makes your OG Tech legends so remarkable — it’s what sets them apart from everyone else.

Here’s how it works:

By learning a range of skills, you can stack together in combinations that work well together and are most effective. This will make you more valuable to employers and give you a competitive edge.

This means you want to become a serial skill stacker.

“The more skills you have — the more mastery across different and diverse sets of capabilities – the more value you bring to the world” — Trice Johnson

Now let’s be real — this is going to require some time and dedication.

So while everyone else is binge watching on TikTok, Netflix, Amazon Prime you’re going to be Investing in You.

Of the 4 Steps in this process, I’d say THIS is the most impactful — so don’t sell yourself short here.

You’re investing in yourself so you can be the next big thing in tech, or at least get a good paying job.

There’s plenty of free and paid sources to learn from if you’re tight on a budget or just want to get your feet wet.

On YouTube alone, you’ll find hours and hours of free classes and tutorials to binge watch that will put you light years ahead of the rest and closer to getting the big tech bucks.

Amazon’s AWS Skill Builder and Trailhead are also amazing FREE spaces to start.

And Google Search is going to be your best friend when it comes to free education.

Just use Google search terms like “guides” “pdf” or “bok” (which stands for “body of knowledge”) alongside the area of study you want to explore. Wallah! 🔮

Google is like a FREE tech school genie and leprechaun all rolled into one.

There’s even a FREE course created by Google to teach you little known secrets to search better on Google.

And for paid resources, Google Career Certifications and AWS Certifications are great places to start.

I’ll link you to this and even more FREE Training Resources and completely affordable Certification Programs at the end of this tutorial.

Step 4. Start Telling a New & Better Brand Story About Yourself

This is where you look at your past experiences — but through a Tech lens and really sell your true value.

Let’s take me for an example,

“I once was a graphic designer for a mega church.”

As boring as that may sound, I can tell a better story though a Tech lens:

“I leveraged photo manipulation & typography software on blazing fast computing systems to foster ongoing communication for a congregation of over 48,000 members.”

Which story stands out?

Here’s an even better example:

Imagine you had a job not too long ago as a “Cashier” at Walmart.

On the surface, it looks pretty whack having a cashier job at Walmart on your resume.

It’ll probably be best not to even include it on your resume, right?

Wrong!

With your new Brand Storytelling skills, you can completely flip this into an advantage for you.

You can tell a more valuable story — your new tech brand story.

Jesse, how the heck am I going to transform a mundane job at Walmart to a powerful brand story?

Like this:

Google Walmart business statistics – using the search terms “walmart statista” to get Walmart Stats & Facts on statista.com

These stats are Walmart’s, but you will leverage them for YOUR brand story — not just Walmart’s.

With these stats your brand story transforms from:

“Cashier and Front End Associate”

To:

You gaining invaluable experience with the leading fast-moving consumer goods retailer in the world — as a company you all generated more than half a trillion dollars in worldwide revenue

And on to the next stat:

You were able to leverage this experience to build greater customer service skills where you learned tough but valuable lessons on how to be empathetic to unsatisfied customers and how to anticipate customers’ needs.
You also played a vital role in directing and assisting customers with in-store pickup orders from the Walmart Site and Mobile app — our skills combined facilitating $38.7 billion in e-commerce sales in the U.S.A.

And with a bit more research, you can also discover what cutting edge tech developments at Walmart to leverage..

Armed with a quick Google Search you get to add on how:

“workers now are using augmented reality on their devices to read the labels of boxes tucked away in back rooms to help figure out what they need to reorder.”

Trice “The Unicorn” calls this “Leveraging EVERY opportunity”.

This is how you leverage your total experience as a Walmart Cashier to tell a much more rich brand story.

But don’t stretch too far where you’re lying or being unbelievable.

You want to get creative and find legit ways to attach yourself to Walmart’s major growth points.

Once again, the internet offers FREE Sources to improve your brand storytelling:

Do a YouTube search of “business storytelling”
or Google “business storytelling template, pdf”
or even Google “Design thinking, pdf”

I know what you’re thinking:

“With all this, there is really no excuse why I can’t decide what I want to do and get the skills and certifications to land my next big tech opportunity.”

But there’s one more thing…

BONUS: Build Your Power Circle of Accountability

In the productivity and self help spaces you’ll always hear about building yourself a circle of accountability and accountability partners, and so on — where yourself and many others with similar goals try to keep each other accountable.

These circles are rarely as effective as you’d think.

Why?

Because it takes more than peer-to-peer accountability to keep you going on the right track..

Those circles are like the blind leading the blind — in the dark.

Can you imagine a group of alcohol anonymous members meeting weekly in a bar — that is what those circles are like.

I’ve even been in smaller accountability circles with close friends, and the stuff still doesn’t work.

And it’s usually not your peers or yourself that’s the issue.

It’s the concept that’s flawed.

The concept works in theory, but rarely in reality — If you’re going to make a break for yourself in this tech space, you’re going to need something much more reliable.

You’re going to need to build Your POWER Circle of Accountability.

I hear you asking, Jesse. Young. El. — what’s the difference?

Building a Power Circle of Accountability means building a system of advisors — not peers — to help keep you accountable to yourself and your goals of breaking into tech.

The ancients called this “Seeking wise counsel”, to ensure you hit your goals and dodge pitfalls along the way.

Back to the AA example, this is why sponsors are the real secret sauce to helping millions overcome alcohol abuse.

You building a power circle of responsibility is like an AA member who surrounds themselves with 10 sponsors rather than 30 peers.

In other words, it becomes 10x harder for you to fail.

A circle of peers can only help you a few yards ahead — but let’s face it, neither of you have ever successfully been where you’re trying to go.

So you all are likely to fall in pits and run into roadblocks with no idea of how to overcome the obstacles.

But your power circle of great wise advisors can warn you about roadblocks and pitfalls miles ahead so you can avoid them altogether.

Your power circle helps you see opportunities rather than obstacles.

Your power circle helps you see victories instead of challenges.

Now it’s your turn

Breaking into tech is not about needing a college degree. It’s about learning in a modern framework to keep up with today’s lightning paced tech space.

It’s about learning differently & learning with a new purpose —

It’s about:

disrupting yourself and ditching the tech degree mindset
building a crystal vision of where you want to go in tech
building & stacking the skills needed to compete in the tech space
telling better brand stories about yourself and
focusing on building your power circle of tech advisors — not peers

Get this right and you’re ready to make your big break in the tech space!

I HAVE to give a massive shout out to my friend and Web3 Advisor Trice “The Unicorn” Johnson.

She’s an intricate part of MY Power Circle of Accountability and has been a huge inspiration for this tutorial.

Honestly I wouldn’t view tech as a real space for opportunity if it wasn’t for the years of advice and insight I’ve received from her.

She has an amazing book “Becoming a Digital Unicorn” — if you want to get down to the nuts and bolts of breaking into tech and standing out from the on-coming large influx of competition, “Becoming a Digital Unicorn” is a must.

This post is not sponsored by Trice in any way, I just find her and her book extremely valuable for me and I know it will be for you.

I personally love making content on stuff like how to get into tech without a degree.

Honestly college is a roadblock for so many people — even for those with a degree — and it doesn’t have to be.

This is literally the stuff they won’t teach you in school and there’s sooo much opportunity coming in this upcoming web3 economy that I don’t want you to miss out on.

So if you enjoyed this tutorial, I make guides just like this one on strategies, tech & tools for transforming ideas & dreams into income streams.

So if you found any of this valuable, subscribe to Sunday Swipes — my weekly newsletter – and you can follow me on twitter.

Also here are the links so you can access all the resources I promised in this guide:

And that is going to wrap it up.

Thanks for making it to the end of this tutorial.

Never stop innovating and I will see you guys in the next one.

Peace and Love