Do you think you need to learn to code to transition to a lucrative and rewarding career in tech!? Think Again!!! No technical background, no problem. Tech companies look for people with a wide range of skills and experience.
Here are the top 10 roles in tech that are not technical:
- Project Coordinator / Manager
- Customer Success Rep / Manager
- Business Analyst
- Product Manager
- Digital Marketing Coordinator / Manager
- Technical Recruiter / Talent Sourcer
- Technology / Software Sales Rep
- Social Media Coordinator / Manager
- Data Analyst
- Business / Sales Development Rep (BDR / SDR)
Project Coordinator / Manager
Overview
The Project Manager role focuses on completing a project on time and within budget. A Project Manager will manage shorter term projects lasting from a few months up to about a year. A Program Manager is a type of project manager that oversees many projects under a single program. The program would last years instead of months.
Day to day
The Project Manager’s daily responsibilities would include leading project planning sessions, setting up tracking systems using software like Smartsheet, coordinating staff and internal resources, managing project progress against deadlines and adapting work as required, overseeing project documentation, managing a risk mitigation plan and creating detailed reports for executive staff.
Matching skills
Project Managers need excellent communication and organizational skills. Further, interpersonal skills are needed to build relationships with diverse stakeholders and run planning and update sessions. Adaptability as project priorities and deliverables may change. Lastly, a sense of urgency and punctuality to adhere to project timelines as overruns become expensive.
Popular Software
| MS Excel | MS Project | Smartsheet | Jira | Asana | Trello |
Resume Keywords
| status tracking | bug tracking | task tracking | transparency |
| agile development | waterfall development | on-time | on-budget |
| identify blockers | escalate issues | manage expectations | manage stakeholders |
| cross-functional planning meetings | cross-functional teams | stakeholder communications | senior leaders |
Customer Success Rep / Manager
Overview
Customer Success Managers bridge the gap between sales and customer support. They’re relationship managers that expand customer accounts, increase customer retention, solve customer issues, and drive customer satisfaction. They are focused on customer loyalty and building close long-term client relationships.
Day to day
A Customer Success Manager’s daily responsibilities would include responding to emails and support tickets, new customer on-boarding calls, reaching out to current customers, creating support content, handling customer support communications, team huddle and interdepartmental check-in meetings.
Matching skills
Customer Success Managers need impeccable customer service skills and a high level of empathy. Further, CSMs need to be able to prioritize, multi-task and stay organized to address customer issues in a timely and efficient manner. Strong communication and interpersonal skills are also essential to building and maintaining client relationships.
Popular Software
| CRM (Salesforce/Pipedrive) | Hubspot Service Hub | SmartKarrot | Catalyst | Intercom | Zendesk |
Resume Keywords
| customer needs | success criteria | goal mapping | managing expectations |
| client relationship management | orientation | onboarding | training |
| troubleshooting | training materials | help content | support resources |
| drive adoption | support through renewal | identify churn risk | account health |
| forecast renewals | provide feedback to product team on roadmap priorities | retention | growth |
Business Analyst
Overview
A Business Analyst gathers information, documents processes, and confirms the final documents with users. BAs help guide businesses in improving processes, products, services and software through data analysis. These agile workers straddle the line between IT and the business to help bridge the gap and improve efficiency.
Day to day
A Business Analyst’s daily activities would include evaluating business processes, anticipating requirements, uncovering areas for improvement, and developing and implementing solutions. The BA also leads ongoing reviews of business processes and develops optimization strategies. This role also has a large reporting and project management component.
Matching skills
Business Analysts need exceptional analytical, critical thinking and reporting skills. Strong organizational and time management skills are also essential. Finally, excellent documentation skills and the ability to influence stakeholders and work closely with them to determine acceptable solutions round out a strong Business Analyst.
Popular Software
| MS Excel | ERP (Oracle/SAP) | MS Visio / Lucid Chart | Jira | CRM | Trello |
Resume Keywords
| requirements gathering | reporting | dashboard | data analysis |
| liaison | business process | documentation | flow chart |
| stakeholders | user acceptance testing (uat) | deliverable | project plan |
| change request | enhancement request | prioritization | onboarding |
Product Manager
Overview
The Product Manager is responsible for the product planning and execution throughout the Product Lifecycle, including: gathering and prioritizing product and customer requirements, defining the product vision, and working closely with engineering, sales, marketing and support to ensure revenue and customer satisfaction goals are met. The Product Manager also ensures that the product supports the company’s overall strategy and goals.
Day to day
The Product Manager’s day to day activities include connecting and communicating with support, sales, development and marketing teams to ensure the teams are progressing with towards established goals. The PM also spends time learning and analyzing product usage and adoption data using various predetermined metrics. Lastly, the PM is responsible for managing product documentation.
Matching skills
Product managers need excellent interpersonal and leadership skills to effectively interact with cross-functional teams. Working in cross-functional teams also requires good verbal and written communication skills. Finally, strong attention to detail and problem-solving skills are essential.
Popular Software
| MS Excel | Figma | Airtable | Jira | Asana / Trello | Pendo |
Resume Keywords
| usability studies | market analysis | competitive position | personas |
| product vision | roadmap | product lifecycle | value proposition |
| requirements | specifications | user interfaces | wire frames |
| mock-ups | release plans | go-to-market | user stories |
| prototypes | test plans | release checklists | shared vision |
| ship on time | ship on budget | milestones | metrics |
Digital Marketing Coordinator / Manager
Overview
Digital marketing managers are in charge of planning and managing marketing campaigns that promote a company’s brand, products, and services. Their duties include planning campaigns, analyzing metrics, and identifying trends.
Day to day
Digital marketers develop the company’s digital marketing strategy, create and run marketing campaigns, plan and manage social media platforms and report on marketing campaign’s overall performance. Marketers also evaluate and report on campaigns and assess campaign performance against goals (ROI and KPIs). Further, marketers continuously work to identify the latest marketing trends and technologies and brainstorm new and creative growth strategies.
Matching skills
Marketers are highly creative with excellent analytical abilities. Strong communication and interpersonal skills are essential as this role interacts heavily with both internal and external stakeholders. Lastly, marketers need to be driven and always customer focused.
Popular Software
| Asana | Jira | Invision | MailChimp | Google Analytics | Uservoice | HubSpot |
Resume Keywords
| market research | segmentation | targeting | surveys |
| interviews | competitive analysis | customer needs | pain points |
| customer feedback | roadmap | voice of the customer | marketing strategy |
| branding | messaging | go-to-market (GTM) plan | value proposition |
| channels | campaign | content marketing | collateral |
| social media | case studies | seo | marketing plan |
Technical Recruiter / Talent Sourcer
Overview
Technical recruiters hire people to fill information technology positions in a range of industries. They are tasked with recruiting, screening, interviewing and placing potential workers. In addition, they handle human resources duties, such as employee relations, benefits, compensation and training.
Day to day
A Technical Recruiter meets with members of management and identifies job openings. From there, they seek out well-qualified applicants and encourage them to apply for available positions. A Technical Recruiter will also participate in the interview process and assess potential hires technical knowledge. Once hired they will assist in ensuring the proper completion of paperwork and required documentation.
Matching skills
Technical recruiters should be detail-oriented and have strong interpersonal, listening and speaking skills. They also need to be good decision makers, particularly because they are constantly reviewing candidates’ qualifications or working to resolve disputes. A strong social aptitude and ability to build relationships is also paramount.
Popular Software
| MS Office | Workday | Taleo | LinkedIn Recruiter | Bullhorn | CRM | Zoho Recruit |
Resume Keywords
| talent pipeline | sourcing channels | networking | talent search |
| hiring process | negotiation | candidate assessment | hiring committee |
| interview training | training | learning solutions | people development |
| performance management | hr strategy | employee relations | change management |
| conflict management | thought leadership | screening | applicant tracking system (ats) |
Technology / Software Sales Rep
Overview
Technology or software sales representatives are front-line team members who facilitate software sales and provide technical support for customers. Job duties include answering questions for clients before and after purchase and providing a demonstration of the software to ensure it fits each client’s needs. The majority of the time is spent on the phone with customers to land a sale and maintain client satisfaction.
Day to day
Sales representatives meet with prospective clients to analyze the customers’ needs and recommend and demo appropriate products. The sales rep will help answer customer questions while explaining complex technical information in a way that is easily understandable, write up a proposal and quote, negotiate pricing and close the deal.
The sales rep prospects new customers, builds relationships with current customers to encourage customer loyalty and aims to meet personal and team sale quotas and commission goals.
Matching skills
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both verbal and written are essential. Sales reps should possess top notch selling skills and be able to close deals. The sales rep must have strong presentation skills and maintain a professional appearance and demeanor.
Popular Software
| MS Office | CRM (Salesforce) | HubSpot Sales Hub | Pipedrive | Gong | Calendly |
Resume Keywords
| CRM | salesforce | account strategy | sales plan |
| territory planning | uncover opportunities | lead generation | lead pipeline |
| prospecting | cold call | inbound leads | product demos |
| unmet customer needs | sales goals | quota | revenue targets |
| customer relationships | onboarding | storytelling | market research |
Social Media Coordinator / Manager
Overview
Social media managers are in charge of representing a company across social channels as the sole voice of the brand. They respond to comments, compile campaigns and create content. These experts provide organizations with the guidance needed to enhance their online presence.
Day to day
Social media managers develop creative and engaging social media strategies, manage social media channels and oversee, plan and deliver content across different platforms. Social Media Managers also develop, launch and manage new campaigns to promote the company and brand. This role is also tasked with managing and facilitating social media communities, monitoring, analyzing and reporting on performance on social media platforms, researching and evaluating the latest trends and techniques to find new and better ways of measuring social media activity, analyzing competitors and managing a budget for social media activities.
Matching skills
Social media managers need to be creative and possess strong communication and interpersonal skills. Collaboration and networking skills are also essential. Strong leadership and organization skills and attention to detail is paramount.
Popular Software
| Hootsuite | Sprout Social | Loomly | Google Analytics | Zoho Social | Agorapulse |
Resume Keywords
| social media platform | social media channel | analytics / metrics | influencer |
| engaging content | campaign | community | connection |
| algorithm | search engine optimization (seo) | brand | following |
Data Analyst
Overview
A data analyst collects and stores data on sales numbers, market research, logistics, linguistics, or other behaviors. They bring technical expertise to ensure the quality and accuracy of that data, then process, design, and present it in ways to help people, businesses, and organizations make better decisions.
Day to day
Based on business needs, the Data Analyst collects, cleanses and analyzes large data sets to identify patterns and trends. The Data Analyst then compiles the data insights in reports, dashboards and other visualizations to be accessible by a less technical audience, including senior management. Finally, the analyst looks for ways to optimize data collection and reporting and establishes new data collection and analysis processes.
Matching skills
Data analysts need strong analytical, critical thinking and data analysis skills. Further, the person in this role needs to have a high level of intellectual curiosity and proactive problem solving. Lastly, the data analyst needs to be a good communicator and visual storyteller to keep the audience engaged.
Popular Software
| MS Excel | MS PowerPoint | Tableau | Power BI | Languages: R / Python / SQL | CRM |
Resume Keywords
| data analysis | large data sets | data cleansing | master data |
| insights | analytics | sql | business intelligence |
| data warehouse | data mining | data modeling | data visualization |
| machine learning | artificial intelligence | data exploration | statistics |
Business / Sales Development Rep (BDR / SDR)
Overview
The Business Development Manager (BDM) is often the first point of contact a new potential client will have with a business when they are seeking information on the products and services the company provides. The BDM also responds to RFP’s, tenders, and develops sales in new sales territories.
Day to day
Business development managers set goals and develop plans for business and revenue growth. They research, plan, and implement new target market initiatives, pursue leads and move them through the sales cycle. BDMs create and send quotes and proposals to prospective clients. Finally, BDMs develop goals for the development team and business growth and ensure they are met.
Matching skills
BDMs need to have strong communication and organization skills and be able to multi-task. Being proactive and having strong interpersonal skills are a must for this role. BDMs must be driven and be able to work under minimal supervision.
Popular Software
| MS Office | CRM (Salesforce) | Zendesk Sell | Zoominfo | Calendly |
Resume Keywords
| strategic analysis | evaluate opportunities | competitive landscape | relationship-building |
| source | cultivate and qualify opportunities | qualify opportunities | develop pipeline |
| maintain relationships | provide thought leadership | write partnership specifications | structure partnerships |
| build frameworks | strategic partnerships | joint ventures | acquisitions |
| draft term sheets | close deals | deal acceleration | deal structures |
| remove roadblocks | secure buy-in | negotiation | market search |
There you have it! The top 10 roles in tech that are not technical. Just remember, this list is not exhaustive as new roles get created all the time and some companies have their own names for roles that perform the same functions as those in this list. But, this should get you started thinking about and identifying your target transition to tech role.
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