Growing up with a passion for technology means that you’ll be adept at using some of the most advanced software and gadgetry in the world. It’s a passion that might have taken you to tech conferences around the country – or else into communities that revel in the latest technological releases, discussing their uses and implications for an advancing digital age. If you’re such a person, with a passion that’s developed into a hobby, why leave it there?
This article encourages you to take the next step, using your passion for all things scientifically advanced to generate income through one of five fabulous career paths.
#1 Programmer
If you’ve got any sort of background in coding – whether in a hacking capacity or as someone who enjoys playing around with software or websites – you will likely have considered a career as a programmer. Coding skills are in short supply in the job market at present, with a huge number of companies across the world translating their real-world services into webpages, applications, and elements of built-in software that help their customers get the most they can out of the efficiencies of the digital revolution.
You can position yourself at the vanguard of these kinds of jobs by continuing to learn new things about coding. Take online courses and read material produced by other expert coders in order to realize your potential and learn those essential problem-solving skills that’ll have you valued as a tech whizz in the company of your choosing, as and when you come to apply for one of the thousands of jobs in coding and programming advertised online. You’ll also be able to work on a freelance basis, if you value plurality and freedom – at the expense, sometimes, of stability.
#2 IT Professional
Another more predictable but well-paid and highly valued job for those excited about, interested in, or talented at dealing with tech – IT professionals are needed in every medium-to-large company in the world. In this role, you’ll apply your wide-ranging computing tech knowledge to help your colleagues overcome some of the issues they encounter with software, hardware, internet networks, and external devices such as printers, scanners and fax machines. You’ll be the person on call should anything malfunction or break – meaning that you’re an integral part of the overall team.
IT professionals needn’t just work out of the office, though. If you’re a computer specialist with a good deal of knowledge in the realms of both hardware and software, then you’ll be able to perform the following jobs:
- Freelance computer specialist in your locality
- Computer store owner of an employee
- Advisor or tech specialist at tech companies and startups
- Salesperson for anything related to computing, software or technology
Indeed, the opportunities where applying your IT specialism to the world of work are broad and often well paid and highly valued. You might even choose the teaching route, should you wish to pass your knowledge on to the next generation
#3 Engineer
Plenty of tech-savvy individuals elect to pursue a career in engineering following illustrious academic careers in which they excel in both the sciences and mathematics. Engineering is a tough discipline to get into – often requiring a long higher education course in order to qualify for employment – but once there, you’ll find technology at its most cutting edge, exciting and practical.
If you do enjoy academia as a route to your chosen career, it’s well worth looking into the available engineering courses in your locality – whether they’re college courses, undergraduate degrees or master’s degrees. Study an online civil engineering masters degree in Canada is another option – it’ll save you cash while giving you the vital information and certification you’ll need to make a career in this exciting and diverse discipline.
So, whether you’re interested in applying your theoretical knowledge to the design of Formula 1 cars, hydroelectric dams, complex event lighting fixtures or computer hardware, you’ll find that training in engineering will get you closer to helping the world design and live at the very cutting edge. You will be ushering in the technology that’ll be most exciting and efficiency-saving as we head into the future.
#4 Musician
If you subscribe to a certain point of view, you might not see the worlds of music and tech enthusiasm fusing a great deal. Where music is a creative endeavor for the artistic-minded, tech can be seen as a logical, algorithmic, rational world in which creativity is rarely required.
This world-view is incredibly misplaced, failing to recognize the valuable, exciting and memorable contributions made to music, since the advent of the drum machine and computerized sounds, by technology as it’s become more a part of our everyday lives.
You might have to search deep inside you for some inspiration to make and produce music, but you should never forget that, just like coding, music adheres to the same rules as a language. It’s malleable, and sometimes it pays to break the rules. So download some music-making software, experiment with some sounds, and discover whether there isn’t a musician inside of you after all.
#5 E-Gamer
Meanwhile, here’s a career path that many deeply embedded in the tech world would dearly love to command. Professional video gamers can make money in a number of ways – but it’s always doing something that they love, they’re passionate about, and that they’ve devoted several hundred hours to perfecting their skills in.
Nowadays you don’t just have to enter national or international competitions, beating off the best of the rest to win cash prizes, to make money out of being a professional gamer. You might choose to set up a YouTube channel with tutorials, walkthroughs, highlights or other gaming tips passed on to loyal fans. Or else you might choose to become a gaming journalist, keeping your finger on the pulse of the latest developments in both the indie and the established gaming developer offices.
However you eventually choose to monetize your gaming prowess and knowledge, you can come to earn a significant amount of cash for the work your produce in this industry – it’s a sector worth several billion dollars in the US alone, making it a lucrative industry to consider making a career in.
The five jobs above are all perfectly suited to tech enthusiasts who’re looking to translate their passion for all things technological into a satisfying and lucrative career.