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Last week, I shared why generic tech career advice from Google doesn't work.

If you missed it, check it out here: https://blog.entrylevel.net/p/tech-career-right

This week, I'm sharing:

• What you should do to find the best tech career for you

• Clear next steps after reading this article

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My advice for you - and why it worked for me (storytime)

Zoom out, then focus.

If there’s 1 thing to take away from today’s article, it’s this. Don’t forget it.

1. Follow inspiring tech people online (zoom out of your bubble)

When I first started my journey into tech, I felt guilty all the time.

Guilty for not learning every second of the day (even though I was already listening to podcasts and courses while commuting).

Guilty for scrolling on Instagram when I could’ve been working on a project.

Guilty for not working on my resume or portfolio.

I carried that guilt alone.

“If only I had more time…I would study more. If only I had more motivation and discipline, I could have a job by now.”

Then I started following people who inspired me.

I followed techies on social media, signed up for email newsletters, and joined communities. I followed everyone in so many different industries.

I felt less alone. Every time I scrolled mindlessly on social media, I ended up learning something new.

So I stopped feeling guilty and started feeling excited to learn again.

2. Prioritize what careers to try (focus)

Make a list of everything you want to try. Rank them by:

• How confident you are that you’ll love the career

• How high the salary and demand is

Use the Eisenhower matrix to prioritize them.

If you think you’ll love a career and it has high salary and demand, focus on pursuing that one first. You’ll find out whether you actually enjoy it or not.

Important: pick just 1 career to focus on first. You can try the other ones later.

Don’t get stuck in analysis paralysis.

Remember my story last week about finding out I love data analysis?

I knew I’d like marketing. So I learned that first. Learning marketing led me to consider data analysis, and after trying out EntryLevel’s 6-week data program, I discovered I loved it.

But I never would’ve started if I didn’t focus on marketing first. And even though working with numbers isn’t a strength of mine, I am more consistent in my learning because I discovered I love data analysis - which leads me to improve more.

3. Find a unique problem to solve that’s related to your career goals

You can get guidance from online courses.

Courses like EntryLevel’s are a great place to start if you feel overwhelmed and uncertain about what to learn first. You’ll learn the basics and be guided by experts every step of the way.

But you need to work on more projects.

And make sure it’s related to your career goals.

• If you want to go into fintech, do a finance project.

• If you want to go into healthtech, do a health and fitness project.

• If you want to go into edtech, do an education project.

Here are example projects to get your creativity flowing.

Data analyst interested in health and fitness

Create a personal data dashboard to track correlations between your subjective happiness score and other factors like hours of sleep, food eaten (healthy or unhealthy), time spent on hobbies, etc.

Product manager or product designer interested in education, SaaS, or AI

Create an AI online study room with flashcards, timers, auto-prioritizing task lists, and AI chatbot tutors.

I came up with this idea by using a random word generator. I saw “rain” and it reminded me of lifeat.io’s rainy window sound and video to help you focus and study. I wanted to combine that with current AI trends.

(Psst: this random word generator tip was shared in one of our previous articles.)

Need more help with projects? Read this article for 4 steps to stand out to companies.

4. Don’t feel like you’re stuck in 1 role forever

In step 2, I recommended you prioritize 1 career to try. But you’re not stuck with that role - you can always try new things.

So don’t let analysis paralysis take over. Take action, learn quickly, and move on. That’s how progress happens.

Like you’d expect me to do marketing as the growth marketer at EntryLevel, right?

But I do more than that - I do some product, design, and data tasks too. Check out the full day-in-the-life of a startup tech worker (me) here: https://blog.entrylevel.net/p/day-life-remote-tech-startup-employee

Summary

Here’s what to do if you feel stuck in your career.

1. Follow inspiring tech people online (like EntryLevel - check out our social media links in the footer!)

2. Prioritize careers to try using a matrix

3. Find a unique problem related to your career goals

4. Remember change is possible

If you’re still feeling like you’re not sure what you’re doing, have no experience, or like you haven’t had a “real” job before - I'm writing another article that'll help.

It’s all about how to beat imposter syndrome and finally take action to progress in your career.

Can’t wait for you to read it in a few weeks!