Stories about the life-changing experience of switching into tech seem to be everywhere, but it can be hard to decipher what's real and what's exaggerated.
Tech salaries averaged above six figures in 2021, but it may not be as easy to break into the field as some workers make it seem. The hype around tech work on platforms like TikTok, for example, has been criticized as overly romanticizing the transition, Insider reported earlier this year.
Plus, there's no one way to make the jump. Workers switching into tech come from all backgrounds and take various paths. For example, a former intensive-care-unit nurse became a software engineer after teaching himself through online resources and applying his nursing credits to a new degree. And a former teacher landed a job at Zoom by illustrating how their teaching skills would benefit the firm.
"In just five years I managed to turn my whole life around," Cinneah El-Amin, a product manager who said breaking into tech helped her stop living paycheck to paycheck, told Insider. "If I learned anything, while tech can be a difficult industry, it's important to not let your own insecurities or upbringing hold you back."
