Jobs that are easier to get if you can program
Published
Many people believe that if you want a career as a programmer, you should only learn to code. But this is a mistake. Coding skills can come in handy in a number of careers, making you a more competitive candidate when looking for a job. Here are eight positions that are easier to fill if you can code.
1. Technical writer
Technical writers do exactly what it sounds like: they write about technical topics. Your work can take the form of product or service documentation, user manuals, online knowledge bases, textbooks, etc.
Technical writers who can code are valuable because, unlike many other writers, they have personal experience using technology. They have an understanding that is not just theoretical and can therefore write about it more clearly and comprehensibly.
Top companies like Google are constantly hiring technical writers. And they can be paid more than other writing professionals, with salaries often double those of a copywriter.
2. Instructional designer
Similar to technical writers, instructional designers also create content. While the role can vary from company to company, it generally involves developing educational materials. This includes several parts of the process - from analyzing learners' needs and goals to developing the curriculum and writing the lessons.
In addition, many curriculum designers also need to create the curriculum, which may include writing programs to score online tests, accept homework, and the like. In these cases, programming knowledge is of great advantage.
3. User Experience (UX) Designer
UX design is about increasing user satisfaction by ensuring that a product is easy and enjoyable to use. Responsibilities typically include conducting user research, creating product wireframes, and performing iterations based on feedback.
Coding skills can make a UX designer more effective - especially when it comes to conducting A/B testing and turning mockups into reality using basic front-end web development skills like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Additionally, UX designers typically work with product, design, and engineering teams, so communicating with others is a must. This is easier when you understand what they do!
4. Product Manager
Product managers, typically found in technology companies, are the link between senior executives and the on-site development and implementation teams. Product managers are often referred to as “product CEOs” because they lead cross-functional teams that develop the product.
Programming skills can help you communicate with the development and design teams and better explain the goals for the product and the features to be added. Programming skills can also help you understand the limitations of technology so that you are better able to set realistic schedules.
Depending on the company, product managers may also be responsible for market research and analysis.
5. Content marketers
Content marketing is all about strategically creating and distributing different types of content to increase a company's profits. Essentially, it's about attracting customers through content - like blog posts, infographics, videos, and even podcasts.
Often, companies hiring content marketers look for people familiar with the following digital skills: HTML (for blog post formatting), SEO best practices, Adobe products like Photoshop or Illustrator, and software like MS Office Suite, Google Drive, HubSpot, Marketo, CMS (WordPress, Drupal).
You don't have to become a master programmer, but basic HTML and CMS knowledge can make you a standout candidate in the content marketing field.
6. Digital Marketing Analyst
Unlike content marketers, digital marketing analysts make sense of the numbers in their company's marketing landscape. They collect, analyze and summarize data from sources such as the company website, social media and email, relying on a variety of web analytics tools such as Google Analytics, Kissmetrics, Heap, Mixpanel and others.
From there, digital marketing analysts derive insights from the data and figure out how to leverage existing trends to improve the user experience, expand the company's audience, and ultimately attract more customers.
Data analysis skills are in high demand and it is undoubtedly a technical job. Not only do you need to be proficient with the analysis tools, but you also need to be able to create visualizations to present your results to others (using programming skills like Javascript) then you will be a more lucrative candidate.
7. Growth Hacker
Like content marketers and digital marketing analysts, growth hackers belong to the field of marketing. Her area of expertise focuses on increasing the user base of a product or service.
Growth hacking involves quickly experimenting with different marketing channels to find out which methods are most effective and efficient. Essentially, growth hackers are marketers, engineers, and product managers rolled into one and focus on reaching new customers.
Because it's a hybrid role, coding skills are very useful for growth hackers when they need to quickly create a new landing page, develop other customer acquisition tools, run A/B testing, and handle other technical marketing tasks.
8. Customer Support
The role of a customer support specialist can vary from company to company depending on what product/service it is. But generally it involves helping customers install, troubleshoot, or upgrade a product.
Especially if you work in customer service for software or online services, e.g. For example, for a SaaS product, programming knowledge will help you understand the product's various use cases and solve the problem more efficiently. A broad knowledge of the entire technology landscape can help one be a better customer support specialist.
