Impossible deadlines. Painfully long meetings. That co-worker who just can’t seem to comprehend how loud she’s talking on the phone.
You have enough to worry about every day at work. Why add to that list?
One way to help make sure you don’t is to work in an industry that’s packed with amazing jobs with great perks. Nowadays, that hot industry is tech—and for good reason!
It isn’t just about gourmet lunches in the company cafeteria or getting a new laptop every year (although you wouldn’t mind that either, right?). Tech jobs today offer so much more. You’ve read about high salaries and multiple job offers for people with the right skills. But here are six more things you most likely won’t lose sleep over if you get a job in tech.
1. Suffering From Boredom
Think that working in tech means all cold, hard logic and no imagination? Think again! Of course a field like web design calls for visual skills. But don’t forget that development is also all about inventiveness and creativity. You might not be wielding a color palette, but you’ll be coming up with solutions to problems and maybe even completely new innovations.
2. Getting Stuck in a Rut
One of the most exciting things about tech is that it’s always changing. And your role will probably be, too. Tech employers continue to add new jobs and have a “demand for everything.” So, whether you’re moving up from junior to senior web developer or across from user experience to QA, you can be pretty certain that, if you keep learning digital skills, you’ll always be going places in your career.
3. Being Tied to a Desk
Sitting in a drab cubicle working 9 to 5 is not the norm in most tech companies. Just look at the open floorplan at Uber, the awesome bean bag chairs at Sift Science, and the company hammock at Sailthru!
Even if you go into an office, many employers (like BluBØX, Next Big Sound, and Black Mountain Systems) let you have at least some possibility to adjust it to fit the rest of your life. More and more employees in tech are working remotely from home (or, in fact, anywhere they have a good internet connection!) either some or all of the time. So, dust off those cozy slippers and get down to business!
4. Feeling Isolated and Alone
With pair programming and collaborative agile development so widespread, working in tech almost always means working in teams or at least closely with customers. And even if you don’t go into an office every day—or ever!—you won’t be feeling lonely. Tools like video conferencing, group chat, and collaboration software are standard at tech companies and will let you stay in touch easily and in real-time.
5. Taking Orders From Above
The number of mammoth IT businesses in the world today is growing every day, and companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon have become household names. But that doesn't mean that you have to join a major corporation or even a small web design agency to work in tech.
Freelancing is a fantastic option for so many digital roles. Because smaller design and development projects are often completely doable by one person with a laptop, an internet connection, and a few digital tools, you can strike out on your own creating websites for local entrepreneurs or work on a project-by-project basis developing apps or software for clients around the world, just to name a few options. And the freedom of being your own boss and working on what you’re most interested in are just a few of the benefits you’ll enjoy as a tech freelancer.
6. Longing to Make a Difference
Of course you need a job so you can make your mortgage payment, save a bit for a rainy day, and splurge on that once-in-a-lifetime cruise to the Nordic fjords. But, if you work in tech, you don’t have to resign yourself to just putting in the hours to bring home your paycheck. You can be a part of something truly meaningful to you or to the world. From building websites for charity organizations to developing apps that educate both young and old to being part of a company that’s changing the way we do things, you can improve the world—one website wireframe or one line of code at a time.