If you’re interested in tech and you don’t know what to do—the best thing is to start building!

Shavon Harris started off her career as a linguist, where she learned a lot about how to connect and communicate with people. Today, she is a Software Engineer at cybersecurity company Trellix where she works on system design and product integration.

Committing to a new goal

As an educator, Shavon went from teaching math and arts to elementary school students to volunteering for a Chicago nonprofit MAPSCorps that taught students how to become data scientists and engineers.

Eventually, Shavon decided she wanted to become a software engineer herself.

She worked 3 jobs to save up enough money to quit her job and move to Morocco to eliminate distractions and focus on her goal—she even hired someone to cook for her so she could focus on studying!

First, she started off with a bootcamp that she found through an advertisement. When she didn’t see herself progressing or getting enough support, she switched over to Scrimba and 100devs to learn how to:

• Build full-stack web applications using the MongoDB, Express, React, and Node.js stack
• Create and test APIs using Chai and Mocha, improving application reliability
• Manage code versions and collaborate with remote team members using Git and GitHub
• Develope user authentication systems and database operations for web applications
• Build responsive websites using modern CSS frameworks and vanilla JavaScript

Developing a social network

As she developed her technical skills, she also developed her network on LinkedIn. She would follow tech folks and introduce herself to them without asking for anything in return. For example, a simple message like this was sufficient: “Hi! I am new to tech and would love to connect with you.”

To Shavon’s surprise, many people replied and welcomed her into the tech space, asking which path she wanted to pursue. This opened up opportunities to chat, receive advice on her resume, and explore different areas of interest.

Whenever she was interested in a job, she would go through her network and ask for a referral to the team. It was scary asking people to put her in contact with others, but this was much more effective than cold applying for jobs with no connection.

Shavon’s biggest tech transition tips

1. Don’t discount your non-technical background. Emphasize your superpowers and treat them as transferrable skills. For example, Shavon’s background as a linguist gave her communication skills which helped her with networking.
2. People are willing to help you out if you are willing to put in the effort. Look for people you admire, reach out to them, and take action on their advice. Even if you can’t meet with them 1on1, you can still learn a lot from studying their content (e.g. YouTube videos or blog posts).
3. Start building and don’t be scared to share what you build. For example, take a Scrimba course and then share what you build. Shavon says these 2 skills will increase your likelihood of landing a job exponentially.
4. Prioritize your time if you’re serious about making the move. Find ways to eliminate distractions and ask your family and friends for their support and understanding so you can focus.
5. The best way to network is to listen first and then make a quick connection on common topics (e.g. languages). Then, you want to nurture the connections where you feel good vibes (aka you get energy from talking to them and the conversation flows easily). If someone offers to chat again in the future, follow up and set up another time immediately afterwards.

Thanks for reading 👀

Thank you so much to Shavon for taking the time to share her career journey with us. I hope this helps inspire some of you who may not see a clear path to tech. There’s definitely a path forward if you can stay focused and determined.

Find more inspiring stories in my #MakingTheMove series!