There is a statement that only mathematicians are taken in IT. Is that so? Today's world of information technology answers: no. Successful in this area is not the one who quickly thinks in his mind, but rather the one who understands human psychology, knows languages and is quite ambitious.
What is the secret to success and how to develop in IT if you are not a programmer?
Develop communication skills and emotional intelligence
Language, successful communication, the ability to "see and hear" the interlocutor are basic factors for those who want to succeed in IT. Linguistic inclinations are known to be more important for learning programming languages and understanding code than mathematics. That is, languages are a factor that allows ordinary people to develop in IT.
The ability to find a common language and establish the necessary connections, easily communicate, the ability to feel and understand a colleague, subordinate, partner and client is something that is easier for humanities and technicians with humanitarian tendencies. And these factors help to work successfully in IT teams, to become managers, heads and even directors in a niche of information technologies.
Trust intuition and learn psychology
Humanitarian sciences are at the heart of understanding human desires, anxieties, motivations. Knowledge in the field of sociology and psychology is the basis for the effective construction of business processes, marketing, and successful human management. The success of any project is based on this.
Humanitarian education contributes to the development of intuition and forecasting. The internal compass, intuition and most importantly - how ambitious a person is, how ready he is to fight and focused on achieving the goal. Listening to yourself, trusting yourself and not leaving intentions is something that humanitarian disciplines teach. Pay special attention to psychology and the disclosure of creative abilities, internal potential.
Gain technical knowledge whenever possible
Not every humanitarian is perfect for IT. The best option is a mix of technical knowledge with the ability to understand people, communicate with them, understand the psychology of the client. These are the parameters of a universal soldier in modern business: with such a set of qualities and skills (with ambitions), you can achieve high results in IT, become a top manager or take another desired position.
Specialties in IT for non-programmers
Management positions
For managers in IT, not only humanitarian sciences are important, but also the technical component, internal understanding of the product. However, this moment is decided by immersion in the project and basic technical training. Often good English is important here.
Humanities can try themselves in IT: a sales manager, a product manager and even a project management manager. Also today, HR managers are highly valued, who are able to find valuable personnel in the IT sphere.
Systems analysts
These are people who understand clients, colleagues, developers from a half-point perspective, and build a trustful working relationship with them. Often, analysts become those who are able to respond adequately to the customer's requirements and edits, coordinate his desires with the capabilities of the development team, and offer solutions to problems. They have a flexible mind, actively communicate with the team, build a trustful, delicate communication with the client.
Analyst should understand how the system works, what each of its blocks is capable of and how to solve the problem optimally. As a result of negotiations with the customer and the analyst development team, creates a document that reflects the decisions made on refinements and eliminates disagreements, becomes the basis for development tasks. The technical component is certainly available here, but for a person with ambitions and good input it is only a matter of time and desire to enter the processes.
Testers
A meticulous and attentive humanitarian will easily become a tester, and then can grow to the head of the testing group. We are talking about functional testing, which does not imply editing the code or starting automated processes. Functional testing consists in checking each element of the functionality for failures under different scenarios. Testers are distinguished by perseverance, attentiveness and good knowledge of English.
Technical writers
Linguists who are able to talk about code and new developments in the user's language. Here it is important to be able to formalize thought simply and clearly, having previously understood all the intricacies of the work of the functionality. These people should not understand the system in depth, but should communicate with users from the position of "experienced user who can prompt." Technical writers know how to build relationships with the development team in order to contact them without problems for advice on complex issues.
In addition to these professions, IT always needs content marketers, copywriters, interface designers, PR and copywriters. These people are now in demand in any field, but those who specialize in IT projects are more attractive to IT employers. Here it is possible to work on freelance and combine several interesting projects.
The importance of humanitarian knowledge
Humanitarian knowledge is so important even for technicians that in some IT companies for employees they give lectures, conduct courses in humanitarian sciences and culture, teach acting and directing, and arrange corporate film screenings.
This is done to improve the overall cultural level and humanitarian knowledge, which are transformed into intranet sites and can change the attitude to project tasks, affect performance.
IT is no longer a field of high information technology that is available only to the chosen. The world of technology has become part of the life of ordinary people. And in this world, we need people who understand people, who know how to communicate with them, and who know how best to build a business process, so that the product is not just a technology, but a "result that makes our hearts sing," as Steve Jobs said.