What Do You Know About Group Coaching?

(Photo Credit @hannahbusing)

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Have you been hearing more about the topic of group coaching lately? I know I have! Companies like Medley and The Cru are on the rise along with many other niche players to help individuals grow and develop in the areas of leadership and career coaching. When we were all locked in our homes over the past few years, we lost many of the connections we’d normally make through work, volunteer, and other activities. I get the sense that many people today are looking for additional support to know they are not alone in facing their personal and professional challenges. 

I launched the Digital Orchards fellowship program to bring together a small cohort of early to mid-career professionals who want structured guidance on how to navigate a career change into tech AND want to work with like-minded individuals to achieve that goal. If you are interested, join the waitlist digitalorchards.com/fellowship

Are you curious to know whether a group coaching program is right for you?

Check out the statements below and see how many you put a Yes next to. 

1. I appreciate the ability to share my career change concerns with a group of trusted individuals facing similar challenges and get & give feedback to expand our collective understanding of changing careers. 

2. I’ve tried working on my own but haven’t seen the progress or results I want. 

3. My goal is to have a clear and well-defined tech job search strategy at the end of the program month.

4. I know I’m capable of achieving this big change, but I struggle with overcoming a lot of self-doubts (I mean, I don’t know how to code - can this pivot even work?!)

5. I prefer to work alone and struggle in silence. 

6. In the past, I’ve really enjoyed being on a team where we struggled together and then finished a project or won a competition - the confidence boost was amazing! 

7. I thrive when I know that others will help keep me accountable for my big & audacious goals. 

Scoring: Give yourself 1 point for every YES you write down. (Except #5 - deduct a point for that one - just checking to see if your inner fears had popped out!)

Where did you land?

4-6 = We welcome you to join the DO Fellowship, my friend!

1-3 = Let’s learn more about your goals.

< 1 = Maybe a bit more research will help?

Despite the humor woven throughout the quiz above, many of the benefits of participating in a group coaching program to support you during a career change into tech should be obvious. Expert guidance from a coach who has seen it all, camaraderie from a cohort who is in the trenches with you, and a rise in your confidence that you will succeed. 

In my program, you will learn from an experienced coach (that’s me) the information & tactics you need to achieve your tech search pivot AND you will get support from folks going through the same challenges as you are. Everyone will end the program with a clearly articulated plan for a successful job search. Sign up today to learn more! digitalorchards.com/fellowship

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Develop a Learning Path

(Photo Credit @madebyjens)

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April 29, 2022

Job Search Strategy, Pivoting into Tech

(Photo Credit @aaronburden)

INTERESTED IN JOINING THE DIGITAL ORCHARDS FELLOWSHIP TO HELP JUMPSTART YOUR TECH CAREER PIVOT ALONG WITH A SMALL COHORT OF AMBITIOUS INDIVIDUALS?

JOIN THE WAITLIST HERE: DIGITAL ORCHARDS FELLOWSHIP

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This final post in the ‘Pivoting into Tech’ series focuses on learning. One of the hardest parts of a career change is to recognize that you will need to learn new things and that it’s going to feel uncomfortable. Today we’ll discuss how to design a self-paced learning curriculum so you will gain confidence in your tech knowledge. 

1. Become comfortable with being uncomfortable 

   • I have clients seeking to pivot into tech because they are bored with their current role, which can be a great motivator to jumpstart your learning process. However, while they are excited to learn more about tech, it feels a bit strange to not be the expert anymore. This is normal and totally ok! 

   • This is the part where a lot of career changers get stuck - as they struggle with how to show prior competence and demonstrate transferable skills while also not posing as an expert in areas where they are still learning. 

   • What helps in tech is that many companies are often looking for candidates who strike a balance between experience and potential. And in order to assess potential, interviewers often ask hypothetical or scenario-based questions that don’t have a specific answer. Instead, they are assessing your overall thought process - ie how you learn and apply those learnings! 

2. Identify 3 skills to develop and 3 concepts to learn

   • As a career changer, you likely don’t know what you don’t know - so how do you figure out what skills/concepts you need to learn? There are a few ways to identify these skills. 

   • Use what you learned from your connections to write out 3 key topics or skills you’ll need to develop or refine. 

   • Select 3-4 job postings for roles that you are interested in and scan them to see what concepts they discuss, skills they request and/or certifications they require. You can also try using tools like JobScan to help highlight missing skills in your resume. 

   • Again, the law of threes appears here so you don’t get overwhelmed and try to learn *everything* about tech. No one knows everything about tech (well, except maybe Peter Norvig) so don’t feel you have to become an expert overnight.  

3. Find the resources to help you learn

   • There are a plethora of online courses these days that will cover tech topics like ‘What is cloud computing?’ or ‘What is cryptocurrency?’ as well as teach you how to use SQL or Tableau, often in 2-3 hour courses. And many of these resources are free or low-cost. 

   • You can check out sites like LinkedIn Learning, Coursera, Udemy, and Code Academy and search for the topic or skill you need. 

   • This is also helpful if you’re not sure what area of tech you want to focus on. Review some of these tech topics to help you figure out whether your new tech focus is climate tech or fintech (as knowing your tech niche will be important once you get to resume re-development and company selection). 

4. Add all of this learning to your resume! 

   • It’s important to add all of these courses, certifications, etc to your resume to visually demonstrate your growing tech domain expertise. 

   • There are many ways to incorporate all that you have learned into your resume, depending on the format & the overall story you are trying to tell. And remember, you don’t need to be an expert to put a new skill on your resume! Work with a tech career coach to help you map this out - there’s no need to do this alone.

   • Likely, you’ll also end up using this information during your future interviews to demonstrate knowledge - so recognize its value in the whole tech career pivot process. 

Remember, everyone who pivots into a new career needs to learn about their new target industry. Even with a strong tech job market, you need to show you know something about tech or recruiters will likely pass on your candidacy. And honestly, it’s a great sign when a candidate has invested the time and effort to show a growing area of tech domain expertise. It gives confidence that this isn’t just a passing interest, but instead a thoughtful career change.

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Identify & Learn From Tech Connections

(Photo Credit @katekalvach)

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April 29, 2022

Job Search Strategy, Pivoting into Tech

(Photo Credit @aaronburden)

INTERESTED IN JOINING THE DIGITAL ORCHARDS FELLOWSHIP TO HELP JUMPSTART YOUR TECH CAREER PIVOT ALONG WITH A SMALL COHORT OF AMBITIOUS INDIVIDUALS?

JOIN THE WAITLIST HERE: DIGITAL ORCHARDS FELLOWSHIP

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I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this ‘Pivoting into Tech’ series as much as I’ve enjoyed sharing it with you. Over the past few days, we’ve focused on setting goals, making space, and managing your current job. Much of that was focused inward, on prepping yourself and your loved ones for an impending change. Today we will direct our energy outwards and instead focus on how and why it’s important to speak to people who work in the tech industry very early in your search process. 

1. Start with people you know & trust

   • Try and learn from trusted connections about the new industry you want to move into. While it’s also very important to do your ‘book learning’ to gather info about an industry, you also want to hear about an industry directly from the people working in it. 

   • They can tell you what is overhyped in the media, and what is spot-on. They can share tips on what to highlight in your resume and on how to get in the door at specific companies. These initial connectors are often a treasure trove of information and you should treat them as important resources. And because you know and trust them, the barrier to starting your outreach is much lower (especially for those who are not big fans of networking). 

   • Make sure to stay in touch with these initial helpers throughout your search (as they are the ones most often to be forgotten after one call).  

2. Identify 3 friends/connections who work in tech

   • The rule of 3 appears in many places (including survivalist training and writing principles). And so I’m applying it here in networking too. 

   • Start with 3 people. That’s all. It’s a nice small number that gives you a varied enough perspective on tech, but isn’t an overwhelming task to speak to ‘everyone you know’ in tech. 

   • Look for people who are in roles and companies you are considering. Try to aim for connections who are at or just above the level you are seeking, as their information will likely be the most relevant. 

3. Widen your circle of contacts

   • Don’t have those 3 connections, or want to broaden your tech network? Think about how you can leverage your current network to make introductions on your behalf to those who do work in tech. Try to find others who share common interests besides tech as it will help you overcome the cold of an initial outreach. 

   • LinkedIn is an amazing discovery tool to help you find people. Did you know that you can use the filters to search specifically among the connections of one of your connections? It’s incredibly useful to use if you have that one friend who knows everyone (but can’t pluck names out of thin air). 

   • You can also use filters or keyword searches to search for potential connections who share the following: fellow college alumni; past company colleagues; live in your area; share hobbies or interests; have the same country of origin, etc. 

4. Ask for their guidance

   • When drafting a good tech networking email, it should start with who you are & your connection to the recipient. You should let them know why you reached out to them specifically, not just a generic message you cut/paste to everyone. And it should include a few open time blocks or a scheduling link to help make it as easy as possible for someone to decide to give you time.  

   • Reach out to tell them you’re considering a move into tech and would appreciate their advice on how to get started. Maybe they made the same move you did? Maybe they work in the area you are fascinated with?

   • Schedule informational interviews to learn why they work in tech, what you need to know about company cultures/operating styles, and the skills needed for your target role(s). Make sure to write up questions in advance and order/prioritize the list. We’ll use the information you’ve gathered to help develop your specific tech career search strategy. 

   • At the end of every call, ask if they have 1 person they can connect you with to learn more about tech. And then make sure to follow up with that person!

5. Keep track of your networking!

   • This is the number one thing that many job seekers underestimate in importance. Tech recruiters are ridiculously busy & overworked these days - and most don’t have time to network. Instead, you want to engage with people in the functional roles you are considering. 

   • Your network is vitally important to your success in getting your resume reviewed! And so it’s also important to keep track of your success with networking outreach. 

   • Check out this post for a great personal CRM tool to use! And then keep track of your networking stats/ratios. You want to know how many cold emails you’ve sent, how many converted to conversations, and in future, how many offered to make referrals. Tracking these stats will help you determine what to tweak in your networking approach as well as mitigate rejection frustration when some don’t respond. 

Learning from people who work in the industry is a really important step that many career changers skip. I often hear job seekers say they don’t want to ask dumb questions, so they opt to go straight for resume editing. If you approach it in the right way, informational interviewing can provide incredibly valuable insights that will help you better target your search and help you grow the relationships that will help you succeed in your new company/role. 

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