Upskilling To Get Entry-level Employment In Serverless Infrastructure

Part 1 of our "Getting Into Tech" series

It doesn’t need to be said that the tech industry is growing, and tech jobs pay well. What needs to be talked about more is how to enter the tech industry if you are outside of the industry. It’s possible to quickly upskill to earn entry-level employment in the tech industry by focusing on serverless architecture. Technology changes so frequently that experienced software developers can’t possibly stay up to date with all the innovations. This skill gap opens the door for people to learn an in-demand skill and join the tech workforce. 

Technology changes so rapidly that something you learned four years ago might already be out of favor. If you are considering updating your skillset to reinforce your resume with new skills, you should focus on new technologies experiencing high growth. You can capitalize on the growing field of cloud computing by earning a certificate in serverless cloud computing. 

 

What Is a Serverless Framework?

Small businesses usually need a few computer services or applications to meet the demands of their customers. Before serverless architecture, a company would need to purchase hardware to host these programs and create a network for that process to communicate with the other programs. Serverless framework companies such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS) use their servers to provide their clients with computing power when they need it. This allows small businesses to only pay for the computing power they need and removes the cost of creating and maintaining their own framework. 

To be successful while learning to code, first decide where you want to focus your efforts.

Learn Something Specific

There are hundreds of resources for helping motivated career changers to learn to code for free. To be successful while learning to code, know where you want to focus your efforts. Failing to have a destination will likely result in knowing many things but not knowing a lot about one thing. To get a job in tech, you want to be capable in specific areas. In this case, we are focusing on serverless architecture. 

Even focusing on a serverless framework is too broad. You need to focus on a specific part of serverless architecture to get the attention of employers. Software developers with less than three years of experience often have a difficult time finding new work. Narrowing your field of expertise is a great way to increase your chances of landing a software development job. 

 

Getting Your Start In Serverless Computing

Again, specificity is key. It’s impossible to learn all aspects of the computer science industry. Pick a specific serverless certification and focus on learning the skills to earn that certification. AWS has hundreds of tutorials and free learning resources to help you go from illiterate in coding languages to becoming a front end developer working on AWS programs.

If you already know a coding language or have experience with cloud computing, hundreds of tutorials can translate your current knowledge into in-demand skills. Learning these skills and obtaining these certificates can increase your value to employers. 

 

You Can Learn Something You Want To Learn

The AWS serverless framework supports dozens of features to help businesses. Products range from gaming technology, Internet of Things, and media services. You can take your experience from non-tech fields to seamlessly transition into a tech role within your industry. Different serverless architecture patterns mean you can find your niche within cloud computing. There are too many stereotypes about working in tech that stop people from pursuing a tech career. Eventually, every job will be a tech job as innovators find new ways to use technology to make our lives easier and make things happen faster. 

 

Focus on a Certification

Getting a certification is the best focus for breaking into a tech role. It shows you are an expert in something. The hiring process can be challenging to navigate if your resume only indicates you know how to use certain applications. Getting higher levels of certifications builds your ability to market yourself and provide value to employers. You don’t need to attend a Seattle coding bootcamp to gain a certification in a serverless framework. Microsoft Azure and AWS developers learn and work across the country.

 

Conclusion

Upskilling to gain employment in the tech industry is less daunting than you might imagine. Approaching a career change with a hyper-focus on serverless frameworks puts you on the industry’s cutting edge in an area that’s experiencing growth and innovating industries outside of technology. 

This is a guest post by Artur Meyster, founder and CTO of CareerKarma (YC W19).
CareerKarma helps people become software engineers through coding bootcamps.