The job market in 2020 is one unlike anything we’ve seen before. While some industries have shut down altogether because of COVID-19, others are booming and staffing up to meet the demand of a new remote era. Now, with businesses starting to reopen and more people heading back to work or looking for new work, many are finding themselves reconsidering their careers altogether. Is your job one you actually enjoy doing? Is your industry sustainable? And if not, is it the right time to make a career change?
While it might seem like this is a crazy time to be exploring your career options, we’ve got good news. Making a career change from home is possible, and with remote learning booming, today it’s becoming more of a new norm. Here’s how you can do it.
Find a Reliable Career You’re Interested In
The first step in launching a new career from home is deciding which career you want to pursue. If you’ve already been working in your field for some time, think about what you enjoy about your current career. What parts of your day do you like, or don’t like? What are you excited to do, and what makes you tired?
Thinking about this makes it easier to figure out what you want to look for in a new career. For example, if you’re a barista who loves making latte art, but hates talking to customers, this could mean that a customer-facing role isn’t something you want to pursue, but you’d love to keep working in a creative industry.
Once you have a theory of the kind of career you want to explore, do some research! Take a free workshop or read some articles about real people working in the industry. At Juno, our free Coding 101 workshops are a great way to try your hand at web development before investing in a course or deciding you want to become a web developer, and our student stories give potential students a real-world look into what they can expect from a web development career.
"Taking this workshop was what convinced me that Juno was the place for me to start my coding career. The lessons were engaging and knowledgeable. Highly recommend this workshop if you're considering a new career in development!" - Sui Young
When exploring a career option, you’ll also want to do your research to find out whether the career you’re exploring is one that is fairing well during COVID-19 and beyond. While some careers like Web Development have survived and developers like those graduating from our Bootcamp are still being hired regularly, other industries haven’t been so lucky.
Learn the Skills You Need
Once you’ve decided what career you want to pursue, the next step is to think about whether it’s something you already know how to do, or if you need to do some additional learning. If learning is required, there’s the question of whether the skills you need are something you can learn on your own or if you need to invest in some professional education.
In a field like Web Development, many developers start out by following free online coding tutorials or classes, and some even teach themselves to code without ever taking professional courses. However, in an industry that is always evolving so rapidly, most developers will tell you that self-learning from the beginning is a difficult road. When starting out, it’s important to build a solid foundation with industry standards and best practices, and to become part of a strong community of developers that you can turn to for troubleshooting and support. Juno’s Web Development course is where almost all of our students start their learning journey, and is a great way to start before diving into our Web Development Immersive Bootcamp, a program that has helped over 800 students launch development careers since 2012.
“At first I was skeptical - after all, I had been studying programming on my own and that had its own benefits. But in the 2-week accelerated web development program at Juno, I found out that coding was the easy part. For me, the value of accelerated web dev was in the wealth of experience between the instructors. As someone who was making a career u-turn, I had a lot of questions about workflow, best practices, and professional communication.” - Austen Valentine
Luckily, in an industry like Web Development, courses are readily available online, so you can learn from the comfort of your home. If you choose a more traditional industry, you might have trouble learning without an on-site classroom, but industries that do the bulk of their work online have had no trouble shifting to remote learning. Juno’s Live Online courses offer the same great learning experience that our in-person courses offer, with the added benefits of being more accessible for students from around the world with different commitments, schedules, and abilities.
Prepare for Your Job Search
After you’ve got the skills needed to launch a career in your chosen industry, the next step is to prepare for your job search. Anyone who has ever looked for a job will tell you that this is a tough process, but it’s all worth it when you land that first job in your new career with an exciting salary and a promising future ahead of you. Plus, the job search doesn’t have to be gruelling when you’ve got a reliable process that is proven to get results.
At Juno, graduates of our Web Development Immersive Bootcamp follow a carefully curated process that our team has perfected over several years. This includes creating a professional portfolio with impressive projects showcasing your skills, a carefully tailored resume, and support with interview preparation, offer negotiation, and much more. While this process is one that has been perfected with Web Developers in mind, it’s also one that can be applied to almost any industry. Read some tips from our Career Services Team and Alumni community here.
While some companies may be hiring for roles that will move on-site when things return to normal, many businesses, especially those in tech, have taken COVID-19 as an opportunity to launch new, permanent remote work policies. This means that there is a new world of possibilities when it comes to the structure of your day-to-day work life. If you’re looking for a career that will give you the flexibility you need to be with your family, avoid commuting, or even travel while you work, remote careers are an option that are more available than ever. Searching for a remote role also means you can expect the interview process to be remote when you reach that point in your job search, so you’ll be able to interview with companies from around the world from the comfort of your home.
“By the end of the course you have a complete portfolio site ready to send to companies. When the time comes to go job hunting post-bootcamp, Juno is there to help you every step of the way with their solid advice. A month after finishing my bootcamp, this aspiring actress with a degree in Musical Theatre got a job as a Junior Front-End Developer at a fantastic company. And now a year later, my title has been changed to Software Engineer and I’m still loving every minute of it!” - Maren Sigson
Find a Remote Job
Once you’ve made it through the interview process and landed the first job of your new career, the first step is to celebrate! Making a career change is no small feat, and is especially impressive when many industries are struggling. Though our Career Services Team has seen a small dip in student outcomes and is remaining realistic about the issues job seekers are facing during COVID-19, they are as committed as ever to helping our graduates succeed.
If you’re thinking about making a career change, Web Development is an excellent option to consider. At Juno we’ve had people from almost every industry make the transition into Web Development. Our community is full of people who started where you are today, and are now years into careers that they love. And the best part is that you could make it through your entire journey, exploring, learning, job seeking, and even working day-to-day - without leaving the house. As the world continues to evolve and become more remote than ever, a career that you can rely on from the safety of your home is an exciting option.
Thinking about making a career change into development?
At Juno, we're the experts in helping people with non-technical backgrounds build rewarding careers as web developers. Check out Juno’s free guide to Kickstarting Your Tech Career to find out how you can do it too!