What if I want to do a tech job but not a programmer-type job

I realized I've never shared on this blog where I come from and what I'd eventually want to do in tech. In short, I work in non-tech consulting doing economic and market analysis and still explore where my future roles could be in the tech industry. One could be in marketing, product management, finance, etc. However, if one wants to move up in the ladder, I believe an understanding of technology and the business model are absolutely key no matter where one starts in a tech organization. Not to mention coding is really fun in itself!!

It's just that after a few months working on my MIT class, it starts to dawn on me that becoming a great programmer by learning during the evenings and weekends will take some very very long time. Coding is hard to learn when you are a full-time student. It's even harder when you work a 10+ hours per day job where you don't use any coding. It doesn't mean I give up on learning code, since it's quite enjoyable. But I also open myself to resources for beginner techies or people who really hope to stay close to what's latest in technology but don't necessarily want to build an engineering career.

This video from the Darden School of Business for example is golden. When recruiters come to MBA candidates they don't look for programmers, but passion for the product and understanding of the business problems tech companies and their clients face.  

I also found the CS50 class's MBA version quite interesting. Their regular CS50 is already one of Harvard's most popular courses. The MBA version incorporates more design and architecture concepts and is great for people interested in the strategy or product management side of things. Compared to MIT 6.00x the Harvard course is less theoretical but is just as much of a gem in the world of MOOCs and open online course materials.

Read the course blurb:

This course is a variant of Harvard College's introduction to computer science,CS50, designed especially for MBA students. Whereas CS50 itself takes a bottom-up approach, emphasizing mastery of low-level concepts and implementation details thereof, this course takes a top-down approach, emphasizing mastery of high-level concepts and design decisions related thereto. Through a mix of technical instruction, discussion of case studies, and weekly programming projects, this course empowers students to make technological decisions even if not technologists themselves. Topics include cloud computing, networking, privacy, scalability, security, and more, with a particular emphasis on web and mobile technologies. Students emerge from this course with first-hand appreciation of how it all works and all the more confident in the factors that should guide their decision-making.

Happy learning!