Foodservice, Customer Service, Retail Experience
Welcome to the Transcend Series!
This course is designed to specifically help you target and recontextualize your past work experiences within the bigger picture of the tech industry at large.
Why is this Important?
Because in any and all things, confidence comes from knowledge. When you know who you are, and what you contribute, you feel alot more comfortable sharing your yourself and most importantly, asking for what you deserve in return from others.
Also the ability to free yourself from the restraints of your current professional circumstances is helped in large part by being able to understand and articulate your experiences as they apply to the basics of performing and being apart of a team or organization, no matter where those experiences come from.
Who This Course is For?
This course (session 1) is for those who have a history with or currently working in the Customer Service/Retail industries who are looking to transition into a career in tech (web2 or web3). This includes those who are or have been:
Customer Service Representatives
Customer Service Managers
Waitresses
Bartenders
Floor Managers
Stockroom Associates
Stockroom Managers
Part 1:
Let’s Start With the Basics:
The Technology industry is defined as “companies that design, manufacture, or distribute electronic and digital devices such as computers, computer-related equipment, computer services and software. Scientific instruments, and electronic components and products.
This means that you are an employee or have a role in what’s known in the industry as an organization, enterprise or startup. Much like the products produced, the “ethos” or idea that serves as a tech company’s ethical and creative compass is that the network of Employees is what makes the organization or “system” flow (i.e. work). So when thinking about roles that you can pursue or would be a good fit for, it helps to consider how you best enjoy and would benefit from serving and supporting a greater infrastructure.
Within the Technology industry in the United States, though there are currently 3 million employees in the field and hundreds of thousands of company roles available as we speak there is commonly understood to be only two types of employees:
Types of Ways You “Work” In Tech
Technical:
Technical Employees are any and all employees that do the engineering (mechanical or programming) of the products, software, and technology that an end user (customer) interacts with. These are the people known as Engineers, Programmers, “Coders”, Developers, etc.
Non-Technical:
Non-Technical Employees are any and all employees who support, develop or contribute to the core infrastructure, administrative and/or public facing aspects of the company. These would be people who are known as Marketing, Support, Project Management, Creative Direction and Design amongst other roles and responsibilities.
Security:
Security Employees
are all employees who’s main focus is developing or working to create or maintain security infrastructure and defenses of data and networks. These would be your Cybersecurity and in many contexts, “Backend” Developers. Though we don’t cover a ton of cybersecurity opportunities in this series, it is certainly an incredibly viable and lucrative path with many opportunities.
Data:
Data professionals are those developers, engineers, analysts and scientists whose purpose is to capture, visualize and/or compile data and datasets for consumption in a variety od ways and for utility in a variety of contexts. We also don’t get into that a ton in this series but this is also a highly viable and lucrative path with a staggering amount of opportunities available.
Also, before we go any further, let's pause on when I said web2 and web3…what’s that mean? Web2 and Web3 are the two “types” of ways you can work in tech. Basically type in this regard means technology that all of your and similar companies in your respective field will be working around, or off of. To go in depth:
Web2:
You will learn all about this as you embark on your educational journey once you get deeper into your particular pathway, however:
Web2 is the term used to describe the industry responsible for producing and developing IOT or the “Internet of Things” as well as the Internet.
IOT: is any product or device that shares and transmits data (information) as a means of communication. The internet of things includes everything from GPS and Bluetooth devices to fax machines, smart tvs and cellular phones.
The Internet: refers to the worldwide system of computers or “network/s” and the utility hat users at one computer interact with in order to access information on another computer network and or communicate with another computer user.
Web2 employees work with these technology in a multitude of ways.
Web3:
Again, you will learn all you need to know about this sector of the industry if you choose to explore but:
Web3 is the term used to describe any & all products and services that are developed “on” or with blockchain technology as well as refers to concepts like AR, VR and the “Metaverse”. The foundation of web3 technology is to not only build on the capabilities of technology like the internet and IOT, but to also use blockchain technology as a way to reimagine and decentralize (or rather un or self regulate thanks to the transparency and public record blockchain technology provides), commercial and innovative services that currently exist within the limitations of the internet.
Web3 employees work with blockchain and other web3 technologies in a multitude of ways.
Resources and Trainings for Technical Jobs