It seems that when you are looking for your path in life as far as a career goes, everybody tells you to become a programmer. There is always going to be demand for people with those skills, but the reality is that not every can be, or should be, a programmer.
The good news is that you can enter a STEM field and not need to be a programmer. As technology becomes more intertwined into our daily lives, there are a lot of areas where you can have a career in technology and not need to learn to code.
There are plenty of universities that offer STEM related degrees that don’t involve being a programmer. Glyndwr University comes to mind as they have a variety of tech related degrees that involve everything from forensics to film and they aren’t the only university that does.
Take a look at the list below as there may be a career that catches your eye and puts you in a STEM career.
1 – Designer
If you love the idea of working online but not so much to be a programmer then a designer might be the best way forward for you. Programmers may know how to make a website work on the backend, but a designer is the one who will make it look right.
A web designer is incredibly important as the look of the site is not just for aesthetics. The way it looks will determine how usable it is. If a site is ugly and not very intuitive to use, then it is not going to succeed in its intended purpose.
2 – Analyst
Programmers are great at digging up loads of data. The problem is that those programmers aren’t great at analysing the data they provide.
That takes somebody dedicated to being an analyst to pore over the data and understand what to make of it. Many business decisions rely on an accurate understanding of the data they have at hand. You’ll need to have the right type of mindset and to be technically inclined, but you don’t have to understand how to code to read the data.
3 – Project manager
While coders have their heads in the programming aspect of the job, they need a project manager to manage them. That somebody needs to have the big picture in mind and understand how to navigate the roadmap to get them to where they need to be project wise.
This is where your analytical mind comes in. Once again, it requires no knowledge of how to code to manage a team of programmers to ensure that projects are done on time and correctly.
4 – Systems administrators
If you are more into the hardware side of IT, then the work of a systems administrator is right up your alley.
In this role, you will set up networks, create firewalls for security and back up files for the company.
You’ll need to have a wide range of talent and expertise to draw on to be successful as a systems admin, but programming is not one of them. It helps to understand how programming languages work depending on your role, but you don’t have to write any code to do it.
