Listening: 4 Goats and a Mic. Season 1. Episode 18. Asia, @princessxap

I recently started listening to the 4 Goats and a Mic podcast and made it to the episode with Asia P from In Tech She Trust. In this episode Asia reviews her journey from being a paralegal to having a 6-figure salary in two years. I am beyond inspired and started taking notes to help me figure out what I’m going to do.

Below are my brief notes from listening to it. I highly recommend the podcast.

Utilize existing skills and skill sets

The transition from a non-tech world to the tech world is not as hard or as far as it may feel. Much of what Asia found herself doing when she moved over was her existing skills in new applications.

Get certs to back it up

Knowing how to do something is great. Proving it with a standardized test is a whole another level. It also has the added benefit of immediately conveying to employers that you are invested in the field and that you have done your research. Plus, the certifications are directly applicable to the job.

Keep your motivation close - studying in one tab and job descriptions and salaries on another.

Studying can become tedious and boring but you have to keep yourself motivated. Asia found that she mixed studying with keeping an eye on her job and salary goals to keep going.

Asia — ServiceNow & ITIL

Her first certification was ITIL which is a technology agnostic cert that is an industry standard as well. More information about the ITIL Foundation certification can be found at www.axelos.com.

ServiceNow is a specific ITSM product that companies invest tens of thousands of dollars in to manage their technologies. They also have a certification path.

I can do this.

Listening to Asia talk showed me that I can do this. I can make this move. I definitely am capable. And Asia’s whole website (In Tech She Trust) is devoted to helping Black women understand that tech its accessible. I mean— I gotta at least try, right?

Consider how many systems you access on a daily basis.

In my current role? I access around a hundred unique systems a day. Okay, I’m exaggerating. A week. That is a skill! Navigating these various systems is not something everyone can do.

Easier than SAT ACT (people study for those?)

Asia is hella polite and I LOVE her so much.

Don’t need coding to get started. Do need it to excel.

Don’t be discouraged by the idea of coding. You can get started in Tech with no coding experience or understanding because not everything in tech is coding or even code related. There are an array of roles that are entirely non-technical.

~cr