A Beginner’s Guide to the Tech Industry: How to decide on the right company for you

Facebook and Google are just the tip of the iceberg…

If you’ve been reading our blog over the past few weeks, you’ve probably spent some time thinking about what tech role would best suit you (if you haven’t, I strongly suggest reading our articles here).

You may have it clear (or at least a good idea) of what role you want to do, but have you considered where you want to do it, and how you are going to decide what company you want to work for?

According to Harley Therapy, being unhappy in your choice of career path can lead to anxiety, stress, constant feelings of tiredness, even depression, yet it’s something that one in three of us experience. But how on earth do you even begin to decide where to look in a $5.2 TRILLION industry? It can be extremely overwhelming, especially if you are changing careers or just starting out after finishing school/university with no knowledge of the industry or corporate world.

This article will help to provide you with a guide to the tech industry landscape, what kind of companies are out there and what are the pros and cons of different types of company so that you can make the best choice for yourself. It provides guidance into what type of companies and what type of roles could be best suited for a transition to the tech industry, why it’s important to work for a growing company, and what to do if you don’t know where to start.

Let’s start with some tech companies that everyone will have heard of in their day-to-day lives, also known as ‘Big Tech’...

‘Big Tech’ versus small start ups

‘Big tech’ is the term given to the 4 / 5 largest, most dominant and most prestigious companies in the tech industry globally - Facebook (or as it’s now known, ‘Meta’), Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Google. Their estimated market value is estimated to be between $1-3 trillion dollars. 

As the dominant forces in the tech industry, their prestige means that it’s likely that they will hire the top talent, and you may find it particularly difficult to apply if you don’t have very relevant experience, graduated top in your class in a relevant field, or a referral. However, these companies often run apprenticeship programs where you can gain relevant experience and great exposure at a prestigious, leading tech company which looks great on your cv.

Working at a big company means that you tend to have greater access to resources. Resources can come in the form of people, budget, training or perks. The wide and varied network of people with a variety of skill sets and specialisations you are likely to come into contact with as part of working with a big company will be very advantageous, inspiring, and allow you to work with some of the best people in what they do. Additional resources in the form of budget may mean that you have a more structured or guaranteed promotion cadence/bonus scheme, or maybe it’s simpler to get access to better equipment or tools, e.g. IT equipment. 

Similarly, there’s likely to be a budget set aside for training or conferences that may not have been factored in at a smaller business, and training is more likely to be more structured with more refined and robust materials. Larger companies are more likely to have a bigger range of employee perks such as healthcare plans, more generous pensions, greater annual leave allowance, discounts and freebies. There’s also more likely to be stability, structure and role clarity at a big company.

At the other end of the spectrum are the small companies and startups. Despite having a smaller group of people and likely a newer company, some startups have a phenomenal amount of funding and are growing at an exponential rate. This can present fantastic growth opportunities for you, and it’s more likely that at a smaller company you’ll have the freedom and flexibility to mould your own role and take ownership of a new responsibility or initiative. This can give you greater control over the direction of your career, having developed a varied skill set with potentially greater responsibility than you would have done at a larger company.

At a smaller company you’ll probably find that as there are less people and less specialisations, people are ‘wearing lots of different hats’ - essentially playing lots of different roles in different areas. For example, my last role as a Salesforce consultant at a small business meant that I often played the role of project manager, scrum master, business analyst, build consultant, as well as people lead, depending on the project. This can give you an opportunity to decide where you may want to specialise in the future, if there’s a particular role you prefer, and therefore presents great opportunities for you to discover what you like, what you’re good at and what you’d like to do more of.

Similarly, smaller companies are able to make changes and decisions quicker, less restrained and anchored in process and bureaucracy. If you need to get something approved or have an exciting new idea, it’s a lot easier to progress that and move it forward when working at a smaller company. 

One of the best things about working at a small company is the sense of community and great working relationships that can be formed as part of being in a smaller group of people. You’re more likely to be working with the same people most of the time, giving you more of a chance to build a close bond, feel part of something and make friendships to last a lifetime.

Whether you decide to work at a small startup,  a ‘big tech’ or something in between, the company you decide to apply to work for is a personal choice. Before making a decision, you should make a list of things you like, things you’re looking for in your next company, and things you don’t like.

For example, do you like working with a close knit group of colleagues, or do you find it more valuable being part of a wider network? Do you crave more autonomy in your role or prefer to learn the established process? Do you want to become specialised in something, or wear ‘lots of different hats’ and have the freedom to mould your own role? Only you have the answers to these questions.

Thinking about your pivot

One of the best ways to transition into tech is by picking a company that has some roots or relation to an industry you already have knowledge, experience or interest in. For example, if your background is in finance or have an economics degree, but want to transition into tech, why not look at fintech companies? Or maybe a tech role within a finance company? This crossover will certainly give your pivot an added boost as you’ll already have knowledge and experience in the industry that would be relevant for a new role. If you’re not ready to make the leap, see if there’s a possibility for an internal transfer or even if they can create a role that enables you to further develop your technical skills.

There’s loads of examples of how you can use your pre-existing industry knowledge and background to your advantage when identifying what kind of company or role to target when pivoting:

Current Role/Industry	Potential Pivot
Recruitment	Business Analyst for recruitment platforms, e.g. Hired, LinkedIn
Teacher	Developer for education platforms, e.g. Moodle
HR Advisor	Consultant implementing HR systems, e.g. Workday
Lab technician	IT project manager at a biotech company

Other types of company to consider include whether you want to work at a not-for-profit, working at a consultancy firm versus working directly in industry, being an ‘end user’ of tech. If you’re not sure what the difference is between working in industry vs consulting, we’ll cover that in an upcoming blog post.

Join a rocketship, not a sinking ship

Whatever kind of company you choose, the most important thing if you’re transitioning into tech is that the company is on a growth trajectory, enabling you to learn and grow with them, and contribute to furthering that growth. If the company you join turns out to be a sinking ship, that’s bound to impact your own progression, too. If the company is a limited company, you can look up the financials on Companies House, but bear in mind that these can be engineered to be presented favourably. If you’re considering a larger company, you can research them in the news or their stock price to look at recent vs historic growth. 

Sheryl Sandberg, who founded LeanIn.org and left Google for Facebook in 2008 (when the former had 20,000 employees and $22bn in revenue versus Facebook's 550 employees and $272 million revenue), advises to “Look for growth. Look for the teams that are growing quickly. Look for the companies that are doing well. Look for a place where you feel that you can have a lot of impact.” 

Meta (Facebook’s parent company) now has >70,000 employees and made $117 billion in revenue last year, according to Statista. Definitely a move to a ‘rocketship’ by Sheryl (Now she’s leaving Meta after 14 years in post).

Conclusion

If you are becoming overwhelmed at the prospect of deciding what and where could be a good fit for you, then please don’t worry, it can be scary, but you aren’t alone.

You can discuss with friends and family, or, if you’re looking for more robust and impartial guidance from someone already in the industry, discuss your options in a career consultation with one of our Verve team members. This could be to help you with suggestions of industries, roles or companies that could offer a good fit, who or how to get in touch with, or even a hands on CV or interview prep session of how to position yourself and your skills for a pivot into tech. Changing - or starting - career - can be daunting, but if you don’t know where to start, then our roadmap will help you take the first step.