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Everything You Need to Know About Non-Technical Jobs in Tech

Discover exciting non-technical roles in tech and how to secure them.

By Jennifer Verta, Monster Contributor
three colleagues chatting at desk

Do you have a non-STEM degree but want to break into the tech industry? Companies working in technology have much more to offer than just roles as web developers, software engineers or IT managers. Non-technical jobs in tech, aka those in which you don’t need to learn coding, computer programming languages or IT skills, are just as abundant. Think about sales, marketing, finance, and human resources, just to name a few.

Tech companies are in the forefront of the most well-regarded companies. They’re often all about innovation, fostering positive work culture and offering great benefits and perks. They also are likely to understand the importance of encouraging diversity and inclusion and striving for a more balanced life with remote working opportunities.

So, we don’t blame you for wanting to jump on this train! In this article, you’ll learn what some of the non-tech roles in tech that you could pursue are, the pros and cons of working in this industry, and how to get your foot in the door.

Why Are Non-Technical Roles in Tech Important?

Non-tech roles in tech are just as crucial as their counterparts for driving innovation and growth. Some might argue that they’re even more important. While technical knowledge is undoubtedly necessary to create many products and services, it’s the professionals leveraging their soft skills that keep the business thriving through ensuring customers and clients are reached.

What would a tech company be without human resources to find talent to bring on board, and marketing’s deep understanding of customer needs, and the sales team’s resourcefulness to find new opportunities? There’s a role in tech for every skill, below are just a few of the most in-demand.

Non-Technical Tech Jobs for Analytical People

Are you resourceful with a strategic mind and an analytical mindset? If so, check out these non-tech analytical roles.

· Research Analyst

Research analysts gather and analyze data from different sources to provide insights into market trends, company results and consumer behavior. In tech, as in any other industry, they are crucial to building a strong and long-running business.

In this role, you’ll be in charge of collecting information from surveys, focus groups, social media, keyword trends and more. With this data, you’ll prepare reports to help stakeholders make informed decisions about product development, marketing and sales efforts.

Education Requirements

To become a research analyst you’ll generally need a bachelor's degree in statistics, math, business administration, or marketing. In certain companies, they might even expect a master’s degree.

Crucial Skills

  • research skills
  • data collection and analysis
  • attention to detail
  • good communication
  • collaboration skills

Useful Certifications

Outlook

Research analysts are some of the most in-demand non-technical jobs in tech. According to the data available, the projected growth in employment for this profession in the next few years will be 8%.

Salary

As a market analyst, you’ll make around $45.71 per hour on average. However, depending on how well you can sell yourself, your wage could be anywhere between $35.25 and $60.64 per hour.

Find research analyst jobs on Monster.

· Product Manager

A product manager is in charge of launching and managing a company’s products or services. You’ll work closely with cross-functional teams, such as sales, design, engineering, and IT from creation to launch.

In this role, you’ll also use analysis to improve existing products and services and find new market opportunities. Like all the non-technical jobs in tech, you won’t work directly on technical tasks, but you must have a basic understanding of them.

Education Requirements

To become a product manager your best bet is a bachelor's degree in business or marketing. For senior positions, you’ll go further with a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA).

Crucial Skills

  • problem-solving
  • decision-making
  • attention to detail
  • communication and interpersonal skills
  • strategic analysis

Useful Certifications

Outlook

The data expects around 17,100 openings to be available for product managers each year for the next decade.

Salary

The median salary of a product manager is $47.16 per hour. Based on your experience and location you could earn anywhere between $29.84 and $74.31 an hour.

Find product manager jobs on Monster.

· Product Marketing Manager

A product marketing manager handles the creation and execution of marketing strategies to promote products or services. Your role would involve conducting market research, analyzing customer behaviors, and creating product positioning and messaging.

Your goal is to increase revenue ad drive customer acquisition and retention. While product managers are responsible for the creation of a product, product marketing managers on the other hand, are in charge of bringing that product to the market.

Education Requirements

You’ll generally need a bachelor’s degree in marketing or business administration to get started in this career.

Crucial Skills

  • creativity
  • attention to detail
  • communication skills
  • problem-solving
  • empathy
  • storytelling
  • data analysis
  • researching skills

Useful Certifications

Outlook

There are great prospects for product marketing managers, along with all the other roles in marketing and promotion, over the next few years. Experts estimate a 8% growth in the next decade and 36,600 new openings each year.

Salary

This is one of the highest-paying non-technical jobs in tech you can find. Professionals in this role make $67.33 per hour on average, but on the higher end, you can earn as much as $95.45 per hour.

Find marketing manager jobs on Monster.

Non-Technical Roles in Tech for Social People

Do you enjoy working with and talking to people? There are plenty of options for you in the tech industry. Below are some of the best suited.

· Recruiter

Recruiters identify, source, and hire candidates on behalf of companies. You’ll collaborate with hiring managers and other decision-makers to understand business recruitment needs.

To attract talent, you might use various tools including job boards, social media, networking sites and your own research skills. Once you have found suitable applicants, you will also conduct interviews to find a good fit for the company.

Education Requirements

Recruiters are examples of non-technical jobs in tech in which possessing higher education helps but it’s not essential. The best degrees you can choose for this career include human resources, psychology, communication, or business administration. To become a great tech recruiter what makes the real difference, though, is being familiar with the tech industry.

Useful Certifications

Crucial Skills

  • communication skills
  • relationship building
  • attention to detail
  • research skills
  • flexibility
  • time management

Outlook

Good news for recruiters: job prospects will reach 8% over the next few years, with about 86,200 openings available annually.

Salary

Specialized recruiters working for tech companies make on average $30.88 per hour, with senior positions earning up to $41.48.

Find recruiter jobs on Monster.

· Client Service Representative

In this role, you’ll act as a liaison between a company and its clients. Your job is to build and maintain long-lasting relationships with clients by addressing their needs and concerns. To do so, you’ll manage accounts, provide information, and proactively look for solutions to keep clients happy with the product or service they bought.

Education Requirements

Like many other non-technical jobs in tech, you don’t need higher education to become a customer service representative. If you choose to pursue it, however, the best degrees you can pick include communication, business, or social science.

Crucial Skills

  • empathy
  • clear communication
  • effective listening
  • multitasking
  • persuasion
  • patience
  • time management

Useful Certifications

Outlook

Forecasts expect 365,300 openings for customer service jobs each year over the next few years. It’s competitive, however, so start working on your customer service resume to increase your chances.

Salary

The salary of a customer service representative can be anywhere between $15.16 and $22.60 per hour, based on your experience, location and the company’s size.

Find customer service representative jobs on Monster.

· Business Development Specialist

Business development is a branch of sales that specializes in identifying and pursuing new opportunities to grow the business of a company. It involves researching and networking to find new potential clients and building relationships and strategies to increase the firm’s customer base. A business development specialist’s goal is to increase profits by increasing the number of clients for a company.

Education Requirements

Business development jobs, like other non-technical jobs in tech have the great perk of being accessible for people with different backgrounds or no higher education at all. If you do choose to study however, the most useful degrees for working in sales are business, communication, commerce and marketing.

Crucial Skills

  • research
  • communication and interpersonal skills
  • negotiation and persuasion
  • a result-driven attitude
  • persistence

Useful Certifications

Outlook

We expect business development jobs to grow as fast as the rest of the economy, with around 48,600 openings available each year for the next decade.

Salary

The salary of a business development specialist is $57.69 per hour on average. Keep in mind however, that as with many other sales jobs, commissions can greatly increase your income.

Find business development manager jobs on Monster.

Non-Tech Tech Jobs for Creative People

Creativity is a great skill for every company, including tech businesses. If you want to pursue Here are a few creative roles to consider within tech.

· UX Designer

A user experience (UX) designer focuses on creating engaging, intuitive, and user-friendly interfaces for websites and applications. You’ll rely on research, data analysis and user testing to create designs that meet users’ needs and preferences.

A UX designer’s job is to create interfaces that are easy to use, aesthetically pleasing and generate more business. In this role, you’ll work with developers, as well as people in other non-technical jobs in tech such as product managers and graphic designers.

Education Requirements

Looking for non-technical roles in tech that don’t need a degree? UX designer is for you. While you won’t need to retrain, you’ll have a great foundation if you already have a degree in design, psychology, or computer science. Or, you can also go for one of the many bootcamps available.

Crucial Skills

  • research
  • creativity
  • empathy
  • project management
  • teamwork
  • critical thinking
  • communication skills

Useful Certifications

Outlook

Get your UX designer resume ready today, this profession has some of the best job prospects out there. An estimated growth of 8% in the next few years and 16,500 openings each year are waiting for you.

Salary

The salary of a UX designer ranges between $27.23 and $59.65 per hour on average.

Find UX designer jobs on Monster.

· Social Media Specialist

Social media specialists are responsible for managing a company’s presence on social media platforms. You’ll create and curate content that engages and informs the target audience. On top of this, you’ll directly answer users’ comments and messages and analyze metrics to measure and improve performance.

Education Requirements

Social media is a relatively young field, which means there aren’t specific higher education paths to becoming a social media specialist yet. For these non-technical jobs in tech a bachelor’s degree in digital media, marketing, journalism, or public relations are most beneficial.

Crucial Skills

  • creativity
  • communication
  • writing
  • time and budget management
  • customer-focused mindset
  • research
  • data analysis

Useful Certifications

Outlook

Social media is increasingly becoming an important branding and selling tool for companies. So, these roles will be in demand for the foreseeable future, growing at around 6% over the next ten years.

Salary

Social media specialists bring home around $32.42 per hour on average, but if you’re more experienced you could earn up to $98,935.

Find social media manager jobs on Monster.

Non-Tech Roles in Tech for People with Leadership Skills

Can you lead a team and have top-notch organizational skills? Here are two non-technical jobs in tech that could be the perfect fit for you.

· Project Manager

Project managers are responsible for planning, executing, and completing projects for companies. Like other non-technical roles in tech, you’ll collaborate with different departments, clients, and c-suite roles to make sure tasks are completed on time, at the standard required and within budget.

You’ll also regularly provide project statuses and identify possible issues and work to prevent them. Project managers are crucial non-technical jobs in tech that help a company achieve its goals.

Education Requirements

The project manager is one of those non-technical jobs in tech that has flexible background requirements. You could have a bachelor’s in business, economics, marketing, finance, and human resources, or even an MBA. However, if you obtain a relevant certification or pursue specialized training, you might not even need a college degree.

Useful Certifications

Crucial Skills

  • leadership
  • multitasking
  • time and budget management
  • planning and organization
  • attention to detail
  • excellent communication

Outlook

Project manager jobs are projected to grow at 7% over the next ten years - as fast as the rest of the economy.

Salary

The median salary of a project manager sits at $57.69 per hour, although top candidates can earn as much as $77.71.

Find project manager jobs on Monster.

· Content Manager

Content managers are responsible for creating, publishing, and distributing content across different channels. Any text, visual or audio can be considered content.

You might lead a team of writers and editors as well as collaborate with designers and other creatives to develop a strategy that embodies the company’s objectives and values. You are also in charge of tracking content performance and optimizing it to improve engagement and reach.

Education Requirements

The best degrees to start a content management career are marketing, communication, English language, or business. Other degrees may be accepted too if you can you’re your experience in building promotions and brand strategies.

Crucial Skills

  • writing and editing
  • creativity
  • time management
  • organization
  • attention to detail
  • leadership
  • collaboration
  • customer-focused mindset

Useful Certifications

Outlook

As with other non-technical jobs in tech, content managers are going to see good prospects in the future. The sector is set for 8% growth in the next ten years.

Salary

Content managers earn $31.25 per hour on average, but with great skills and experience, you could earn up to $39.89 an hour.

Find content manager jobs on Monster.

What Are the Pros and Cons of Working in Non-Tech Jobs in Tech?

If you’re considering breaking into non-technical jobs in tech, weighing the unique benefits and challenges is a must to find out if it’s the right industry for you.

Pros of Non-Tech Roles in Tech

Working in a rapidly growing and dynamic industry is the most obvious of the benefits attached to these positions.

  • With a non-tech role in marketing, sales or design you get to support the creation of new projects in fast-paced and innovative companies, without the need for ultra-technical knowledge.
  • The potential for career growth, advancement and earning is often limitless. Tech companies, and start-ups especially, are generally highly adaptable to change and constantly evolving. This opens opportunities for taking on senior roles or positions in different departments faster as the business grows.
  • Therefore, your impact on a company’s success might be more significant here than at other firms.

Cons of Non-Technical Roles in Tech

Working in tech without a technical background also comes with a few challenges. the flip side of a fast-growing industry is that you’ll face more pressure to stay up to date with changing technology and market trends.

  • Although non-technical jobs in tech don’t require coding knowledge or more specialized training, understanding how the industry functions overall is still essential.
  • In addition, when collaborating with engineers, programmers, and developers, you might find that communication can be tricky as they generally use very technical jargon and take technical concepts for granted that you might not be familiar with.
  • In such an environment you must be able to learn fast and proactively.

How to Get Non-Technical Jobs in Tech

Finding non-technical jobs in tech can sometimes be tricky but don’t be discouraged, it’s easier than you think when you have the right strategy. Below are our tips for discovering non-tech jobs at tech companies.

1. Be Open to Learning

When you don’t have core tech skills, but you wish to work in the tech industry, you must be willing to learn. You won’t have to start coding but knowing the basics about the field is expected.

Research which non-technical jobs in tech interest you. You don’t even necessarily have to go back to school as you can find online courses to boost your knowledge, and many are free.

2. Identify Your Skills

While you discover all the different non-technical roles in tech, evaluate what transferrable skills you already have. If you’re a graduate or career switcher, showcase your soft skills to balance your lack of experience.

However, you should still promote the hard skills you have that are relevant to your non-tech role. For example, if you’re seasoned in sales, highlight your ability to build relationships, communicate persuasively or close deals.

Don’t stop there, consider also what tools you’ve mastered already. Maybe in your last role, you learned how to use Excel or Tableau, so leverage that knowledge for your new role as well.

3. Network

Networking is a precious tool in any job search, so why not use it to find non-technical jobs in tech too? Attend sector-targeted events and conferences and join industry groups on professional social media platforms. You’ll learn so much more about the industry and the potential opportunities that it offers.

4. Find a Mentor

After networking, the next logical step to finding non tech jobs in tech is to seek mentorship. It could be someone from the company you’re targeting or someone with a career path that reflects what you’re looking for. Either way, don’t be afraid to cold message other professionals, you’ll be surprised at how many are willing to help.

Always approach them with politeness, respect for their time and specific questions. A vague request for mentorship can be perceived as too time-consuming and could be ignored. Instead, come with specific questions such as “What specific skills helped you pivot from career A to career B?”.

5. Adapt Your Resume and Cover Letter

To apply for non-technical jobs in tech it’s crucial to write a resume and cover letter that are targeted to the specific job you’re after. Think about those transferable skills you identified earlier and describe them in your resume with the same language used in the job posting. If you have completed courses, certificates or you even have hobbies relevant to the job you want, don’t hesitate to include them as well.

In your cover letter, explain why you want to work for that specific company. It’s also a good idea to reference the company values and mission to show you’re a proactive and engaged candidate. On top of this, tell them what you would bring to the table if you were to be hired.

6. Prepare for Job Interviews

No matter which type of job interview you’re facing, start off by reviewing how to answer the most common job interview questions. Then, make sure you ace your interviews for non-technical jobs in tech by learning how to tackle behavioral and situational questions. Since you’re jumping into a new industry, practicing your answers and following the STAR method is more important than ever.

Discover The Perfect Non-Technical Jobs in Tech with Help from Monster

Jump into non-technical jobs in tech by downloading Monster’s Job Search App. Set up a free account, upload your resume and select the types of job openings you’re after. You’ll also receive direct invites to apply from our partner recruiters and companies.