8 Easy Ways to Get Experience in Tech When You Have No Experience

8 Easy Ways to Get Experience in Tech When You Have No Experience

Introduction to Gaining Tech Experience

When you're new to the tech industry, one of the most frustrating conundrums is needing experience to get hired, but not being able to gain experience without getting hired first. Even most entry-level tech jobs require 1-3 years of professional experience. It's the classic "catch-22."

However, the good news is that you can get meaningful tech experience without taking unpaid internships or working for free. What counts as "experience" depends largely on the company doing the hiring. For example, according to Skillcrush Director of Operations Caro Griffin:

"We don’t use years of experience requirements [for hiring] because they’re vague and nonspecific. People gain experience at different rates and in different positions. Good hiring managers will overlook lack of full-time experience if you have a strong portfolio and relevant skills."

So how do you build that portfolio and those skills? Read on for 8 practical ways to gain tech experience with no professional background required.

Start Freelancing

Hands down, the #1 way to gain real-world tech experience is to start freelancing online. Even as a coding or design beginner, you likely have enough skills to help small businesses and solopreneurs with basic technical projects.

Some examples of starter freelance projects include:

• Building simple informational websites
• Debugging and updating existing websites
• Creating logos, graphics, or other visual branding assets
• Managing social media accounts
• Building email marketing campaigns

The great thing about freelancing is you get paid to level up your skills and gain experience. Over time, you can take on more advanced work and charge higher rates.

Many freelancers enjoy the flexibility so much that they continue freelancing long-term instead of seeking traditional employment. Sarah Greer is one such example - she started freelancing web development while still taking online courses. Soon her business was thriving, allowing her to work from home while homeschooling her kids.

The projects and clients you take on as a freelancer make impressive additions to your portfolio. This shows future employers or clients that you have practical, real-world experience versus just academic projects.

Build Your Own Website

As a freelancer or job seeker, an online portfolio is a must. But rather than just a place to display your experience, your website itself can be a source of hands-on learning.

The great thing about a personal website is that you have full creative freedom. As Caro Griffin explains:

"Your portfolio site might be one of the only projects where you’re not limited by coursework requirements, client demands, or a company’s guidelines."

So how can you turn your portfolio into a practical tech playground?

If developing websites is your goal, experiment with adding new functionality like contact forms, hovers, animations, etc using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and other languages.

If you're more interested in design, play around with different visual styles, color palettes, typography, layouts, etc. Treat your website as a design sketchbook where you can try new things risk-free.

For example, Skillcrush student Edinah Chewe created a gorgeous, sleek online portfolio showcasing her eye for color and graphic design. Fellow student Kate's portfolio immediately gives a sense of her personal brand with its playful, bespoke design:

![Edinah Chewe Website Screenshot][]

Edinah Chewe's portfolio website![Kate Website Screenshot][]

Kate's portfolio website

Let your website become a playground for practicing skills that make you stand out as a developer, designer, or technologist. Future employers will take notice!

Get Experience By Doing Coursework

Have you taken coding bootcamps, Skillcrush courses, or other structured tech education? Did you know the projects you complete in those programs count as valuable experience?

The key is learning how to effectively showcase your academic work, both visually and verbally, to future employers.

For your online portfolio, share screenshots and links to major class assignments, passion projects, or other technical work samples from your coursework.

When interviewing, speak in-depth about your process and contributions for those projects. Be ready to discuss details like:

• The objective and requirements for the work
• The planning process you followed
• The tools, technologies, and techniques you utilized
• Technical or creative challenges you faced and overcame
• Areas where you went above and beyond requirements

Properly framed, academic work can demonstrate as much (if not more) practical ability as professional work experience. Skillcrush student Joy Fonderson does an excellent job presenting her coursework in her portfolio:![Joy Fonderson UX Screenshots][]

Screenshots of Joy Fonderson's UX design coursework

Treat your coursework as professional-grade experience, and interviewers will too.

Dive Into Passion Projects

What are you passionate about? How about favorite causes, niche hobbies and interests, skills you'd love to learn?

Passion projects are self-directed efforts where you create something totally new based on something you care about. This lets you showcase creativity and skills in a meaningful way.

For example, Skillcrush student Lisa Crawford built an online community for moms to share advice and stories. Fellow student Carol created a website with therapy resources for a speech disorder impacting a loved one.

Passion projects like these serve many purposes:

• Lets your personality shine through
• Shows self-initiative to interviewers
• Grows your professional network
• Allows creativity without client constraints
• Enables you to try new technology stacks

And because they are self-directed, you can set the timeline and effort level based on your availability. Some passion projects live on for years!

The key is picking something that excites you personally - that intrinsic motivation will result in your best and most unique work.

Contribute to Open Source Projects

Here's a little-known way to gain tech experience while making a difference globally: contributing to open source software projects.

"Open source" means the code and assets behind an application or platform are publicly accessible for anyone to use, modify, or enhance. Thousands of open source projects power everything from WordPress to Firefox to VLC Media Player and beyond.

These projects survive through the generous efforts of volunteer developers and designers around the world. As Skillcrush CEO Adda Birnir explains:

"Contributing to open source tools is really about giving back to the tech community and paying it forward...It allows you to gain real-world tech work experience, grow your network, and build up your GitHub profile — all things employers love to see."

Specific benefits of contributing to open source include:

• Getting hands-on practice using new programming languages and technology stacks
• Collaborating with experienced developers around the world
• Expanding your professional network
• Gaining feedback from senior engineers on your code
• Building an impressive GitHub profile to show future employers
• Supporting important causes and initiatives

For example, Skillcrush student Shannon made various open source contributions then was selected to speak at the Codeland developer conference about her experience.

There are countless open source projects seeking assistance across all areas of technology. Visit GitHub to search projects seeking new contributors today!

Participate in a Hackathon

Want a crash course in collaborating with developers to build an application under tight deadlines? Enter the world of hackathons!

Hackathons are intensive, fast-paced events where technologists team up to quickly prototype solutions for certain problems or themes. These vary from 24-hour local hackathons to multi-day international ones.

Benefits of participating in hackathons include:

• Gaining experience scoping and building full projects very quickly
• Getting practice collaborating closely with teams of developers, designers, etc
• Expanding your professional network exponentially
• Coming up with innovative solutions to pressing issues
• Showcasing your skills under high pressure

For example, Skillcrush student Brianna participated in Codeathon, an educational hackathon focused on designing forward-thinking classroom tools.

While advancing your tech skills, hackathons can also help make the community more inclusive. Thankfully, more hackathons than ever are implementing updated codes of conduct and focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts to welcome participants from all backgrounds.

Check your local tech meetup calendar or Eventbrite for upcoming hackathons near you!

Create Spec Work

Have a favorite app, website, or company you'd love to design or develop for one day? Try creating "spec work" tailored to them!

Spec (or speculative) work means developing a project on your own initiative before getting hired by a client. This allows showing your skills and sensibilities adjusted for that target company.

For example, you could:

• Mock up webpage designs tailored for Apple's branding
• Code a subscription management feature that would nicely complement Spotify's platform
• Design an animated social media video for Ikea showcasing new sustainable product lines

The goal is coming up with relevant designs, code, or ideas that the target company would conceivably use if given the chance.

Spec work is often done as part of crowdsourcing contests where companies offer prizes or even contracts based on contest entries. But you can also create spec work independently just for portfolio building.

Either way, spec work allows you to:

• Demonstrate skills in line with target companies' needs
• Exhibit your unique approach by innovating on existing brands
• Practice aligning your style and sensibilities to specific corporate guidelines
• Come up with creative solutions for real-world problems

Just be sure to explicitly state if your spec work is not officially affiliated with or endorsed by the company, and share it only as a promotional piece or contest entry.

Do Recreated or Mock Projects

Similar to spec work, recreated and mock projects allow gaining experience through imitation and innovation.

For recreated projects, you attempt to accurately replicate existing apps or sites both visually and functionally. This involves:

• Researching how features technically work behind the scenes
• Matching overall visual design and styling
• Identifying key user flows and interactions

Recreating something forces much more meticulous examination than just using it as an end user. You gain hands-on practice problem solving real-world build challenges.

Mock projects involve envisioning how you would handle the technical design or business requirements for hypothetical scenarios. Essentially "what if?" prototyping.

Some examples are:

• Brainstorming an onboarding flow for a new app helping people invest in cryptocurrencies
• Wireframing and prototyping features for an AI-based productivity platform
• Drafting a website migration plan for a fictional non-profit organization

Mock work enables you to demonstrate strategic thinking and creative problem solving — extremely valuable skills.

Both recreated and mock projects make impressive portfolio pieces to show well-rounded experience. And they offer low-stakes opportunities to try new technologies and buff up in-demand skills.

Additional Considerations

Gaining tech experience as a beginner requires using multiple strategies together over an extended period. Be patient, but also persistent.

Equally important is building up your personal brand and network within the industry. Attend local tech meetups, chat with professionals on Twitter, and find mentors to learn from.

And optimize your online presence by polishing your portfolio site, crafting stand-out LinkedIn and GitHub profiles, and so on. Devote time regularly to these essential peripheral skills for getting hired in tech.

Lastly, give attention to crafting your narrative during interviews. Be ready to convincingly convey how all your experience makes you the ideal choice for open roles. Let your passion and dedication shine through.

With a mix of diligent skill-building, regular networking, and good storytelling, you will get that first opportunity. From there, each new milestone gets easier to secure.

You've got this! Now get out there and start gaining hands-on tech experience today.