• Ensure software performance by uncovering bugs, defects, and usability issues.
• Investigate and diagnose complex issues, identifying root causes.
• Validate software functionality, performance, and security.

• What types of regression tests should we run to ensure that changes made in code have not impacted the functioning of the software product?
• How can we ensure that the software product is secure and meets all relevant security protocols?
• How can we ensure that the software product meets all relevant accessibility standards?
• How can we improve our documentation processes to better track testing processes and results?
• What types of root cause analysis should we perform to ensure that bugs are not recurrent?

If you’re interested in breaking into tech, but don’t feel you have the coding skills to join a development team, Quality Analysis can be a great opportunity. Some tech companies specifically look for candidates with a mathematics background for these roles because of their extreme attention to detail and ability to easily find contradictions or other interruptions in logical flows.

As a Quality Analyst, you’ll be responsible for validating that a software product or application meets predetermined requirements. You will test functional requirements, user experience, performance, security, and accessibility. You’ll identify defects and bugs, report these issues to development teams, and help prioritize and resolve them. You’ll perform root cause analysis to ensure that bugs are not repeated, and optimize testing processes by building in automations where possible. You’ll also document your testing processes and results. 

Quality Analysts test software products in multiple ways. You may simply use the software or product and try to break it and find where it doesn’t work. You’ll write and run regression tests to ensure that changes made in the code have not impacted the functioning of the software. You’ll run unit tests to verify that individual modules of the code work as expected, and analyze test results to identify defects and bugs. 

Working as a Quality Analyst will give you the opportunity to enter the tech environment without a highly specialized tech background. You’ll work closely with development teams, affording you the chance to gain insight into the workings of the tech industry. However, some QA positions can be quite technical, especially at the senior level, and depending on the company and its products. 

Overall, this can be a great position to search for entry-level roles in the tech industry. You’ll use your problem-solving skills and attention to detail to ensure that software products and applications meet high standards of quality.

Quality Analyst; Quality Assurance Specialist; Quality Testing Analyst; Quality Assurance Engineer; Analyst - IT Quality.

• Translate customer needs into innovative product features, balancing user requirements and business objectives.
• Develop and implement product roadmaps with priorities, timelines, and milestones.
• Collaborate with engineering, design, and other teams to deliver high-quality products and features.

• How can we balance competing priorities and demands to ensure that the product is meeting both user needs and business goals?
• What metrics should we track to measure the success of our product, and how can we use data analysis to improve these metrics?
• How can we leverage user feedback and data to develop new product features and improvements?
• How can we optimize the product development process to ensure faster, more efficient feature releases?
• How can we better understand user behavior and usage patterns to optimize the user experience?

As a member of a Product Team, you’ll be responsible for supporting a company’s product, whether that be software, an app, or other type of product. Your role will be multifaceted and involve everything from surveying users and ideating new features to coordinating development teams and monitoring product performance. 

As part of a Product Team, you’ll help identify the target market, analyze customer needs, and develop a roadmap for the product’s development, launch, and ongoing feature releases. Effective product management requires collaboration with cross-functional teams such as user experience (UX), design, engineering and development, marketing, and sales. 

You’ll work closely with users to understand how they use the product, gather feedback, and prioritize the development and rollout of new features. You’ll also be responsible for maintaining the product’s overall long-term vision, ensuring that it stays ahead of the competition and remains relevant to the market. 

As a Product Manager or Product Analyst, you’ll have the opportunity to use data analysis as a tool for monitoring how a product is used and how it’s performing. This data can be used to inform decisions about which features should be prioritized and whether the user experience needs to be modified or redesigned as well as to identify areas for improvement and growth. 

In some cases, Product Analyst roles might be highly technical, involving mathematical and statistical modeling to understand user behavior and product performance. In other cases, these roles might be highly communicative, requiring interactions with users and other teams involved in building and executing the product vision. Some are a mix of both.

Product Manager; Product Owner; Product Analyst; Pricing Analyst; Product Strategy Analyst.

• Analyze user data to uncover insights that enable user-centric products and experiences.
• Conduct interviews with users to understand their needs, behaviors, and preferences.
• Ensure seamless and intuitive user experiences.

• How can we optimize the user flow through our product to maximize engagement and conversion rates?
• How can we use A/B testing or other experimental design methods to test and validate design decisions?
• How can we balance the needs of different user personas and user segments when designing a product, and ensure that our product is usable and accessible for all of our user cohorts?
• How can we measure the emotional response of users to our product, and how can we use this information to improve the user experience?
• How can we ensure that our product is intuitive and easy to use for first-time users, while still meeting the needs of power users?

As a User Experience (UX) Researcher, you’ll be working at the intersection of technology and human behavior. Your job will be to make sure that products and experiences are designed with the end-user in mind, ensuring that they are usable and intuitive. You’ll be responsible for observing and analyzing people’s use of a product through interviews, focus groups, and data collected during use.

Your day-to-day tasks will include conducting user interviews, surveys, and observations to gather data about how users interact with products. You’ll analyze data such as where and when a user clicks, changes screens, or anything else about the user journey. You’ll work with a variety of stakeholders, including designers, developers, and product managers to optimize the user experience of websites, apps, software platforms, and more.

You’ll be well-positioned for success if you have the ability to analyze large amounts of user data, using mixed methods techniques that allow you to work with both quantitative and qualitative data. As a UX Researcher, you might also need a strong background in design and human-computer interaction or engineering, depending on the position. 

If you’re passionate about improving user experience, making technology more user-friendly, and creating intuitive designs, this could be a great fit for you.

UX Researcher; UX/UI Designer; User Experience Consultant; Interaction Designer; Mixed Methods UX Researcher.

• Bridge the gap between business and technology by solving complex business problems.
• Analyze processes, systems, and data to identify opportunities for improvement and efficiency.
• Optimize business processes and workflows.

• What is the best way to conduct a gap analysis of our existing systems and processes to identify areas for improvement?
• What are the most effective ways to measure the performance of our IT systems and identify areas for optimization?
• What is the most effective way to conduct a requirements analysis to ensure that IT systems meet the needs of all stakeholders?
• How can we use A/B testing to determine which product features and pricing strategies are the most effective?
• How can we use process mapping to identify inefficiencies in our business processes and develop solutions to streamline them?

As a Business Analyst, your role could encompass a variety of functions that vary depending on the company and department you’re working in. But at a high level, you’ll be responsible for surveying users, synthesizing information and inputs, and devising solutions that improve business systems, processes, and/or products. 

There are three main categories of Business Analysts, each with their own focus. If you work as an IT Business Analyst, you’ll be tasked with bridging the gap between the technical and non-technical departments within a company. This might involve conducting technology and data analysis about the company’s IT systems, as well as surveying and meeting with relevant stakeholders to find new solutions and improve existing solutions. Communication is key in this role, as you’ll be interacting with a wide range of stakeholders.

Alternatively, you might work on product teams, where you’ll gather requirements from end-users of the software products your company sells. This role could look quite similar to a Product Analyst. You’ll organize and prioritize these requirements to build roadmaps for development teams to follow as they build new features and functionality. You’ll likely be in frequent contact with product users, conducting site visits, disseminating surveys, and analyzing data to ensure your team is delivering the best possible product. 

Finally, some Business Analysts focus on optimizing business processes, such as reporting processes, implementation processes, or project management processes. If you enjoy understanding complex processes and finding ways to improve them, this might be the role for you. Your work will be highly analytical, looking for ways to increase efficiency and eliminate bottlenecks and redundancies.

Business Analyst; Business Systems Analyst; Solutions Analyst; IT Business Consultant; Consultant - Business Analysis.

• Help users overcome technology challenges and achieve their goals.
• Troubleshoot and resolve technical issues.
• Bridge the gap between complex technical concepts and non-technical users.

• Are there any recurring issues that we should escalate to the development team for further investigation?
• How can we improve the product documentation to help users better navigate the software product?
• What are the key metrics we should track to measure the success of our support efforts?
• Have we properly identified the root cause of the customer’s issue, and what steps can we take to resolve it?
• What are the most common issues customers have with our product, how can we identify them, and how can we proactively address them?

As a Technical Support Analyst, you’ll generally assist people who use software products in a professional capacity, helping them to solve specific problems and do their jobs more effectively. You’ll use your problem-solving skills to troubleshoot and continuously learn about new technology and software. And you’ll have the chance to work with a range of stakeholders and get insight into many different business processes, including development workflows. 

As a Technical Support Analyst, you’ll help users troubleshoot any issues they’re having with the product, identify bugs by analyzing recurrent issues, create support documentation and materials to help users navigate the product, and bridge the gap between users and developers to improve software products. You’ll need strong communication skills to break down technical concepts for non-technical audiences. 

Working as a Technical Support Analyst, you’ll help professionals use software products more effectively, continuously learn about new technology and software, and gain valuable insights into the workings of the tech industry. 

Technical Support Analyst; Customer Support Engineer; Support Analyst; Technical Support Representative; Software Technical Support Analyst.

• Bridge the gap between complex technical concepts and non-technical audiences.
• Create user-friendly manuals, release notes, and online help documentation.
• Empower users to maximize the benefits of features and functionality.

• What is the target audience for this document, and what level of technical expertise do they possess? How can we use this information to create content that is tailored to their specific needs and preferences?
• What is the best format for presenting this information, such as a user guide, tutorial, or quick reference video? What are the benefits and drawbacks of each format?
• How can we prioritize the information to make sure that the most important features are highlighted?
• How can we effectively incorporate graphics, screenshots, and guided demonstrations to enhance the user’s understanding of this product? What design principles do we need to follow to create effective visuals, such as contrast, alignment, and hierarchy?
• How can we ensure that our writing is consistent with the organization’s branding and style guidelines, to create a consistent and professional appearance across multiple documents?

If you’d like to combine your enjoyment of technology and communication, consider technical writing. Technical writing and related technical communications are increasingly crucial in today’s digital age, with the increasing release of technological, digital, and scientific products. 

As a Technical Writer, you will have the opportunity to create manuals, release notes, online help and support documentation, and updates for both individual users and companies that use digital products. The purpose of these communications is to explain the features and their functionality, as well as how to use that functionality to the users’ advantage. As a Technical Writer, you will need to deeply understand the complex technical aspects of a product and how they relate to the users’ interactions with them.

Your ability to translate technical concepts into easy-to-understand language and step-by-step processes that are accessible for all audiences is essential. To develop your documentation, you’ll interview subject matter experts (SMEs), such as Product Managers and Software Developers, about the product for which you write your user guides. Additionally, you might create graphics, videos, or other visual demonstrations to help familiarize users with new products or features. 

As a Technical Writer, you will need to be creative and innovative to present technical information so that it is engaging. Your documentation and guides may require several rounds of revision to ensure accessibility for your intended audience.

Technical Writer; Technical Content Specialist; Technical Documentation Writer; Senior Technical Writer; Technical Communication Specialist.