What You Need In Your Tech Career Is A Niche

Whether you’re just getting into tech or are experienced in IT, you’ve probably wondered about specialization. There’s plenty of talk about unicorns in tech—people who can work as both designers and developers—but is that really the best route to go or should you focus on just one area?

While every career path has its plusses and minuses, in this article you’ll find out the three huge reasons a clear focus can be your key to success. You’ll also get a peek into three exciting fields in tech that might be exactly the niche you’re looking for!

Especially when you’re first starting in tech but also as you’re continuing to develop professionally, the number of things to learn can feel overwhelming. New languages, technologies, and techniques pop up every year, if not every week, and staying on top of them all is simply impossible.

But, when you choose a distinct discipline, you cut back incredibly on what’s demanded from you. That not only makes your schedule more manageable but also reduces your stress and speeds up your learning.

By choosing a specific part of the tech world to work in, you set yourself apart from the masses. So, instead of competing with every developer or designer (or both!) in your job search, you’re in a group of just a select few that offer the same skills and services, so your chances of being chosen skyrocket.

As a focused IT pro, you’ll easily get to know your area of speciality and the needs of companies and clients in that area. Then you can easily highlight your unique qualifications and experience on your resume and in your portfolio. And any potential employer or client will know right away that you’re right for their particular position or project. Gig landed. Cha-ching!

My personal favorite reason for sticking to a particular specialization is enjoyment. When it comes to work, we tend to put achievement and earnings first, but since you spend most of your life at your job, isn’t it worth doing something you actually like? (As someone who only found true job happiness by pursuing her childhood passion for tech after trying two whole other careers, I say “Heck, yeah!”)

By going down the path you’re most drawn to, you can actually enjoy your work, which I promise will make it seem a lot less like, well, work. And, thanks to the incredible amount of positions available in tech and the solid salary levels in the industry, you can also achieve that dream of yours to finally get paid well for having a good time.

Front-end developers are the actual architects of the internet. Using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (including libraries like React) they create and maintain the interactive websites you’ve come to rely on every single day. And, using advanced skills like CSS

Grid Layout, Flexbox, and Bootstrap, developers make those sites responsive, interactive, modern, and fun to use!

Want to learn with us at Skillcrush? Check out our Front End Development + JavaScript React course and keep your eye out for our advanced CSS class soon!

2. PYTHON PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

Python developers build web apps and data visualizations using the beginner-friendly but super-powerful Python programming language, AND they get paid top salaries for doing it! Python developers are in high demand, especially in data science, scientific computing, machine learning, the financial industry, and at many start-ups. Definitely a field worth slithering a look at!

Want to learn with us at Skillcrush? Check out our Python for Web Apps and Data course.

3. USER EXPERIENCE (UX)

User experience (aka UX) designers are the people who make sure you enjoy your time online. They research, improve, and test websites and apps so that your user experience is the best possible. If you’re into figuring out what makes people tick and how to make them happy, this hot tech field is for you!

Want to learn with us at Skillcrush? Check out our User Experience (UX) Design course.

This article was written by Kelli Smith and originally appeared on Skillcrush.