How I Got Into Tech: Engineering Lead Katie Schick

On our careers site, we encourage candidates to tell imposter syndrome to take the day off — in other words, don't let a confidence gap, or a lack of a traditional tech resume, get in the way of applying to HubSpot. (Ready to take the leap right now? Check out our open positions.)

One of the best ways to reinforce this idea is to tell the stories of how current HubSpotters got into tech, especially if it was through an unexpected or nontraditional path.

Here, Engineering Lead Katie Schick shares her story. (Full transcript below.)

Transcript:

My name is Katie Schick, and I'm an Engineering Lead here at HubSpot.

My path to tech was non-traditional, as so many are. I majored in english and music and started out my career working as a user and market researcher, and then as a product manager. That was my first exposure to software development, and I thought what the engineers did seems pretty magical, and I wanted to learn how to do it too. I started trying to teach myself to code in my spare time and found that I really loved the creative problem solving nature of the work.

I was incredibly fortunate with my first engineering manager, who really took a chance on me and helped me build confidence and skills as an engineer. Because of him, and because of my own path, I will always lean towards taking a chance on someone who might not have a lot of experience on paper, but who shows great potential.

I think folks who come from a non-traditional background have uniquely strong qualities of resilience and grit. I truly think anyone can learn to code and that it's never too late to make a career change. My main advice would be to take it one step at a time and try not to get overwhelmed by how much there is to learn. This job requires lifelong learning. So just pick something to focus on and keep moving forward from there.

Want to work for a team that tells imposter syndrome to take the day off? Check out our open positions and apply.