WHY DIGITAL MARKETING IS THE PERFECT SKILL TO START YOUR IT CAREER
Today most young guys want to build their career in IT, but don't know where to start. That's why I decided to write this article in which I analyze in details IT specialties which young guys can choose at the start.
Hi, my name is Anton Viborniy. I'm a co-founder of the Apiway technology startup. Our software (app) helps more than
20 000+ digital marketers to automate their routine work.
I started my career in digital marketing in 2010, in 2013 I opened a marketing agency, which was transformed into a technology startup Apiway in 2019.
That is, I went from being a junior digital marketer to the founder of a technology startup in the digital marketing industry. In this article, I want to share my experience.
I'll start with the bad news.
In the next 10 years, there will be a huge crisis in the world. It'll affect ABSOLUTELY everyone. Some are more affected, some not so much. Some will become poorer, and some will become fantastically rich since the crisis gives opportunities.
It's important to understand that the world won't be the same and it's your task as a young energetic person to choose the right direction in development.
It's like surfing. A good surfer knows where 'good waves' are and goes to meet them. He won't wait for a good wave in a 'lake'.
Accordingly, if you want to be successful, you need to work on the Internet. Of course, there are many different offline industries, but I strongly recommend you build a career in IT.
These are the creation of products and the promotion of products. There is also a third one, which is less important. This process is done by various departments that serve businesses.
Programmers, product managers, and product designers create products.
Product promotion is done by digital marketers, salespeople, and web designers (all creative specialties).
Those who provide services for the business are lawyers, accountants, financiers, security departments, HR (Hiring), and so on. This is a support function that is common to large businesses.
That is:
If you look closely at all IT businesses, they have two key business processes.
Programmers create something to sell.
Digital marketers and salespeople sell what programmers and product managers created.
Accountants and lawyers support these first two groups of people so that the business is stable
I've been in business for more than 10 years. I have many entrepreneur friends. They all have knowledge of digital marketing, and almost all of them started out as digital marketers.
I got into the IT industry through digital marketing. I became a marketer, then opened a marketing agency specializing in CRM (an app that helps businesses manage sales processes).
In one of our cases, we were implementing CRM in our client's business, and he needed customizations. I outsourced the programmers. That's how we met my future partner and technical co-founder of Apiway.
In 2019, our agency transformed into a technology startup Apiway.
Now it's important for you to understand that digital marketing was a gateway to the IT industry. At the agency, we had clients (businesses) that we promote online. The businesses had a problem making integrations between applications, for example, transferring data from Facebook ads to Google Spreadsheets. We understood this problem and created a solution to this problem. The first Apiway sales were to clients of our agency.
It's important to understand that without agency experience, we wouldn't have known that such a problem existed. We wouldn't have been able to create a startup without that experience. Also, without an agency client base, we wouldn't have had our first sales at the startup.
The level of earnings is ranked by importance. The highest earners are those who create products, then those who sell them, and only then those who support the infrastructure of the company. It's like the food chain in nature.
I think it's no secret to you that programmers nowadays are in demand and make good money. But not everyone can code, not everyone even wants to. I, for example, can't code. And I don't want to. I have absolutely different mindset. That's why I have a co-founder who is responsible for coding at our startup Apiway.
Accordingly,
you need to choose: to create, promote.
There can be many different specialties under the word promote. A 3D artist who creates commercials for the movie Avatar also sells. A lot of people think that the "selling/promoting" process is "making phone calls" to different people and selling some trash, like in the Wolf of Wall Street movie.
It's not. Promoting a product includes many processes. Digital ads set up, web design, content creation, and others.
If you don't want to code, I strongly recommend you take a closer look at the promotion direction.
The most popular profession associated with promotion is digital marketer.
Marketers help businesses make more money promoting their products or services online using tools like FB advertising, content marketing, copywriting, TikTok advertising, etc.
Today, digital marketing is the foundation of any business. No matter how great a product or service you have, you can't make money without knowing how to promote it on the Internet
Accordingly, if you have thoughts about starting your own business, you need to be skilled in digital marketing in any case.
This skill will be useful throughout all your life. I don't know anyone who has sales or marketing skills and says those skills have never come in handy in their life.
In order to start a career in digital marketing, you need to master only one skill, and it happens pretty quickly. Literally in a couple of months. For programmers, this process is long, you need to learn for years to reach a decent level of pay.
Accordingly, if you want to start a career in IT, start with marketing.