When I knew NOTHING about Tech

When I first started my job in tech recruitment, I knew NOTHING about the world of tech. I had winged it in my interview, and was at the start of a very steep learning curve.

Figuring the best way to learn about the world of tech was to find out from the people who worked in it. I made it my mission to talk to as many people as possible.

I had over 200 candidates (I mean ‘resources’) in the spreadsheet from hell. Let’s just see what I can find out from them, I thought.

Some conversations were short, some were long, some were awkward, some were almost fun. I just didn’t understand ANY of them. 

Here is what happened when I spoke to a Programme Manager for the first time:

This particular Programme Manager was working out of South Africa and earning 4 figures a day! It was almost impossible for me to fathom how much money that was. I had come from a recruitment job on a temp desk where candidates earned somewhere between £7 -15 per hour. Four figures a day was unimaginable.

I eagerly listened to this ‘resource’ telling me about the programme he was on, and kept the conversation going with phrases like,

“Tell me more how about how that is going?”

“Aw that sounds really interesting, sounds like you have a lot of responsibility there”

and

“That sounds really challenging!”

The only programmes I knew about then were the ones you watch on TV!

I learned that a programme manager oversees various projects within a programme of work. They would often have multiple Project Managers feeding updates on their projects into them as they oversaw the ’programme’.

Here is a useful link if you want to learn more: Difference between a Project and a Programme | UK (prince2.com)

Leila, who worked in accounts, sat just behind me. Fortunately or unfortunately for her, she was able to hear all my conversations. I put the phone down and Leila chuckled:

“Sam, you are so funny. Every time I hear you on the phone you always seem to think that the work they are doing ‘‘sounds really challenging.”

“Ha, I hadn’t realised I said it that often to be honest”, I replied.

I looked around and lowered my voice.

“Don’t tell anyone, but, whenever you hear me say that it means that I haven’t understood a single thing that they have said, and I don’t know what else to say.”

“Don’t worry Sam,” Leila said reassuringly,

“I don’t have a clue what they do either”.

We had a giggle about it. It was nice to have found a common ground with someone in my new job.

An unintended compliment

“That sounds really challenging” helped me learn, and get more information out of people. The ‘resources’ seemed pleased that I thought their work was a challenge. On reflection, it was an unintended compliment whilst I was saving my pride because: I had no clue what they were talking about.

Be Curious

Working in tech recruitment has taught me that if you don’t understand what someone is talking about, just ask. 99.9% of the time they will happily explain it to you.

Being a recruiter was then, and still is my dream job.

I still love learning about what different people do in their jobs, especially in tech. It all “sounds really challenging” but it’s fascinating when you start to understand it.

The tech industry changes all the time, I promise you’ll never get bored working as a tech recruiter.