Everyone wants a career that pays well, but finding a high paying entry level job can be difficult in most markets. Fortunately, this is not the case for the tech industry. Even outside of Silicon Valley, there are tons of high paying entry level tech jobs.
Two of the main attractions of technology careers are their high salaries and excellent career mobility. What’s more, the Bureau of Labor Statistics makes it clear that the need for jobs in technology are growing fast. People who work with computer systems can find a job almost anywhere. From technical support to software engineering, entry level positions are everywhere.
In this guide, we’ll show you which tech jobs will net you an excellent salary even if you have little or no experience. We’ve examined Glassdoor’s salary charts and have the facts and figures to point you in the right direction.
The 4 Best Entry Level Tech Jobs for 2021
You may be wondering how much an entry level IT job pays. Technology careers are unique in that they allow both college graduates and non-graduates to make six figures quickly. When you start your tech career, you expect to make a decent living. But which entry level tech jobs offer the highest starting salaries?
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Four of the best and highest paying entry level IT jobs include:
- Web Designer
- Social Media Manager
- Web Developer
- Data Analyst
Now, let’s take a deeper look at each of these lucrative careers.
1. Web Designer
You might be intimidated by the thought of designing websites if you don’t have any prior experience in software engineering. But you’d be surprised at how easy it is to get started in the field. With an eye for aesthetics and a solid grasp of end-user behavior and expectations, you can land a good web designer job with an attractive starting salary.
Web design has a bit of an apprentice-journeyman-master training aspect to it. So you can easily find a junior web designer gig that lets you learn at the feet of a seasoned pro.
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Web developers create websites, enhance user experience, and update systems to help companies manage their online presence. Communication skills are a must in this position, as all software developers must communicate effectively with the whole engineering team.
Junior web designers make about $50,000 a year when they start out. But your pay will rapidly increase as you accrue design experience. You’ll need to train yourself before taking a web design position. Earning a degree in computer science or attending a bootcamp will give you the skills you need. You can also pick up the training on your own by learning how to use the Adobe Creative Suite as well as HTML and CSS.
2. Social Media Manager
This position, like many others in the tech industry, didn’t exist until recently. Social media has been the up-and-coming leader in new business technology lately, and there’s a serious lack of people who know how to take advantage of it.
People who can effectively shape a company’s social media profile and message are like gold to modern businesses. You can get in on the first floor of this business revolution as a social media manager. Social media managers aren’t simply customer service; they help establish a brand presence online, which is essential today.
Because the social media field is so new, you don’t need a ton of experience to find a good gig. You’ll need to be adept at accessing reports and data to support or guide your messaging, and you should be comfortable working with social calendars.
Be familiar with growth strategy patterns, and make sure you have solid writing, communications, and scheduling tool chops, too. You’ll make about $50,000 a year as a social media manager, although your experience will dictate your pay to some degree.
3. Web Developer
Problem solvers and visually-oriented people often flourish in a web development position. If you’re interested in design, you might also be suited to a career as a web developer. Unlike a web designer, a web developer works with the nuts and bolts that go into building a website. As a web developer, you’ll become familiar with what goes into building a website, from soup to nuts.
Junior web developers usually work directly under senior developers to learn the skills and processes needed to create modern websites. As a new web developer, you’ll make an annual salary of about $55,000, although that will soon change as you add knowledge and experience.
To become a web developer, you should have a solid understanding of popular coding languages like CSS, JavaScript, PHP, Python, and Ruby on Rails, to name a few. To acquire that knowledge, you can opt to study on your own or attend a coding bootcamp.
4. Data Analyst
In today’s business environment, data is king. The more information a company has about its customers, their preferences, and their buying habits, the more flexible and responsive it can be in responding to changing needs.
Data analysts are key to the data acquisition cycle. They identify data to collect and ensure that it’s correctly analyzed, compiled, and interpreted so it can be used to improve company performance. Data analysts often have strong organizational skills.
As a new data analyst, you’ll start with a solid annual salary of about $61,000, which you can expect to increase as you gain experience.
Learn XML and JavaScript and get familiar with segmentation and data mining, too. It doesn’t hurt to have healthy design skills along with your data knowledge, as you will need to present your findings in an appealing and user-friendly way.
A Final Word on Entry Level Tech Jobs
Technology careers are known to pay well, but it’s hard to find one that will get you a good entry level salary. With this guide, you now know which tech jobs will net you a good salary as an entry level worker in the technology field. Before long, you’ll be using your tech skills and earning a higher salary.
What’s your opinion of high-paying entry level tech jobs? Let us know your thoughts in our comments section below.
About us: Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication.
