An honest appraisal of your current technical skills, and your willingness and capacity to learn and develop in this area is a good starting point. For example, if you have developed programming and coding skills, how confident do you feel in this area? Speaking with employers on campus and attending events run by LSE Generate and LSE Careers can help clarify which role might suit you.
If you are looking to gain experience:
Internships and work experience will provide an advantage but are not the only option. Look out for coding clubs, hackathons and other collaborative tech focused events on campus or beyond. Meeting with students from different institutions, including those with technical and engineering degree programmes such as UCL and Imperial, can help develop your knowledge and skills along with your network of contacts.
If you are early on in your career:
Technology graduate programmes are available across a broad range of organisations. A graduate programme can be a good way of accessing training and development opportunities for non-IT graduates, and are often used as an entry point into this field by LSE students. Alternatively, you may wish to explore opportunities within SMEs and start-ups where your drive, adaptability and entrepreneurial skills will be equally valued.
If you have more experience:
The best route is likely to be through recruitment agencies and search firms, networking within the sector and applying directly for roles on company websites and via LinkedIn. An ability to demonstrate your continuous professional development in relation to technology and innovation will be key to ensuring that your previous work experience is relevant to future employers.
If you’re changing career:
Reflect on what your existing skills might add to a technology-focused role. Be prepared to be flexible. LSE Alumni who have changed career often emphasise the important of making a number of moves in the first few years. This blog from LSE Careers highlights some of the areas to focus on.