The 3 Reasons Tech Is the Industry For Family Men

Let’s say you go to a thoroughly recommended Japanese restaurant in San Francisco. Let’s also say that you happen to sit down next to a group of boisterous, young tech bros who are trying to out-do one another with stories about their respective jet ski accidents.

Would you think, “Ah yes, my people. I am among compatriots and companions.” Or would you let your menu gently flap down on the table as you breathe out a slow sigh, wondering if tech is actually right for you. After all, you’ve got family responsibilities now. And you’ve never even piloted a jet ski, let alone crashed one. Does that disqualify you?

If you’re in the latter category, you’re not alone. Tech has not undeservedly earned a reputation for being an industry dominated by younger men guided by the “move fast and break things” ethos, which you once associated with innovation, but which now makes you think about your toddler chasing your cat.

This culture predominantly makes it harder for minorities and women to gain proper representation in the field (there are ways for these_{5 Reasons Why Bootcamps Are the Best Way for Women to Break Into Tech} groups to break into tech nonetheless), but it also might discourage family men from making the switch. 

But here’s why the tech bro jet ski reputation is bunk and why tech is indeed the best industry for family men. Let’s dive in.

Your earning potential increases

We know. Usually, this reason is left for last or discreetly hidden among others that feel less gauche to mention. But we’re starting here because 63% of men said that the most important factor for them when considering a new job was if it increased their income and offered better benefits. So — maybe it’s not the first thing to talk about at a dinner party, but it’s definitely the first thing to talk about when discussing a career upgrade.

Tech is the industry for salary increases, and we have the stats to prove it. Just look at the data in our Outcomes Report.

As we’ve found, the majority of our grads increased their annual income by more than $27,000. But that’s a general stat. Our Data Science Bootcamp grads saw their salaries increase by $42,300. 

And this reflects a population that is almost entirely taking entry-level positions in tech. That means it’s just a starting point. Once you get more years of experience on your resume, your earnings can shoot up to nearly $270,000_{The Top 18 Companies That Pay Software Engineers the Most in 2024} if you specialize and pursue your career growth strategically.

Other high-earning sectors like healthcare and law are much harder to break into. For these professions, you absolutely need advanced degrees that can take years and years to earn. That’s not the case with tech, for which you can master the skills within 10 months. 

In addition, tech is open to newcomer candidates. In our survey of over 1,000 hiring decision makers, when we asked tech decision makers about their current hiring practices, nearly eight out of 10 respondents said they were already bringing on applicants with non-traditional backgrounds.

In combination, what that means is that you can find a better-paying job without spending years studying (and maybe even taking on extra student debt).

Society is changing. Most households are now dual-income, and while that means you as a family man share the responsibility of making money with your partner, it still might not feel like you’re in a financially stable situation. By switching to tech, you can change that.

And switching to tech might just give you more time with your partner, too.

You get better work-life balance

We’ll return to the Gallup poll mentioned earlier. In it, 56% of men reported that work-life balance and better wellbeing were the most important factors when considering a new job. And the Pew Research Center found that 63% of fathers self-reported that they spend too little time with their kids. The main thing keeping them away? Work. Combined, these findings make the conclusion clear: family men want more time for their families.

This is what led AC Slamet_{A Producer Switches to Tech to Find Time for Life: AC Slamet’s TripleTen Story} to switch to tech. See, he had been working as a producer in reality TV. During the holiday season, he’d have to be on set. Sure, AC’s loved ones were hosting events, but so were the stars of the shows he was working on. The stars’ get-togethers needed to be filmed, so they took precedence. “You sometimes have to miss birthdays. You miss anniversaries. You miss people’s graduations. It’s tough,” he said.

It wasn’t just that he was required to be away from his loved ones on holidays — the time demands could be grueling, too. “A normal shoot day for producers would be 15 hours,” he said. This started getting to him. “The toll it took on me health-wise — it can be a very stressful job and obviously physically taxing because of the long hours, and you’re on your feet a lot.”

He knew he needed a change, especially once he started planning out his future. “I met my partner, we started getting very serious, and we started talking about possibly having a family, having children,” he said. But when he looked at his fellow producers, he noticed that some of them would go months at a time without seeing their kids. “I needed something that would enable me to be home more.”

That decided it for him. He enrolled in TripleTen, finished the program, and soon enough, he’d landed a job as a data analyst at an ad agency. Reflecting on it, he still celebrates the work-life balance he achieved with his new job. Now, he has time to help his partner take care of their dogs and lend a hand with laundry. “It’s a breath of fresh air,” he said.

AC’s story isn’t a fluke, either. If we return to our Outcomes Report, we can see that the absolute majority of our grads land flexible work arrangements in their new careers. In total, 82% spend at least part of their week working remotely, and 61% don’t have to come into an office whatsoever.

This allows family men to spend more time with their loved ones. Do the kids need to be picked up from school? When fathers work remotely at least part of the time, they can do this more often (and maybe sneakily take the kids out for ice cream to build some shared memories).

If you switch to tech, this ability to be there for your family might just become your stable reality, too.

You get career stability

If you’re thinking about switching to tech, you might be one of the 52% of men in the Gallup poll who said that the most important factor when considering a new job was greater job security. And this emphasis on reliability in a new career is likely doubly true for you if you’re pivoting into tech from a different professional sphere. After all, a shift to a new job is a fundamentally different thing from a shift to a new career. That’s the sort of pivot you want to make only once.

Good news: based on the growth data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, if you choose to move into tech, it’ll likely be the last significant professional transformation you’ll ever have to undertake. Let’s look at the numbers.

At the top, we left the BLS’s estimated average growth rate across all professions for 2022-2032 — 2.8%. We can then compare that to the top five professions that promise the highest growth rates over the next eight years. Three out of five are in tech. The other two are in healthcare and, as we mentioned above, require that you spend years getting the proper degrees.

That means that gaining tech skills will ensure that you’re hirable and attractive to employers far into the future. No need to wonder if you’re in a dying field. No need to start looking at other industries to hop to (which we assume you’re curious about since you’re here now). You’ll have the know-how that will allow you to pull in that attractive salary and enjoy that respectable work-life balance for years to come.

This was what brought Jeremy Rivera_{Balancing College, Work, Family, and a Part-Time Bootcamp to Find Tech Success: Jeremy Rivera’s TripleTen Story} to TripleTen in the first place. As he was finishing up a college degree in communications and media (and simultaneously working a full-time job in distribution), he started doubting if his degree or professional experience would lead to a career that would be sustainable in the long run. So he started looking into tech.

I saw the market value of being a software engineer or a web developer. Jeremy Rivera, TripleTen grad

He discovered TripleTen, and even though he had family duties, a degree to finish, and a job to do, he still found time to complete all his work for the Software Engineering program. 

“I worked my distribution job 4-5 days a week. I would leave work, drive to school, go to class at 2:30 p.m. and at 6:30 p.m., and get home around 10 p.m. before waking up at 3 a.m. to get ready for my job. I managed to fit the bootcamp in the time I would’ve spent binging Netflix or being out every weekend,” he said.

Because of his dedication, he completed the bootcamp and landed a job at The Walters Institute, a tax firm. Now, he’s integral to the company. “Currently, I am the tech team!” he said.

To stay agile and ready for whatever comes next, he keeps honing his know-how in his free time. “On top of JavaScript and React, I’m learning TypeScript and other React frameworks.”

He’s primed for a long, fruitful career because of the skills he gained. And you can follow his lead.

How to get there

So even despite the dominant narrative of tech being an industry for the young and brash, it’s also ideal for men whose priorities are now shifting to family. You get the paycheck that can help support a family, the schedule to enjoy your time with them, and the career that can see to those two benefits lasting as your kids grow up.

But, like Jeremy, you probably have a fairly busy schedule. TripleTen is part-time so that people like you can enroll and work towards a better career without having to forgo any of your current responsibilities.

See if a bootcamp is the right way for you to land the career you’ve been looking for. Take our self-assessment quiz today.