Transitioning from Customer Service Representatives to Software Engineers

Despite being named a “Best Business Job” by U.S. News in 2024, most customer service representatives would agree that the career is a challenging one.

Poor pay, diminishing prospects, and low job satisfaction are just some of the many issues plaguing the profession. In fact, people in this role rate their career happiness at only 2.3 out of 5 stars — putting them in the bottom 2% of all careers. Add in a projected 5% decrease in employment by 2033 and it’s easy to understand why a customer service rep would want a change.

If that’s you, here’s why tech is a great next step and what to know before you dive in.

First things first: you’re not starting from zero

All jobs, regardless of role or responsibilities, offer transferable skills for working in tech. Which is why it’s helpful to take stock of all the capabilities you already bring to the table — not just to give yourself a confidence boost, but also to understand what skills you will need to cultivate.

Empathy

Customer service requires great amounts of patience and empathy to field negative emotions and even language from customers while helping them solve their problems. In tech, empathy is a valuable soft skill that employers look for in hires to help their business build better products.

Problem-solving

Every day is one problem after another to be solved in customer service. While the pace is less punishing in tech, most roles are solving problems every day, too. These can be big problems (like how to bring a product to market) or small problems (like how to fix a line of code).

Communication

Whether practicing active listening with a customer or using positive language to relay next steps, customer service representatives have to develop excellent communication skills. In the tech industry, being able to communicate clearly is just as important as being able to code.

Conflict resolution

Calming an irate customer down is no easy feat, but customer service representatives have to do it all the time. Knowing how to turn conflict into a successful outcome is a compelling skill to have when entering tech, since many companies encourage a democratic exchange of ideas.

Time management

Clearing a queue of customer complaints is a daily battle for customer service representatives. Tech professionals have never-ending to-do lists and service level agreements to contend with as well. Knowing how to manage your time effectively is essential as a tech professional.

The jobs you can get

So now that you know some of the skills you already bring, you’re probably eager to know just how much you’ll have to learn before starting a job in tech. Ultimately, it depends on which career path you choose for yourself, but the following list of roles can give you a general idea.

Software engineering

Software engineering is a broad category of roles united by one major attribute: They write the code that powers everything digital, from smartphones to cars, medical devices, even toys. Because of this, they remain in-demand across nearly every industry and span many jobs.

• ‍Full-Stack Engineer

A full-stack engineer works using both front- and back-end developer skills, meaning they can build applications from zero to launch. If you’re totally new to tech, front-end refers to the things you can see on a website and back-end refers to the things you can’t, e.g. server-side logic.

Full-stack engineers spend most of their time researching requirements, participating in system design, programming in languages such as JavaScript and HTML/CSS, testing their code for bugs, and collaborating with team members.

Their career prospects are excellent, with a median pay of $132,270 and a projected employment growth of 13% by 2033.

• ‍UI/UX Developer

A UI/UX developer focuses on user interaction (UI) and/or user experience (UX), planning user pathways, information architecture, visual design and typography, and other aesthetics for an application or website — all with the goal of delivering better experiences for users.

Any given workday will see UI/UX developers using design tools to create wireframes and prototypes, coding in HTML, JavaScript, or CSS, collaborating with other types of developers on their team, and liaising with clients or customers to improve products.

Their career prospects are strong, with a median pay of $92,750 and a projected employment growth of 8% by 2033.

Quality assurance

Quality assurance (QA) careers oversee the entire software development process to ensure code is being properly deployed; they also work closely with software engineers to troubleshoot and fix bugs when they arise. No surprise, these are great roles for detail-oriented personalities!

• ‍QA Engineer

A QA engineer is a technical expert that has a passion for preventing tech from breaking (and fixing things when accidents happen). This role is highly collaborative, self-driven, and tenacious, requiring good interpersonal skills as much as good hard skills.

During their day-to-day, QA engineers run tests, write simple scripts, document processes and changes, and sit in on stakeholder meetings or brainstorming sessions. They regularly put themselves in users’ shoes to predict worst-case scenarios and install guardrails to avoid these situations.

Their career prospects are good, with a median pay of $101,800 and a projected employment growth of 12% by 2033.

Business intelligence analytics

Business intelligence (BI) analytics roles examine business data to help people make informed decisions. This is accomplished using a combination of reporting, dashboards, and data visualization and storytelling, all powered by software that extracts, transforms, and loads data.

• ‍BI developer

BI developers design and maintain BI reports that cater to business needs, meaning they spend a good deal of time talking to stakeholders and leaders. A large portion of their work involves extract, transform, and load processes, as well as ensuring that data is secure.

People in this role spend their time using BI tools like Tableau, Power BI, or QlikView to design dashboards, reports, and visualizations, documenting data models and reports, and conducting training so that non-technical staff can navigate and interpret BI solutions.

Their career prospects are excellent, with a median pay of $83,640 and a projected employment growth of 23% by 2033.

• ‍Marketing analyst

Marketing analysts blend delving into data, looking into buyer behavior, and forward-thinking decision-making into a single role. They look at data from sources like website traffic, social media, and market trends to gain insights that steer promotional plans.

Daily tasks include working closely with creators and sales professionals, providing data-driven insights that inform choices in content, distribution channels, and promotional activities, and helping companies set goals and track the success of their marketing actions.

Their career prospects are good, with a median pay of $74,680 and a projected employment growth of 8% by 2033.

Cyber security

Cyber security is a highly rewarding career — especially for justice-minded professionals who want to make the world a safer place. From combating criminal activity online to safeguarding essential systems and sensitive information, these jobs are constantly evolving.

• ‍Security analyst

Half digital border guard, half detective, security analysts monitor networks, investigate incidents, and catch attackers in the act. As such, they need to stay on top of the latest cyber security trends and relevant certifications to ensure they are prepared for whatever is next.

Their day-to-day includes triaging security alerts, conducting penetration testing, installing software, performing compliance control testing, developing security standards, monitoring networks for breaches, and protecting sensitive information.

Their career prospects are strong, with a median pay of $120,360 and a projected employment growth of 33% by 2033.

Data science

Like many data professionals, data scientist roles are responsible for processing data. But what makes them unique is that they then use that data to construct models to make predictions. This makes this profession essential to business success in a world that’s increasingly data-driven.

• ‍Machine learning engineer

Machine learning engineers spend the bulk of their time creating, deploying, and optimizing machine learning models. That means they have to determine what these algorithms should do, train them on data, and then make sure there are no bugs.

During their workday, they collaborate with software engineers and project managers to ensure the models are doing what they’re supposed to, which includes integrating the model into the final production environment and scaling it later on.

Their career prospects are excellent, with a median pay of $108,020 and a projected employment growth of 36% by 2033.

How to get there

When it comes to learning new skills required for a tech career, you’ve got three main options: Independent study, a college program, or a professional bootcamp. Each one has its pros and cons, but the good news is having options means you can choose the best one for your stage of life, budget, and current work commitments. Here’s a high-level overview of each path.

Independent study

Self-led studying is both the most challenging and most economical approach because it requires so much self-discipline and research. This path typically entails free online courses, white papers and books, communities like GitHub, and attending industry events.

Getting a college degree

With the average cost of tuition for computer science degree programs ranging from $38,496 to $66,000 per year, going to college can be a big investment. But if you want a formal credential and comprehensive instruction of four years, then this can be a great foundation for your pivot.

A tech bootcamp

Professional bootcamps are intensive training programs that typically last less than a year. They are designed to help you learn the most relevant and in-demand technologies in the industry in a shorter timeframe and at a lower cost than a college program.

See if a bootcamp is right for you

At TripleTen, we’re passionate about helping people just like you reclaim their time and energy with our flexible approach to learning technical skills. In fact, 80% of our students consider themselves tech beginners, coming from non-STEM careers like education or service industry.

We also recognize that a professional bootcamp isn’t right for everyone. Which is why we created a five-minute quiz to help aspiring tech workers figure out the best educational path for them. Results are based on a whole wealth of data and include information on taking next steps.

Ready to find out how to make your move into tech? Take our quiz today.