Transitioning from Retail Salespersons to Software Engineers

Whether you’re in retail by choice or by chance, there’s a lot to like about the work. In fact, the majority (87%) of retail employees say they enjoy their current role and 77% even report feeling engaged with their organization. That’s surprisingly high, considering retail professionals are also 1.2x more likely to leave their job than the average worker. And when they do, nearly three-quarters exit the industry altogether in pursuit of better pay, advancement, or flexibility.

Considering joining these retail renegades? Then this article is for you. Read on to learn how the skills you’ve honed in retail can serve you well as you embark on a new career in tech.

Transferable skills — why the shift isn’t a stretch

Retail jobs are often easy to learn, but that doesn’t mean they’re easy to perform well. In fact, they often require capabilities like high emotional intelligence and strong communication to be successful. Which is good news, because tech employers value these skills, too, like these four:

1. Customer service

Just like retail environments, tech workers need sophisticated customer service skills to manage the expectations of internal and external stakeholders (e.g. executive leaders, technology partners, or even software users) who might influence the development of a project or solution.

In tech, this skill is known as stakeholder management and includes capabilities like:

• Conflict resolution
• Creative problem-solving
• Active listening
• Effective communication

2. Selling techniques

From finding the right items for a browsing shopper to upselling a regular customer who likes to spend money in a specific store, retail professionals know all about making the sale. That savvy persuasiveness comes in handy when having to sell ideas, projects, and solutions in tech roles.

In tech, this skill is known as sales and includes capabilities like:

• Cultural and social intelligence
• Customer-centricity
• A growth mindset
• Storytelling

3. Business operations

In retail, business operations can include responsibilities such as inventory management, promotions and pricing, store design, marketing, and payment processing. In tech environments, this translates to understanding how teams, and the business itself, all function.

In tech, this skill is known as ops and includes capabilities like:

• Project management
• Budgeting and reporting
• Strategy alignment
• Work styles and methodologies

4. Teamwork

Running a store as a team is essential in retail, and when floor staff don’t work in sync, things fall apart. The same holds true for tech. Although the consequences are very different, tech companies prioritize teamwork skills in hires because the work is so collaborative and complex.

In tech, this skill is known as collaboration and includes capabilities like:

• Delegation
• Feedback
• Critical thinking
• Time management

Retail to tech skills cheat sheet

How these skills fuel success in tech

By now, hopefully you’re feeling like making the leap from retail to tech is a possibility. But to make that vision feel even more concrete, here are four examples of tech roles that utilize the skills above, including typical responsibilities, how they use the skill, and career prospects.

Software engineer

If you’ve ever used a piece of software, such as a social media app, point of sale solution (POS) at work, or even a car’s touchscreen display, then you know how important it is for that technology to work. Software engineers are the professionals who make it all possible, working in a variety of roles_{11 Types of Software Engineers and Programmers: See Who You Can Become} in nearly every industry — building code and solving complex problems.

Source: BLS

Transferable retail skill: customer service

Software engineers need to be well-versed in stakeholder management (i.e. customer service) because a big part of their job is figuring out requirements. That means defining what software should do by staying courteous and curious — and it’s not too different from helping a customer.

TripleTen student story: Veronica Steele shifts from teaching to software engineering_{Lessons Learned: A Teacher's Shift to Software Engineering}

Cyber security professional

Just like retail workers have to be able to recognize fraudulent activity when working in a store, companies around the world have dedicated teams of professionals — known as cyber security — that safeguard data against criminal activity. This makes cyber security a highly rewarding career for justice-minded professionals who want to make the world a safer place.

Source: BLS

Transferable retail skill: selling techniques

Cyber security professionals need to be well-versed in selling techniques (i.e. sales) because a big part of their job is persuading their company to adopt security enhancements. They also need to make the case for investing in new technologies, similar to selling items in retail stores.

Business intelligence analyst

Today, the average company collects data from 400 different sources. And it’s the business intelligence (BI) analyst_{How to Become a Business Intelligence Analyst}’s job to process it, analyze it, and present it to business leaders to be used for decision making. Responsibilities include cleaning and organizing data to ensure accuracy, surfacing patterns to answer specific questions, and making reports to explain data.

Source: BLS

Transferable retail skill: business operations

Without a clear understanding of how a company works or how goals influence decision making, it’s hard for BI analysts to use data successfully. It’s kind of like how hard it would be to design a store in retail without knowing what shoppers are looking for or what items are most popular.

TripleTen student story: Andrew Millsaps reconnects with tech after a decade in sales_{Rekindling His Curiosity for Tech After A Decade in Sales: Andrew Millsaps’s TripleTen Story}

Product/project manager

Store managers are essential to running a store. In tech, product and project managers_{10 Most Rewarding Careers in Tech} are essential for running team efforts when building a specified digital product or accomplishing a larger goal. They distribute tasks, set deadlines, and track the performance of employees involved. Product and project managers also strive to detect potential problems before they occur and take measures to overcome them.

Source: BLS

Transferable retail skill: teamwork

Just like store managers need to know how to inspire team members, delegate tasks, and communicate well, product and project managers need to be well-versed in teamwork (i.e. collaboration) to be successful in their roles. This also includes a love of work methodologies, e.g. how to work.

Soft skills are truly valued across the tech spectrum

Still not convinced that retail is a strong foundation for a tech career? Consider this: TripleTen research shows that tech employers rank soft skills as the second most important quality for successful candidates to have — just ranking behind hard skills (and before experience working in a similar role).

This makes the tech industry a space where soft skills are truly valued_{The Soft Skills Software Engineers Need and Why} — because employers know these skills (when paired with the right technical capabilities) set up their workforce for success. Employers also know that it takes a variety of soft skills_{The Most In-Demand Tech Skills That Will Get You Hired} to perform any role in the tech.

From sales associate to QA specialist

Jessica Powers_{Tying a Career Together with QA: Jessica Powers’s TripleTen Story} was working in customer service when she began experiencing hearing loss. Although she was still able to perform her role, she knew she needed to find a new path, fast. She also knew that returning to her former graphic design career wasn’t an option. As a natural introvert with some self-taught web design skills, Jessica decided to explore careers in tech.

You have to figure out how to make small talk, because that's how you keep people engaged in customer service. As an introvert, it wasn’t ideal. Jessica Powers, TripleTen grad

A Facebook ad led her to TripleTen’s Quality Assurance (QA) Bootcamp. Reflecting on her different roles over the years, Jessica realized she’d always been interested in digging into things and exploring the details of solving issues. It also helped that the program could be completed in just five months, allowing her to make a career move sooner than later.

No stranger to hard work, Jessica continued at her customer service job while attending the bootcamp, fitting in studying during her free time. Towards the end of her program, she also took on an externship that revamped Synthesis Workshop’s site_{What TripleTen Externships Are Really Like: Rebuilding Synthesis Workshop’s Website}. This amplified her QA knowledge and equipped her with hands-on, real-world experience performing QA job responsibilities.

QA is the first job where I’ve been encouraged to ask 20 million questions. I've had previous jobs where it's like, ‘Jess, you don't need to ask why on everything.’ But then this job is, ‘Please ask us why about everything because that's how we find out what's not working.’ Jessica Powers, TripleTen grad

Jessica now works in QA full time at Tandem Theory, a Texas-based marketing firm. She has a lifestyle that better suits her personality and accommodations that support her hearing loss, thanks to remote tools like Zoom. Most importantly, Jessica finally feels like she has found where she belongs: “I've found a spot like a puzzle piece that actually fits in the box.”

See what career is right for you

Inspired by Jessica’s story? Curious if there’s a tech role out there that’s right for you? 

Our tech career quiz can help you kick off your research with results tailored to your interests, personality, and professional goals. The best part is you don’t have to know the ins or outs of web development or what the work environment is like for a tech worker to take the quiz. It’s truly for anyone who wants to get a tech job — no experience required.

Best of all, your result will include a suggested career track in tech, average salaries, and even potential job titles for inspiration. It’s a great first step in learning which tech job is right for you.