By: Artur Meyster
The job market has seen disruption in the past, but COVID-19 has given the term disruption a new meaning. Millions of people across the United States and the world have lost their jobs or shut down businesses due to this pandemic. Shockingly, the National Restaurant Association released a report that details how, in the beginning of the pandemic, three percent of restaurant operators went out of business and 44 percent had temporarily closed. While restaurants have been able to adapt, many lay-offs occurred in the industry.
For perspective, the restaurant industry was just one of many affected by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Few job markets were untouched, something that has left millions looking for work. Fortunately, there are new career paths that you can consider pursuing after losing your job due to COVID-19.
Web Development
You’re going to notice a trend between this job and others on the list. They are all related to technology and for good reason, as computer and IT jobs are expected to grow by 12 percent in the next eight years according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Of these tech jobs, web developers are some of the most important professionals.
Web developers are responsible for building websites and creating the entire layout. They also have the capability of measuring a website’s performance and can influence traffic to better serve their clients. Front end developers are specific web developers who focus on the visual elements of a website and how users interact with the application. Additionally, Glassdoor found that front end developers make an average salary of just under $80,000 on the low end.
Working to become a front end developer now that you are hunting for jobs can help to set you up with a lucrative new career that can get you back on your feet.
Data Science
In truth, data science is a field that has been around for over 50 years. The field itself and the employees within it have drastically changed, however, as technology continues to advance. Data is growing faster than anyone can imagine and, by 2025, it is estimated that 463 exabytes of data will be created each day across the world.
Pursuing a degree in data science may be the best course of action for anyone looking to head into a new career now that they lost their job. The position doesn’t require any intensive tech skills, mainly just skills with machine learning and data analytics.
Fortunately, you don’t need to go back to a college in order to achieve a degree in this tech field, and some of the best data science bootcamps can provide you with the knowledge and skills needed to relaunch your career.
Cybersecurity
This career path is similar to data science in that you deal with data on a daily basis, but the tasks are centered around protecting that data using programming. If the career you held prior to the pandemic was not at all tech-based, this field may be harder to go into. However, if you have moderate tech experience then cybersecurity could be a potential new career path for you.
ZipRecruiter reports that salaries for cybersecurity professionals can be upwards of $100,000 on average, which makes this potential new career very lucrative. Becoming a cybersecurity expert is an intensive experience, but if it is a match with your prior skills then it may be a smart option.
As with the other fields on this list, in today’s day and age becoming a cybersecurity professional can be done from the comfort of your own home using trade schools or bootcamps. Some of these institutions defer tuition as well, which means you don’t need to worry about paying them while you don’t have a job.
Conclusion
Regardless of which industry you may have been in before the pandemic, it is never too late for a career change. Turning the loss of your job due to Covid-19 into something beneficial and using it as a point of change for your whole career is an option that should be considered. Millions are in the same boat as you and will be competing heavily to get back into the job market. Instead of fighting with them, pursue new career paths that will survive long into the future and get back on your feet.
Artur Meyster is the CTO of Career Karma (YC W19), an online marketplace that matches career switchers with coding bootcamps. He is also the host of the Breaking Into Startups podcast, which features people with non-traditional backgrounds who broke into tech.
Twitter: @arturmeyster
Linkedin: Artur Meyster
