15 Tech Jobs Without Coding

You may not think of graphic design as a tech job, but graphic designers are involved in just about every product or service in the technology sector. This includes everything from branding, promotional materials and packaging to websites, digital advertisements and technical bulletins. Graphic designers collaborate with writers, user experience and user interface specialists, project managers and others while working on assignments that go well beyond the boundaries of the marketing department.

Business analysts in the IT sector are responsible for analyzing the computers and programs used by a company to determine what upgrades and installations will make its employees and processes more productive. They perform cost-benefit analyses and align technology with the company’s business strategies and goals. Business analysts often take requests from management and employees and identify solutions that can be achieved through improvements and changes in technology.

Responsibilities may include:

A user interface designer or specialist is focused on designing the things that make the digital world easier and more pleasant to navigate. For the UI designer, job one is to create a visually stunning and intuitive interface for users of websites, applications, games and devices such as smart phones and fitness watches. UI specialists determine how people navigate from Point A to Point B via different touchpoints in applications and games. Functioning as a bridge between user needs and business outcomes, they help to gather requirements and develop designs for different platforms and devices that work alongside engineers’ wireframes and codebase implementation plans. 

While the UI designer is primarily responsible for how a user interacts with the application, the UX (user experience) designer or specialist is concerned with how that interaction feels. Working together with UI specialists, UX designers and specialists use a mixture of marketing, technology and psychology to collect information regarding the experience of a device, application or website. Their job is to find weaknesses in the user experience, remove them and make modifications that will provide a more intuitive user experience and keep the product on the leading edge of its category. Day-to-day activities in this job include research, information architecture, data-driven design, wireframing and prototyping. 

Technical writers may not write code, but they can be called upon to write just about anything else—user manuals, project plans, design specifications and more. As a technical writer you might be required to translate highly technical information into content that will be easily understood by non-technical internal and external audiences. Good writing skills and a basic knowledge of the technical subject matter and the audience you’re writing for are all important guideposts for individuals pursuing this non-coding tech job.

As with any other industry, the tech sector requires people in various jobs to be sure its products keep moving along sales and distribution channels. Non-coding jobs are prevalent in areas like digital marketing (see No. 10 for more), sales, sales administration and support. Individuals pursuing positions in this category need to learn the basics of marketing and business administration, maintain a thorough understanding of their products and those of competitors and possess excellent communication skills.

IT project managers don’t typically code, but they play an important role in developing, launching and improving software, systems and devices. Often coordinating the priorities and work of several cross-functional teams, project managers oversee myriad details, manage budgets and human resources, solve problems and keep projects moving on time and within budget.

A partial list of a project manager’s responsibilities includes:

In the IT world, system administrators play a key role in the creation of companies’ IT policies, set up systems for employees, troubleshoot problems, back up files and perform many other essential tasks. Systems administrators need to understand operating systems, networking concepts and system security. If you have strong communication, problem-solving and leadership skills, you may want to pursue a role as a system administrator. 

To some, the coolest non-coding tech job is software and game testing. This encompasses everything from testing the tools that run industrial machines to playing the latest and most advanced video games. Testing here requires running through various scenarios within the game or application and checking for correct responses, finding bugs and reporting them to the developers who are tasked with resolving them.

The broad area of digital marketing involves disciplines like digital advertising, search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM).

SEO and organic search specialists perform vital functions like keyword research, link building and SEO copywriting to boost their website’s rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs).

Search engine marketing (SEM) is the broader process of using search engines to achieve results in marketing. Specialists in this area develop strategies and work alongside SEO specialists, web designers and content managers, using tactics like pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns and inbound marketing techniques to boost traffic on corporate or product websites and capture leads that are handed off to sales teams.

Most websites use a content management system, or CMS, that allows their content to be configured or managed through an administrator user interface. Many websites today are being designed and built using popular, pre-packaged CMSs such as WordPress, Joomla, Shopify or Weebly that do not require writing code. Rich functionalities provided in CMS platforms like these make them an attractive alternative to coding a website from scratch using programming languages like HTML, CSS, PHP and JavaScript. 

Working as independent contractors or employees, CMS web designers also maintain content on existing websites, adding or modifying content blocks that include text, images and videos, or posting articles to blogs and driving traffic to the sites using social media accounts.

You may be surprised to learn that even in the growing field of cyber security, some jobs don’t require coding. Cyber security specialists monitor systems, respond to breaches, establish cyber security protocols and manage user permissions. They sometimes perform penetration testing or ethical hacking, bypassing or cracking security measures to uncover vulnerabilities and potential threats. 

Other jobs in tech that don’t require coding include:

Data analysts collect and analyze data for the purpose of turning it into meaningful information that businesses can use to improve or grow through new products, procedures or distribution methods. Using sophisticated data mining methods, analysts use past and current data to extract meaningful insights and predict trends. After gathering data, analysts typically prepare extensive reports that are shared with leaders in their organizations.

Some of the data analyst’s responsibilities include:

Working on the human side of the technology industry, technical recruiters help technology companies find and hire people with the right skills to fill specialized positions in IT, data science or engineering. They might work in a company’s human resources department or at a technical recruiting agency. They use digital marketing tools like employment websites and industry databases to find candidates and screen resumes to find matches between the job’s requirements and candidates’ qualifications.

A technical recruiter’s responsibilities might include:

Technology journalists report on all matters relating to technology. Covering broad industries like consumer electronics or niche areas like medical simulation, these reporters and bloggers work for trade publications, online magazines and blogs, or industrial or professional organizations. They monitor industry trends, attend conferences and events and conduct interviews with tech innovators to report on the latest people, products, policies, issues and trends in this fast-moving industrial sector. 

There may be no coding required here, but a tech journalist must be a quick study to pick up on the newsworthy features, user benefits and future implications of new technologies. Basic journalism skills come into play here, like being an excellent researcher, an effective communicator and interviewer, and, of course, a good writer.

As these 15 jobs in tech without coding suggest, you don’t have to learn to be a coder to pursue a career in IT. If you prefer human language to programming language and have strong organizational, creative or communication skills, you can strive to make an impact in one of several aspects of the growing information technology industry.