Morphing your marketing career into a technical marketing career (step one)

Many people have asked me for advice on morphing a marketing career into a technical marketing career. It can be tough to make a career shift when there are so many people out there looking for a new opportunity; and many of them already have a technical marketing background. Instead of giving you a long list of things to do right now to make the shift, I thought I would throw out some recommendations now and then. You can't do it overnight anyway, right?

Because I had to go through the process of changing from a finance and accounting recruiter to a tech recruiter, I know a little bit about the subject. 

Even if you are just toying with the idea of making the change, one thing I would do is get some high level training on the industry. This will help you make an educated decision about whether a career in technical marketing is right for you. An organization called Semco Enterprises puts on a class (and published a book) called “Systems, Terms and Acronyms“. I've actually taken the class twice (they update the content to keep up with changes in technology). The first time I took the class, it was taught by Susan Hodges, the founder of the company. Now she has other instructors teach as well. I can't say enough great things about this class as a resource for getting a grasp on the tech industry. So you don't know what a platform is? They'll explain it. Middle ware sounds like something you wear in winter? They'll explain it. They don't get into anything that is so specific, it's irrelevant. You just get a good understanding of how computers work and the terminology you need to have a conversation with someone in the industry and sound pretty darn intelligent.

I am a very tough customer when it comes to training. I've been known to walk out when it's bad (why waste money AND time?). This class is worth it if you need to get a basic understanding of the computer industry.