July 1, 2022

5 Surprising Coding Careers Outside of Tech

STEM Career Exploration: Discover five unexpected fields that are hiring coders right now:

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When you think of a coder, an image of their daily work likely comes to mind. You might picture an open-concept office for a startup company or someone in front of a screen designing a game, app, or website. But programming is no longer restricted to the worlds of computer science and tech. As our world becomes more digital, a wide variety of disciplines have added programming to their arsenal.

Did you know that almost 70% of coding jobs are outside of the tech field? No matter what field piques your interest, coding will help you succeed.

Here are five unconventional fields that are seeking to hire programmers:

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Science

Collecting and processing data

Analyzing numbers to determine patterns and relationships in studies

Creating and presenting graphs that convey information meaningfully

Data can get complicated. Before computers, scientists had to do statistics by hand! This limited research, making it so large sets of experimental data would take hours upon hours of work to understand. The addition of programming into the field changed everything. With just a bit of programming knowledge, scientists were suddenly able to analyze complex data at lightning speeds. In the area, there is currently a pull to integrate more computer science into the research process. Scientists at the forefront of their field desperately need scientifically minded programmers to aid them in critical studies!

Average Salary: $100,560

Certification Recommendations:

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Architecture & Design

Importing models & textures into Unity

Creating immersive, first-person experiences to show off designs

Animating & designing scenes to look realistic & impressive

Gone are the days of blueprints. When designers and engineers wish to create new buildings, they turn to their computers. Surprisingly, many of these designers turn to Unity! After making the base model on design software, they will import it and use Unity’s robust features to add color, lighting, and animation to their design proposals. The industry is also working on adding virtual reality to their field as it makes for an excellent way to present their projects!

Average Salary: $60,826 - $85,481

Certification Recommendations:

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Athletics

Collecting and processing data

Analyzing numbers to determine patterns and relationships in studies

Creating and presenting graphs that convey information meaningfully

Programming is becoming more and more critical in the world of sports, especially for coaches! Sports performance analysis, also known as sports coding, helps coaches understand and analyze the timeline of events in a game, understand team performance, and even develop strategies! Computer science logic is a valuable skill to have as any member that serves as team support. Though software already exists, many teams need developers to customize the software for their own specific needs, and it’s not always just for strategy! Programmers are also sought out to help with customer outreach and team management.

Average Salary: $60,853

Certification Recommendations:

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Criminal Justice

Finding and identifying proof of crimes

Processing online crime scenes

Navigating the dark web

Unraveling and preventing sophisticated internet crimes

As our world transitions towards more virtual interactions, an increased amount of crimes are being planned and even committed online. Enter Cybercrime Investigations. Federal departments, state and local law enforcement, and even private businesses have begun to expand these fields, making now the perfect time to use coding to become a detective. The field is vast, with jobs dealing with computer forensics to find proof of crimes, identifying security risks before they happen, and everything in between.

Average Salary: $100,407

Certification Recommendations:

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Healthcare

Improving healthcare accessibility through software design

Developing tools for healthcare professionals Securely storing patient data

Creating software to connect medical tools with diagnostics

The medical field is becoming increasingly automated. Already, many hospitals use sophisticated software to support their diagnostics and recommend tests & treatments for their patients. Furthermore, many measurement tools are becoming connected to the internet and these doctoral search engines! A medically minded programmer could find a wide range of jobs in this field. Combining health practitioner experience with code knowledge could place a worker in the perfect place to help automate the medical field.

Average Salary: $70,970

Certification Recommendations:

No matter what your field of interest is, you can find success with coding in your toolbelt. Programming is the swiss army knife of tomorrow. Start learning today; the industry of your dreams needs you!

Ready to begin your certification journey?

Authors

Olivia has background in behavioral ecology and data analysis. She develops and implements SEO, CRO, social media strategy, and authors multi-disciplinary content for our blog, & our social media sites. She's contributed to many of the STEM tie-ins within our curriculum, authored our SEL course, and is a specialist in neurodiverse learning strategies.

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