We have good news for all career-oriented women who love tech but who don’t want to get stuck in “traditional” IT roles. There are quite a few careers that combine modern developments and free creative expression – and no, you don’t even have to consider content creation and digital marketing if you’re sick of hearing about those everywhere.
Let’s take a look at some alternatives. What kind of creative techy are you?
UX design (for the discreet helpers)
User Experience design might be the career for you if you like to offer support while staying out of the limelight. Your job would be to use tools such as Adobe XD or Figma to craft user-friendly interfaces for whatever product you’re working on. You’d be responsible for organizing all the options in an intuitive way, making sure each click, swipe, tap, and other interaction works seamlessly, and for making the whole thing visually appealing.
UX designers are necessary for websites, apps, standalone programs – anything that an end-user will need to interact with on their own. That gives you plenty of room for specialization if you want to focus on a particular niche, and plenty of opportunities to find work if you decide to be a jack-of-all trades in the field.
Photography (for the storytellers)
If you want a career that’s creative, flexible, adventurous, and offers deep human connections all at once, then photography might be ideal for you. Whether you prefer to work with film for that vintage kick or go full digital for the modern edge, the creative possibilities are endless. Tools like Canva and VSCO are great for photo editing and are very user-friendly, so they’re handy for those new to the craft. Seasoned pros use programs like Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to give the final product an extra-polished look.
And if you’re into smartphone photography, you can maximize your device’s performance with apps like Moment, ProCam, etc. To put a convenient cherry on top of the cake, you don’t even have to commit to travel if you don’t want to – you can start a photography career from home and keep the entire hustle online if that’s more your jam.
Architecture (for the engineers at heart)
Architecture is a highly practical field and therefore always in demand. As an architect, you would design functional spaces for residence or business – but you would also be in a position to make every single one of your creations a work of art. Specifically, you might use a program such as AutoCAD to draft your ideas with maximum precision, or you might spend some time learning Rhino for architecture to create complex 3D projections. You can see your vision and what it would take to build it, and you can polish it to its best before a single brick is laid.
There are many other tools out there, so try out a few options according to your tech-savviness level and your specific interests. For example, if you want to focus on futuristic eco-architecture, you might want a program that’s more suited to organic silhouettes than traditional geometric projections.
Event planning (for the entertainers)
If your brand of creativity is more geared towards group interaction, but you prefer to stay on the backstage side of things, then you might consider becoming an event planner. Your clients will hire you to conceptualize, organize, and coordinate various kinds of professional and personal happenings. Most event planning jobs can be loosely categorized into business, social, and family.
Business events include conferences, seminars, industry panels, and such. Social events can be graduations, art exhibitions, etc. and they sometimes overlap with family events.Those are usually milestone functions: birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, baptisms, even funerals. You can choose to specialize in one category or one single type of event, or go across the board and do a bit of everything. In any case you’ll have to juggle clients, tradespeople, contractors, and various service providers, so arm yourself with patience, soft skills, and good time management or project management software to help you scale your business.
VR development (for the worldbuilders)
Finally, if your creativity is all about forward-thinking and you really want to immerse yourself in innovation, virtual reality is an exciting path. Platforms like Unity3D or Unreal Engine provide you with a virtual toolbox to redefine the future of human-technology interaction, and there are plenty of practical directions to choose from. You might design virtual tours to let people explore far-flung destinations even if their travel options are restricted. You can help develop VR games at a whole new level of immersion, genuine windows into other worlds.
Beyond entertainment, VR has a place in education and healthcare too. Imagine historical reenactments in 3D, real-time cell development, or a safe, customized interface for speech and motor skill recovery following a brain injury. As a VR developer, you genuinely can reshape reality in any aspect you’re passionate about.
The bottom line is, you don’t have to be “in tech” to have a tech-friendly career: technology is everywhere, and a smart, ambitious woman can make it work for her. These five jobs were just a few examples. Follow whatever creative direction you’re naturally inclined to, and we guarantee you’ll find a field that suits you. From there, it’s just a question of maybe learning some new software, and that’s definitely something you can do!
