Ask HN: I am studying economics and want to work in Tech. How?

Actual economics professor here…

Take as much econometrics as you can possibly stomach. Augment it with classes from the stat department but econometrics will teach you about making causal inferences in situations where experiments are impossible, unethical, or extremely expensive (or all of the above). Modern empirical economics is 99% about making causal inferences. That’s basically the only thing we care about.

Methods (at the undergrad level) you will want to be familiar with include: difference in differences, regression discontinuity, event study, synthetic control, and the like. Ask your professors in what classes this material is taught.

There is tremendous, enormous demand for this inside tech companies. Amazon has about 400 PhD economists for example. Many other firms are trying to catch up. Jobs are plentiful and extremely lucrative.

If you have any interest in a PhD in the field, a whole new universe of opportunities will open up but I recognize this is not for everyone. There are methods not listed above which you could learn in grad school but that’s enough to get started.

I can confirm. I didn't go all the way to the PhD, doors opened earlier than that for a basic analytic job (and the compensations don't make you think twice about staying an extra 5 years in academic).

Econometrics, and by extension statistics, is the most sell-able assets you have as a fresh grad. It is so transferable that you can pretty much work in any industries. I fitted models to forecast water pollution. Although, I should add that most tasks required from analyst are: data cleaning and descriptive analysis.

From there you can demonstrate all the other skills (project management for example) and evolve in whatever position interest you the most.

+1

To add to this, I do not have a phd in econ, but did what you recommended and work as a data scientist with PhD economists. If you do this, you will make just as much as they do.

I was originally an econ major in undergrad. Back in my senior year in 2012, I realized I was facing call center or similar work, so a few months before graduation I set out to teach myself to program.

Fortunately I was able to achieve decent enough competence and get an entry level software job shortly after graduation.

A year later I got a job offer for a startup out in SF and moved out there, leading to a fruitful career.

I felt like an imposter for about 3-4 years, but that feeling has long faded.

Nowadays it seems bootcamps are probably better value than self teaching, given the structure, though I don't have any personal experience there.

I also highly recommend the Georgia Tech OMSCS program for a very cheap but fairly rigorous masters program in CS you can do on the side. Formal credentials aren't super important in tech, but it's cheap and quick enough that it felt like a no brainer to me. And the projects, at least at the time, were very intensive and useful for learning certain concepts.

So highlights:

- Teach yourself/bootcamp

- Never give up. There is so much demand in tech, you will find an in if you keep trying, even without formal background. It's basically impossible to fail if you're persistent

- Become an expert. You'll feel like an imposter for awhile, but you can meet and surpass those that went the formal route within a few years, if you put in the work. Vast majority of people only improve marginally after college. Your career is much longer than a 4 year degree

Anyway, happy to chat more/provide mentorship if you're looking for it.

You should look into Product Management! I studied Economics and am now a Product Manager. The entry level job title is typically called Associate Product Manager. I believe that several large tech companies recruit for this role in college career fairs so look into that.

Just make sure to look into the expectations of any roles you apply to. The PM role can vary from company to company. I personally look for roles where I am expected to analyze data and run A/B tests to make decisions.

Former Econ major, now in tech (worked at multiple unicorns in first 50 people and now am a repeat founder). Have hired all the functions over the years.

Product management, BizOps, corporate finance, or data science / data analytics are good bets. You can definitely try sales or marketing too if you want, undergrad major doesn’t matter much for those roles. SalesOps and Marketing Analytics / Growth Ops tend to be more interesting over time than Sales or Marketing channel ownership.

It’s hard to break in to being a PM, so often starting with strong analytical roles will help you make that case, if you’re not technical and don’t have UX experience. PM is generally an apprenticeship model so I’d recommend working under an A+ product-minder founder at a product-led company, over going to the Google APM program or something similar where you learn process more than results. You’ll learn faster.

No path is wrong - corp finance you get into by being an i-banker first, BizOps a consultant, data science through data analysis (or PhD but that doesn’t seem like your path). Professional services are mostly 2 year, entry level jobs so it’s far from a permanent decision if you did that. Great founders have come from many paths, like the recovering lawyers in the PayPal mafia.

Just make sure you stay humble and remember you’re not the one who can actually build the company, like your Eng partners :)

I'm a professor of machine learning and I also work for a large tech company. I've worked for startups in the past. My PhD is in stats.

Large tech companies hire economists. Go to Linkedin and search "economist Amazon" or "economist Microsoft." Find some early or mid career people. Then you can look at roles and titles they took after school and extrapolate from there.

Make sure you can talk a good game about causal inference. As an economist, you ought to know about econometrics-flavored causal inference ideas like instrumental variables, propensity scores, regression discontinuity, etc.

And, though you don't want "computer science based" roles, make sure you have the skillset to pass a data scientist interview. I suggest online exercises to prepare for those skills rather than course for credit at your school. I like Datacamp.

Small tech companies hire data scientists. They don't care if your degree is in physics, economics, or math, so long as you can do what's needed. When an early stage tech company is hiring for a data science role, they care more about the technical skill set and the ability to learn than exactly how good they are at whatever domain they come from. This is because early stage startups tend to have more fluid role definitions because much work needs to be done. Most of that work is technical.

an economist is not a math graduate, and asking for hardcore math level statistics on top of computer science level programming skills is unrealistic. someone close to me has 3 degrees in economics/comm eng. and a PhD and went through these ridiculous interviews and eventually walked away.

The SEC is expected to announce ESG rules for companies this year for Type I, Type II, and Type III emissions. You might find opportunity there down the road. Nonprofits like the Climate Disclosure Project (CDP) currently fulfill the role of emissions reporting to an extent, but the SEC rules may standardize and may add more value to their reporting even if it changes the nonprofit's operations. These accounting rule changes will require public companies to report their climate change risks and emissions, and to provide assurance regarding those risks and emissions. By assurance, I mean that auditors will need to come and audit their environmental reporting. You might try looking into that.

I honestly can't recommend going to work for a Big 4 accounting firm, because you'll find better hours and pay elsewhere. You might want to check out cloudaccountingjobs.com. A lot of small and growing firms are offering SMB consulting with a financial team to do cash flow projections and financial modelling that you might find interesting at places like High Rock accounting. Product or project managers are non-technical roles that are adjacent to technical roles that you might find interesting. Business analysis is always hiring. I'd suggest doing a couple of internships to explore your interests.

In my experience, domain specific skills together with technical knowledge will get you further than technical skills alone.

My suggestion is to complete your economics course. Along the way take any electives that allow you to gain some technical proficiency. If your institution doesn't make it possible then you might have to acquire some tech skills through self-study or other means.

Once you graduate look for jobs in banking, finance or insurance that are loosely aligned with your interests and values. I would suggest avoiding consulting firms. Once you have a job on the strength of your recent economics qualifications actively watch for and seek out opportunities where your technical skills add value. That way you differentiate yourself from both your peers and any technical only staff. Currently data science combined with expertise in some niche, e.g. environmental economics, should give you a huge advantage.

I was in a nearly identical situation to yours about 10 years ago.

At the end of undergrad finance/economics studies I recognized I needed more technical expertise, so I went to a grad program and learned as much as I could about econometrics. I thought this would eventually position me as a consultant/data scientist.

As I studied, I realized programming was my favorite part of the work.

I used these skills in a few different roles. A couple years later a friend/mentor suggested that I just consider becoming a software engineer.

I never pictured myself in a pure tech role. It worked out better than I would have guessed.

My suggestion is that an engineering role is not as far away as you imagine. You have time to make a career in it, so you should reflect on if you’d enjoy it.

Become a Quant.

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/041114/simpl...

I’ve seen a lot of people in your shoes become data scientists

You are already taking marketing and finance classes and want to work in the marketing or finance department of a Tech firm. You're taking exactly the classes preparing you to do the job that you want to do, so what are you asking about?

Yes, Tech firms have marketing, HR and finance departments, like all large companies, and a good way to enter is to do an internship or apply for junior roles, like everywhere.

It might beg the question, but if the OP has a stated lack of interest in the subject matter that makes "tech" companies tick - I'd suggest reevaluating the motivation.

None of the roles listed in the edit can be done well, or at all, by people who don't have even a basic grasp of the industry they're working in.

Look into the options your school provides in terms of Computer Science. If you plan on finishing your Economics program, then perhaps you could enroll in a 2-year advanced degree designed for graduates to fast-track into CompSci. I haven't done this myself, but my school offers this.

Video game companies are now hiring economists:

"Game maker Valve appoints in-house video games economist" https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18456171

That economist went on to become Greece's finance minister and challenged EU leadership, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund during the Euro crisis facing Greece.

Tech companies also need economists, you know. Marketing is huge in tech too.

Aristotle had a view of the good life as a middle path between excesses of virtue and vice. I hope you are not offended (by identifying with economics too strongly), if I tell you I share the view of Varoufakis that economics is currently so drained of human values it really requires a complete reboot. It must be tempered to keep it on a middle path. If you choose to go "into Tech" in the way you describe then studying computer science and politics might be of benefit. Knowing what you're doing and why may avert the tragedy of elevating models above the reality they are intended to help manage, or becoming a tool of those with less than benevolent plans for humanity.

FIRST:

Best resource:

https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2019/article/wages-and-ope...

Now... The answer to your question is a simple equation which has been written numerous times around the internet, in various forums. But I'll chart it out here, yet again.

First define your goal. Looks like you've already done that.

Programming is just a tool. And so, as a tool, it can help you build various things and a career along the lines of the ones you've mentioned.

Such as skills in: full stack web app dev. Full stack Phone App dev. data science. Web or Network Security.

Either way-- Whether you become a web app developer or some other technical role-- The following still applies:

- Build projects (A. Study how to make small projects via tutorials on Udemy.com / Youtube / www.Libgen.is books B. Extrapolate what you learn (such as writing functions and REST API + UI) Let's say you want to be a BUsiness Analyst (btw, what the heck does Business Analyst even mean, lol? I was a Business Systems Analyst for a bit-- guess what: I mostly did programming work >.< it was my first programming job and led to web dev) That said, lets say you want to do economic analysis of something... make that project into a case study. And now your case study is a 'project' you built. Now you can publish it on your website to get traction (i.e. market yourself).

- Publish your projects: to Github to show your code off, and link to those projects from your website (i.e. web portfolio -- look for web portfolio templates. For example, you can mostly copy and paste html/css from some of these (mix and match) https://bulmatemplates.github.io/bulma-templates/ <-- example of a css framework, this one is called Bulma).

- Create a LinkedIn Presence

- Start working: Don't worry about getting paid much especially if you don't yet have a strong, productive skillset. I started at a e-commerce website for $13/hr (In USA). I also did contract consulting work (in this case, accounting at $25/hr (In USA)). This allowed me to: A. Learn how to conduct business B. Grow my network Later I did digtial marketing at an IT security company. The CRM I used (Marketo) led me into other jobs because the skillset of using Marketo is in demand for marketers. That led me into a role as the business systems analyst I mentioned above. Which led into web dev -- which was my goal.

- Be willing to move: If you live somewhere without a burgeoning tech industry, you'll obviously have a higher probability of landing for your first jobs much more easily, if you move to a place which does have a burgeoning tech industry. Personally, I camped in a tent in the San Francisco bay area for 2 weeks, then couch surfed for 4 weeks because I was adamant about becoming a software developer. So, you might have to make some strategic sacrifices.

Other than that... Just go, sit down, and study and build and market yourself. That's all it takes: a strategy of studying, building, and marketing.