Breaking Into Tech in 2025 (Starting From Zero)

If I lost everything today—my business, network, reputation—and had to break into tech from scratch, this is exactly how I'd do it.

You can get hired in tech in just 90 days with no CS degree and no years of experience, just a focused plan and consistent action.

I’m Deric Yee, and I spent the last five years building tech businesses from the ground up (bootstrapping to $80K/month) and mentoring dozens of career-changers. Everything I’m about to share comes from that real-world experience.

Tech hiring is booming: by 2025, the U.S. will have roughly 1.4 million unfilled tech jobs, and 56% of current tech professionals don’t even have a college degree. Companies want skills, not credentials.

Meanwhile, remote tech roles have surged (420% growth since 2020), so opportunities are everywhere. If you’re considering a tech career transitionor wondering how to get a no-experience tech job, you’re in the right place.

This is not fluff – it’s a step-by-step blueprint to go from zero to hired in tech in 90 days. We’ll cover three 30-day phases: Build the Foundation, Get Real-World Proof, and Land the Job.

Phase 1: Build the Foundation (Days 1–30)

The beginning is where most people fail—not because they lack motivation, but because they lack direction. In the first 30 days, your only goal is to lay the right foundation.

That means focusing on one career path, learning actively, and building a repeatable system to capture everything you’re learning. If you can get this phase right, the rest becomes a matter of momentum.

In my own journey, I didn’t jump between ten career options. I picked cloud computing, stuck with it, and let that deep focus create opportunity. You’ll do the same—one step at a time.

Step 1: Choose Your Path

Breaking into tech can feel like standing at a massive buffet of options—frontend, backend, DevOps, AI, QA, IT support. But you don’t need to taste everything. In fact, trying to learn it all is what stalls most beginners.

What you need is one path. Choosing your focus is not just about personal interest—it’s a strategic move. You want something that offers high leverage, is in demand, and has a low barrier to entry.

That could be cloud computing, which offers excellent career mobility and remains one of the most sought-after skills in the job market.

It could be QA testing, which is often overlooked but gives you a solid grasp of how software works and opens doors to dev teams.

Or it could be IT support and system administration, which may not sound glamorous but is incredibly stable, teaches you real infrastructure, and has thousands of remote opportunities.

The right path is the one you can commit to for 90 days without bouncing around. It’s your anchor.

Step 2: Learn with a 70/30 Rule

Once you’ve picked your path, the next mistake to avoid is becoming a passive learner. Binge-watching tutorials, collecting certifications, and reading articles might feel productive—but real growth happens through doing.

I follow a simple rule: 70% of your time should be spent building, and only 30% on learning. For example, if you're learning cloud computing, don’t just study AWS documentation or watch Udemy videos.

Spend the majority of your time inside the AWS console, spinning up EC2 instances, creating S3 buckets, and breaking things on purpose so you can fix them. That’s how real retention happens.

When I was getting started, I broke more environments than I can count—but each time I fixed something, it stuck. This approach works across any field. If you're learning to code, build real apps from the first week.

Make mistakes. Deploy broken features. Learn fast by doing. This principle separates hobbyists from professionals.

Step 3: Build a Learning OS

You’re not going to remember everything—and that’s perfectly fine. The smartest engineers I know don’t have photographic memory; they have systems.

That’s what I want you to build: a personal operating system for your learning. When I started out, I created a Notion dashboard to track everything—what I was learning, what I didn’t yet understand, and what I planned to build next.

This became my second brain. Instead of guessing where to go next, I always had a clear picture of my gaps and goals. You should do the same. Every time you get stuck, record it. Every time you solve something new, write it down.

The result isn’t just better memory—it’s compound knowledge. Over time, this Learning OS becomes a map of your growth, and when it’s time to prep for interviews or build something new, you’ll already have a library of resources and personal notes to draw from.

Phase 2: Get Real-World Proof (Days 31–60)

Now that you’ve built a strong foundation, it’s time to move from learning to showing. Skills without proof don’t count in this industry.

Companies aren’t hiring you for what you know—they’re hiring you for what you can demonstrate. So in this second phase, your mission is to create projects that show real-world ability.

Not toy apps. Not copied tutorials. But polished, deployed, documented projects that prove to anyone—without you saying a word—that you’re capable.

When I started mentoring people, I noticed one key thing: the ones who got interviews fastest weren’t always the most technical—they were the most visible.

Step 4: Build Projects That Look Like Work

If you want a job in tech, your portfolio needs to look like a reflection of the job itself. This is where most people fall short. They build simple to-do list apps, calculator clones, or portfolio websites and expect to get hired.

That won’t cut it. Instead, you need to build what I call “hireable projects”—things that mimic the kind of work you’d be doing on the job. That means solving real problems, building things end-to-end, and deploying them publicly.

When I started learning AWS, I didn’t stop at “hello world.” I built and deployed a full three-tier web application. I hosted the frontend on S3, deployed a backend API with EC2, and hooked it up to a database on RDS.

I added IAM roles, logging, and cost monitoring because I knew that’s what real cloud engineers do. If you’re learning to code, build something useful—a budget tracker, a CRM for freelancers, a dashboard for a niche business.

Don’t just show that you can code—show that you can think like a product builder.

Step 5: Document Like a Pro

Building your project is only half the journey—telling the story behind it is what makes it valuable. Too many aspiring developers complete a project and then leave it to gather dust in a private GitHub repo.

That’s a mistake. If you want to stand out, you need to treat each project like a case study, one that walks people through your thinking and shows how you solve real problems.

When I mentor students, I tell them: your project doesn’t exist until it’s public, explained, and easy for others to understand. That’s what turns a piece of code into a signal of credibility.

To do this effectively, I follow a structure I call the BUILD framework. Start by writing about the background of the project—what real-world problem were you solving, and why was it important?

Then, explain your understanding and approach. What was your plan going into the build? What technologies did you consider, and why did you pick the ones you used? Next comes the implementation.

Walk the reader through how you actually built the thing. Detail how you structured your code, integrated services, and made decisions along the way. Then, share the lessons you learned—what went wrong, how you solved it, and what surprised you.

Finally, show your deliverables. Share your GitHub repo, the live link, a video walkthrough, or a blog post.

Make it easy for others to explore what you built. This one shift—documenting your project like a professional—can multiply your visibility overnight. I’ve seen mentees triple their interview requests just by writing about their projects clearly and publicly.

Phase 3: Land the Job (Days 61–90)

You’ve done the work. Now it’s time to be seen. In the final 30 days, your job is to get hired—and that requires targeted action. Most people spray their resumes everywhere and hope someone calls back.

That’s not a strategy—it’s gambling. What works is intentionality. Pick the right companies, tailor your outreach, and approach interviews like a collaborator, not a test-taker. I’ve hired people myself.

And let me tell you: it’s never about the fanciest resume. It’s about someone who shows up clearly, with relevant work, and a real reason for wanting to be there.

Step 6: Stop Spamming, Start Targeting

Job hunting is not a numbers game. It’s a relevance game. I’ve seen people apply to 200+ jobs with zero callbacks—and others apply to 10 roles and land three interviews. The difference is depth.

I recommend what I call the 10/10/10 method. Choose ten companies you’re genuinely interested in—companies where your values, skills, and goals align.

Then create ten tailored applications—customized resumes, role-specific portfolios, and short, specific cover letters that reference the company’s work and how you can contribute.

Finally, reach out to ten people inside those companies—engineers, hiring managers, or recruiters—and introduce yourself. This doesn’t need to be complicated.

Just a message that says: “Here’s who I am, here’s what I’ve built, and here’s why I’m excited about what you’re doing.” That’s it. Most people won’t do this. But if you do, you immediately rise above the noise.

Step 7: Network Like a Founder

When I hire for my own teams, I’m not looking for perfect resumes. I’m looking for people who are clear, curious, and proactive. That’s what networking is about—not schmoozing, but showing up with value.

Use LinkedIn not as a place to collect connections, but to build relationships. Message people thoughtfully. Share what you’re working on.

Ask smart questions. Join communities where your peers hang out—Discord groups, Slack workspaces, small indie hacker meetups. When you show up consistently, you become part of the conversation.

And from there, opportunities start to open naturally. Think like a founder—not someone begging for a job, but someone looking to collaborate. That’s the mindset that gets people to respond.

Step 8: Prep with Context, Not Scripts

You don’t need to sound perfect in interviews. You need to sound real. When hiring managers ask questions, they’re not grading your answers on a rubric. They want to know how you think, how you solve problems, and whether you’ll be easy to work with.

So stop memorizing scripts from YouTube. Instead, prepare real stories. Think back to the time you struggled to debug a cloud deployment at 2 AM and finally got it running. Or the time you built a dashboard that saved your team 20 hours a week.

Or the time you had no idea how to solve something, Googled obsessively for two hours, and came out smarter. These stories are gold. Use the STAR method if it helps (Situation, Task, Action, Result), but don’t over-engineer your answers.

One of my favorite hires had no degree, but sent in a short video walking through his portfolio and explaining why he wanted to join our team. That level of thoughtfulness outshines any certification.

Bonus Mindset: Act Like You’re Already in Tech

This final piece is what separates the dabblers from the builders. If you walk around thinking of yourself as “just a student,” that’s how the world will treat you.

But if you start acting like a peer—someone who contributes, builds, and participates—people respond to that energy. You don’t need permission to join the industry. You just need presence.

Contribute to GitHub, even in small ways. Ask thoughtful questions in Slack communities. Share your journey each week on LinkedIn: what you learned, what you built, what you’re struggling with.

These small, consistent actions compound. People start recognizing your name. They start engaging. Eventually, they start reaching out with opportunities. I’ve seen it happen dozens of times.

The mindset shift is simple, but powerful: you’re not applying to join tech—you’re already in it. Now act like it.

Conclusion

The truth is, tech has no gatekeepers — it has an action problem. People have endless courses but not enough clarity or follow-through.

This 90-day, 8-step blueprint gives you clarity. Follow it: build foundational skills, create real proof, and then show that proof to the world.

Take control of your tech career transition by turning uncertainty into momentum. Start small, move fast, iterate often. You’re not waiting for opportunity — you’re creating it.

Now go break into tech. Your future colleagues are waiting — all you have to do is show them what you can do.