Entry-friendly roles, pay, and typical entry education:
| Role | Median pay | Typical entry education |
|---|
| Computer support specialists | $62,890 | Some college for user support, associate's for network support |
| Network and computer systems administrators | $99,130 | Bachelor's, some accept a certificate or associate's |
| Web developers and digital designers | $99,520 | Bachelor's |
| Software developers, QA analysts and testers | $134,040 | Bachelor's |
The same handbook puts the median for computer support specialists at $62,890 and for software developers, QA analysts and testers at $134,040. Those figures cover all experience levels, not starting pay.
Support work is losing headcount. The BLS page on computer support specialists projects a 3% drop in that occupation from 2025 to 2035. Even so, the field still produces about 48,700 openings a year.
Across all computer and IT occupations, the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook projects about 280,000 openings a year from 2025 through 2035. The median for the whole group was $109,470 in May 2025, against $50,980 for all occupations.
Some support jobs accept a high school diploma plus IT certifications. Our guide to IT certifications without a degree covers the credentials employers name most.
What skills do employers ask for?
CompTIA's October 2025 analysis of job posting data shows which skills employers listed most from January through October 2025.
The skills most often requested in tech postings:
| Skill | Postings |
|---|
| Cloud infrastructure, including AWS, Azure and GCP | 786,332 |
| Python | 488,269 |
| Automation | 408,903 |
| CI/CD | 393,674 |
| Artificial intelligence | 323,056 |
Two of those terms need a plain definition. CI/CD is the pipeline that builds and tests code each time a change is saved. Automation means scripts do the repeatable work instead of people doing it by hand.
Cloud infrastructure appeared in 786,332 postings, and Python in 488,269. AI skills carry weight too. CompTIA's State of the Tech Workforce 2026 report counted more than 275,000 active postings in January 2026 that referenced AI skills, and the September count reached 349,821.
Three of the top five sit inside the biggest job families. Cloud work pairs with systems administration and DevOps. Python pairs with data analysis and test automation. One skill plus one role beats a pile of skills with no role attached.
Certificates help only when they match the posting. Our comparison of cloud certifications for career growth and what Google career certificates are worth covers two of the most searched paths.
What steps get you hired fastest?
Four moves separate the applicants who get interviews from the rest.
- Choose the role, then read twenty postings. Save the skills they ask for and count how often each one appears.
- Build one thing you can show. A working script, a small site, or a tested fix tells a hiring manager more than a list of courses.
- Write the resume around tasks, not titles. Name the tool, the problem, and what you did about it.
- Apply where the postings sit. The 21% of postings that ask for zero to three years of experience spread across many employers, so volume matters more than one perfect application.
The education question comes down to cost and time. Online computer science degree programs take years and cost money. IT certifications cost less and start faster. Support roles accept the certification route more readily.
Apply to roles you can grow into. A posting that asks for one year of experience stays reachable when you can show the tools it names.
What should you do next?
Pick one role from the table above. Read twenty postings for it and count the skills. Choose the skill that appears most and start there. The role you pick decides which skills matter, so the search for how to get entry level tech job starts with that choice.
Then set a deadline. Pick a date to start applying, and work backward from it. The market data says postings are plentiful. You still have to show the skills those postings name.
Photo: Pexels, Pixabay Content License, via Pixabay (https://pixabay.com/photos/woman-laptop-desk-workspace-1851464/)
Fazlur Rahman
