Cambridge English Dictionary describes the word “Tech” as an abbreviation for technical or technological: used to describe a company, system, area of work, etc. that does or makes something involving technology: tech industry/sector/economy. In essence, Tech can be used in the context of An Industry, A Career, or even A System. In this article, I would like to base the concept of Tech as both A career and An Industry.
Tech as an Industry
As a sector, ‘tech’ covers the group of businesses working in the ‘research, development and distribution of technology-based goods or services’ (Investopedia). These businesses focus on the ‘development and manufacturing of technology products or provide technology as a service (Wikipedia). The sector has been growing exponentially over the recent years and is set to reach $5.2 trillion in 2020, with a growth rate of 3.7% -CompTIA article.
Tech as an industry can be further broken into Products/Processes.
Technology as process
Technology as a process depicts the process of using scientific knowledge for practical purposes; the methods (order or sequence of steps) employed in creating tech-related products and services to meet consumer or business needs.
Technology as a product
Technology as a product includes gadgets and services that you use in your daily life. This is easier to understand since our smartphones have become practically an extension of ourselves, and given that we are constantly checking our feeds and using cloud services to store our data and so on. For most of us – these represent the true meaning of the word ‘tech’, though a better term is, according to some sources ‘applied technology’ since it turns out that the actual technology is the practical knowledge and problem-solving skills that go into their creation.
Tech as a career
Tech as a career encompasses so many areas and fields.t I’ll be breaking down just a few.
Finances + technology => FinTech
FinTech is the use of technology in everything finance to render services more agile and deliver financial services better suited to a society on the go. Using technologies such as blockchain, big data, and biometrics. As examples go, Flutterwave, Paystack, Paypal, Cashapp, and Remita are the few that came to mind.
Education + technology => EdTech
EdTech is the design and use of technology (hardware, software) to facilitate and enhance human learning by delivering text, audio, video, animation, and interactive experiences. Critical in a fast-evolving age – when the only way to keep up is by learning continuously. Some examples you might be familiar with are Coursera, Duolingo, Memrise, etc.
Entertainment + technology => EntertainmentTech
Examples like Netnaija, O2tvseries, Toxicwap, Netflix, DSTV, Startimes are a few EntertainmentTech that comes to mind.
Legal + technology => LegalTech
Use of technology to provide legal services more efficiently. If you’re interested in this, you could explore analytics (to understand trends), artificial intelligence and natural language processing (to help with research), and document management.
Architecture / urban development + technology => well, no particular name, but still important.
Whatever this is called, it uses technology to help create more sustainable buildings and communities. You would have heard about ‘smart’ systems and cities – cities that use technology (such as secure wireless connectivity, IoT sensors, open data, etc,) to connect services to improve the lives of citizens (ex. optimize traffic, and streamline trash collection.
Fashion + technology => FashionTech
FashionTech is the use of technology in the fashion industry, including the design of products (3D-knitting, wearables, …) or streamlining processes to deliver better services to clients (better shopping experience – like ‘try-ons’ via augmented reality, etc.)
Health + technology => HealthTech (or MedTech)
HealthTech covers the use of technology to improve the delivery and quality of healthcare. The benefits? More patient safety, fewer medical errors, fewer invasive practices, better monitoring systems, lower costs, more customization, better and more accessible prosthetics, and so on. Some of the most used technologies in tech are 3d printing, artificial intelligence, robotics, and assistive technologies.
Other areas are AgricTech, FoodTech etc.
Look out for my next article on The Cons of Working in Tech.