Just say you build software, when they ask for specifics just throw some random term like "CI/CD, Kubernetes, Containerization, Virtualization, Keras, Tensorflow" or some other dangerously sounding word. Now watch them say "aha" and change topics. But if they insist on explaining more, say it's a trade secret and you cannot go into specifics.
Director of Product & Marketing @ Earthly. Ex-PMM at Segment, Yugabyte, RudderStack, New Relic, and AT&T. Ex-consultant at Deloitte. Ex-sys admin. (Sometimes)Ex-developer. BJJ black belt.
Location
San Pedro, CA
Education
MBA from the University of Southern California. BS in CS from Oregon State.
I think talking about tech with non-tech people is super important. Breaking down the nitty-gritty of your job into layman's terms that are easy for non-tech folks to digest is a soft skill that I think a lot of devs gloss over.
In a professional setting, it's important to be able to communicate about a project to stakeholders that aren't necessarily tech savvy - project managers, customer support teams, C-level employees (CEO, CFO, etc), IT folks that are more hardware fluent, and other folks that want/need to know about your role and duties.
Talking to friends and family that aren't tech-minded is a great way to build this skill!
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Just say you build software, when they ask for specifics just throw some random term like "CI/CD, Kubernetes, Containerization, Virtualization, Keras, Tensorflow" or some other dangerously sounding word. Now watch them say "aha" and change topics. But if they insist on explaining more, say it's a trade secret and you cannot go into specifics.
That solves for ending the conversation. But what if you actually want to describe what you do, not just move on to the next topic?
Talking about tech with non-tech people is kinda cringe :D
I think talking about tech with non-tech people is super important. Breaking down the nitty-gritty of your job into layman's terms that are easy for non-tech folks to digest is a soft skill that I think a lot of devs gloss over.
In a professional setting, it's important to be able to communicate about a project to stakeholders that aren't necessarily tech savvy - project managers, customer support teams, C-level employees (CEO, CFO, etc), IT folks that are more hardware fluent, and other folks that want/need to know about your role and duties.
Talking to friends and family that aren't tech-minded is a great way to build this skill!