Getting into the tech scene when you have no skills

Well one strength you have already would be in user testing as your mind is infetted by the `how would a computer do this best` approach towards interfacing with users.

You could start by looking and reviewing and spotting bugs in many programs out there, will help build a resume and also at the same time perk your interest into what tech scene angle you wish to start heading down. Be it codeing, design, testing, support, managing, selling, testing, providing. That is without even looking at the market area's within those feilds which could be anything from games, web, plant, automation, planes trains and automobiles, or washing machine spin cycle control systems. Many area's within area's. Tech is such a large feild and this is just the basic computing stuff. Designing new solar panels, specialist clothing, you see what I mean, such an open subject.

Two things I would advise keeping in mind. What are you good at and what do you like. It is a fine balance and to do the things you like you might not earn as much and work all hours bluring the lines between hobby and work. You could focus on what you are good at and treat it as work, have more time and money to focus on those hobbies and pet projects and get better quality time doing them how you enjoy them. It is extremly rare to fully combine the two, even then it will not be all the time. You can spend a long time chasing that end-goal and end up becoming disenjanted with what you enjoy. So a fine balance is advisable and by all means learn your own balance. Being mindful of that will help you be more objective and happier in the long run. Dreams can become nightmares, don't spoil the dream. So tread slowly, but firmly and you will know what you are good at and what your are not, so even if you descide to go another direction all together. You would of learned good foundations for any path forward.

So my suggestion in short - levridge your skill you have now and that is you are the perfect user, so testing/QA would be a great start and one you can define. You will then know which area of tech you wish to focus upon, though will gain the eye for detail early on which is handy in all walks of life.

Wages are only part (I've heard 50% before) of the cost of hiring. There are other expenses like training, desk space, insurance, etc. So I can't imagine that it'd be much easier getting an unpaid position as a paid one. At the very least there'd have to be some expectation that you'd offer a return on any training you receive. If you've got the potential, they'd probably just pay you. There's nothing stopping them from employing casually or on a short term contract to alleviate risk. Taking people on for free might even violate labour laws in some jurisdictions.

Volunteering for a not-for-profit is a different matter of course.

A list of people who got into the tech scene without tech skills:

1. Julia Allison - she tried to cheat her way into a fundraiser and despite that ended up on the cover of WiReD: http://gawker.com/284123/an-east-coast-hustler-tries-to-chea...

2. Nick Starr - my cousin who is a cop is still interested in talking to you for laptops that were stolen that you are selling.

3. Hermione Way - I honestly wanted to work for you as a coder because you had entrée into all these "cool" parties, but despite now having an app that gets 100,000 photo uploads a day (Via.Me) I'm still not cool enough to work for you? WTF?

There isn't a scene to get into. Instead there is a long standing list of problems that have existed since the beginning of computer science. Read Knuth or something similar if you don't know which these are. Either you are on board for solving those problems or your real interests lie elsewhere. Decide which you are.

I think if you have no skills the best way to get into startup is to get rich first and become an angel investor! I believe there are more high probability ways to get rich than starting a startup.