IT Careers Are Full of Options
By Caleb Rogers
“You should get into computers.” How many times have you heard that vague advice when talking to others about career and education options? I heard it a lot over the last several years, and it’s probably a fair bet that you have heard it, too.
Information Technology (IT) is a great field to enter, but there’s so much from which to choose, the job and educational markets can look muddled. IT covers such a wide array of job possibilities it’s easy to get lost when you are looking for some training. To simplify things a bit, think of IT as a field with two basic divisions: Software and Hardware.
IT Software is all things concerning software applications. Writing programs, application support, database administration, interface design, and more fit into this category. If you want to break the division down even further, you can take all the concepts and apply them to both offline software applications and web apps. Just in this software division, there are a wide variety of areas from which to choose.
Likewise, IT Hardware gives you many choices. Career options range from computer engineer to network administrator to computer repair, and everything in between. If you really enjoy getting your home network set up and customized, or you like to crack open computers and mess around inside them, you might want to look into this area. I like to think of the hardware side of IT as a more hands-on approach, since most of the work involves actual setup, repair, and configuration of devices, systems, and their integral parts.
In addition to these two divisions, there are jobs that can easily fit into both. Indeed, there is much overlap between the two, and no matter which division you find yourself, you may also do work that fits into the other division. When I was a systems administrator and web designer for a small marketing firm, I spent as much time running cable and resetting old routers as I did writing and managing software.
When someone says, “You should get into computers,” know that the general field has many subdivisions. There’s a lot to do, a lot that needs to be done, and that translates into options for you. Career options are a handy thing, but with so many, you’ll need to stop and think about the field for a while. Take the time and figure out where you really fit, and find something you would really like to do. Then get the appropriate training and go do it.
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