Career Opportunities in Information Technology

Question: Discuss about the Career Opportunities in Information Technology. Answer: Introduction Information technologies change the of people play, live and conduct business. The IT industries are dominating job market and major reasons behind it are significant growth in e-commerce and the internet, increased demand for information security and rapid growth in the mobile computing era (Rogers 2013). This report is made to focus on the career options provided by IT industries all over the world. Major components of IT industry are identified in the following section and based on that career opportunities are also find out in several areas. Overview of IT Industry Across the globe, IT industries are growing exponentially with investments, demands, and technical capabilities, which are very crucial to support sustainable growth. Since 2014, the IT industry invests a lot and enhances their IOT (Internet of Things) solutions, which help to develop advance business intelligence applications (Shulock and Moore 2013). The growing information age revolutionizes business operations allowing organizations to improve their value propositions. Large investments in IOT contribute to obtaining data generation and application benefits. The industries always try to upgrade their technologies and its applications which have significant impacts to mine structured, unstructured and semi-structured data. In addition, big data applications generated from IOT solutions drive the organization to move in cloud operational infrastructure (Agarwal and Ohyama 2013). Furthermore, increasing cyber security breaches all over the world due to misconfiguration issues, invol vements of third parties, network loopholes and most importantly the lack of skilled security talents is the most worrying fact for everyone. Figure 1: Career Growth in IT industry (Source: Freeman, Cardin and Jeffries 2014, pp-100) The facts mentioned above and sheets show that there are lots of opportunities in IT industries to create employment branding and to provide advanced career opportunities, which can help on reducing the deficit in the talents gap. Components of IT industry Figure 2: Components of IT Industry (Source: Coetzee and Stoltz 2015, pp-85) From the above figure, it is clear that IT industries offer service opportunities in four areas which are IT hardware domain, IT software domain, service areas and telecom services. The educational qualifications needed to work on these specialized areas are illustrated as follows IT Hardware: In order to work in IT hardware filed, students must have possessed Bachelor degree in computer science or computer information filed. Besides, the student should have properly skilled knowledge on computer programming language such as C, JAVA, PHP and others (Brand, Valent and Browning 2013). In this domain, people are hired to install and monitor the operations of basic hardware equipment required to make effective computer system for the business organization. In order to work a network, speiclist should have extensive knowledge about network protocols, connectivity, network types, security devices and basic operating systems such as LINUX or Windows (Engineer 2015). Network security specialists diagnose and repair the instructions remotely and monitor the bottlenecks or security threats related to system connectivity. IT Software: In software field, IT industries have lots of career options to be offered to start from computer programmers, application programmers, system programmers, database administrators, system analysts to a web designer. In order to carry out this field as a professional, people should have a bachelors degree in computer engineering or information system (Simosi, Rousseau and Daskalaki 2015). People should also do several courses in programming languages to cover database management, system design and development activities and SQL (Structured Query Language). IT Services: This includes the implementation plans and processes of equipment and systems related to network or computing devices of the organization. People should have graduate degree in any computer-related field such as information science, computer science or network administration (Agarwal and Ohyama 2013). Various certification programs can provide practical experience of the network system administration. IT Telecom Services: IT telecom services facilitates installation of equipment required for transmitting broadband and cellular data. People must have skills in electronics or electrical domain. In addition, specialized courses should be done in broadband telecommunication or telephone networks (Biemann, Zacher and Feldman 2012). Furthermore, telecom engineers should have good experience in networking filed, must have problem solving abilities, great knowledge in software developments to deal with telecommunication systems and should possess basic knowledge about electronic and electrical knowledge. Career Options Offered by IT industry With the expanding business needs, IT industries offer a wide variety of career opportunities, which are mainly, categorized under two sections; one is hardware, and other is software. Career Opportunities In Hardware Career Options Descriptions Computer Engineers Computer engineers deal with hardware, system design aspects, and development. They are hired to design computer related devices or entirely a new computer system (Moore et al. 2012). These people also have the responsibilities to supervise the activities of hardware manufacturers or device controllers. Network Specialist Network specialists are the key people who are hired to administer security of the designed network system so that business operations will run smoothly. In addition, these people also help to adapt best hardware and software packages, which can make an effective network system for the organization (Sandy 2014). The network experts have five specialized areas which are as follows 1. Cisco Certified Network Associate- Can install, operate and configure LAN (Local Access Network) and nodes of small networks. 2. Cisco Certified Network Professional-Can handle a network of more than 100 to 500 nodes. 3. Multi-Layer Switched Network Engineer- Helps to explain how flexible networks can be designed and configured 4. Remote Access Network Engineer- Helps to interconnect the central cities with a home office or branch office. 5. Internet Troubleshooter- Can train the learners to troubleshoot the problems of a converged network. Table 1: Career Opportunities in IT Industry (Hardware) (Source: Drost et al. 2016, pp-15) Career Opportunities In Software Career Options Descriptions Computer Programmers Computer programmers test and maintain the software or program, also design and test the logical structure to solve the problems with the help of computers. Application Programmers Application developers concentrate on business operations and engineering areas (Mohedas et al. 2015). They also write software and can revise the existing software package. System Programmers System programmer deals with the functioning related to operating system and compilers. Database Administrators Database administrators (DBA) have the responsibilities to maintain database efficiency, accuracy, and development. DBA monitors the functioning related to database planning, conceptual design, transactional design, testing and final implications (Tolentino et al. 2014). Conversion, migration, support, and training are also the major roles of database administrators. Database Specialists Database specialists design, install, modify, repair and maintain computer databases. These people customize commercial databases to meet organizational needs, solve problems to meet clients needs and can develop a new database for new clients. Interface Designers Interface designers design the interface of the computer system, which helps to make communication between human and computer. Software Engineers These people are recruited to carry out the application developments by analyzing the users needs (Simosi, Rousseau and Daskalaki 2015). Software engineers design and modify basic computer applications and program. System Analyst With the use of computer technologies, system analysts develop new network system or reshape the existing system and its resources to meet organizational needs (Neilson et al. 2013). These people also help to prepare the return on benefit and cost benefit analysis to check whether the proposed system is economically feasible or not. Web Designer These people are hired to create, maintain and support internet sites of the organization. Web designers have to monitor day-to-day activities of these sites and develop new web application as per the clients requirements. Table 2: Career Opportunities in IT Industry (Software) (Source: Wilson et al. 2014. Pp-10) Future Opportunities Technology is the backbone of the organizational economy. Achievements in data storage, computer processing power, and chip design and enterprise mobility enables the IT industry to create potential opportunities, which were not possible economically and technologically in the previous days. Business Industries reached to a point where big data analytics, cognitive computing, internet of things (IOT) and cloud computing change the business growth exponentially. In order to gain competitive advantages in this world and to provide a unique quality of services to the customers, the organizations also make advancements in software, materials, machine design and fabrication technique that can help the industries to grow in a positive way. A career in information technology is challenging but rewarding as well and open many paths for individuals to achieve higher excellence in a career. Some of the advanced career opportunities to make higher growth in IT industry are described as follows Information System Manager: Business industries should recruit information system managers who act as a liaison between IT specialists and top management of the organization. Information system managers must have both the understanding of organizational needs as well as technological skills. The major responsibilities of information system managers are to monitor and measure the performance of the implemented network or computer system, which can increase organizational productivity. In addition, the information system managers should also have the responsibilities to check hardware installation, software upgrades, implementation of computer programming and development of digital security. The major role of information system manager is to generate digital reports to support clinical and administrative decision-making operations. Computer Support Specialist: In order to provide technical assistance to the system users, the organization needs computer support specialists. Computer support specialists resolve the problems from remote locations or via telephone. These people can provide assistance related to computer software, hardware, word processing, operating system and installation. In addition, these people should monitor daily activities of the system and should perform according to that. Data and information related to the transaction should be recorded on a daily basis and problems should be mitigated by taking proper actions against them. Cloud Engineer: Cloud architecture enables the organizations to handle a large array of data and information daily. The greatest advantage to move current business operation in the cloud is that it needs no additional hardware requirements and can back up crucial data and information effectively. Therefore, cloud engineers are in high demand who must understand the business needs to run the cloud operations properly. The cloud engineers should have proper knowledge about the storage networking, user management, open source solutions, optimization options, security virtualization and others. Big Data Specialists: These people are required in the organization to extract useful information from a large collection of data to run standard business practices and policies. Big data specialists should have good knowledge of Hadoop to crunch the data and help to understand the impacts of distributed and clustering file system on the cloud environment. Computer Animator: These people are in huge demand in this growing industry as they can help to design interesting video game applications and animations of different characters in a movie frame. In order to make a career in animation, people should have bachelor's degree in computer animation or fine arts. The hiring of computer animators can help the organization to create 2D and 3D graphics for different platforms, including computer games, videos, websites and computer applications. In this aspect, advanced technologies such as digital sculpting tools and pens should be used to make best applications of animations for business uses. Ethical Hacker: IT industry has their network or computer system, which have some security threats or vulnerabilities. The security threats create potential barriers, which slows down the entire business operations. This creates the needs to hire ethical hackers who can help the organization to mitigate the security weaknesses of the network or computer system. Ethical hackers scan the network ports by scanning tools such as Nessus, Nmap to identify security vulnerabilities present in it, so that best possible solutions can be adapted. Ethical hackers also have the responsibilities to monitor the activities of patches, including the installation of security applications such as firewall, an encryption technique, intrusion detection system and others. These are very crucial to maintain greater security throughout the organization. Conclusion Conclusively it can be stated that IT industries have significant opportunities, which can accelerate one's career in a positive way. Advanced technologies like cloud computing, big data, and others force the organizations to hire skilled people who can effectively manage these complex operations with great expertise. IT industry provides career opportunities in four domains, which are hardware, software, maintenance and telecommunication services. In the software domain, people can grow their careers in various field such as system administrators, computer programmers, database administrators and many others. All of these professions should have basic knowledge of computing languages and networking systems. However, in future these industries have many more career opportunities such as cloud engineer, big data analytics, computer administrators and many others, which can meet up the growing demands of technical field. References Agarwal, R. and Ohyama, A., 2013. 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