Why IT Career Will Continue On The Top

What does the word IT mean? We all know it means Information Technology. But what next or what more?

So the definition of information technology says that – 

Information technology is the use of computer for the purpose of 

1. Create
2. Process
3. Store
4. Retrieve
5. Exchange

of all kinds of electronic data and information (related to business importance mainly)

So there are so many things to notice and understand from this definition. First thing you see is that information technology is for all. How do you know that? Notice the phrase “……all kinds of electronic data and information……”. And exactly this phrase makes information technology your possible career option irrespective of which subject or domain of study or pursuit you may belong to.

Information and data is there in almost all subjects and professional sectors. Next question is what is to be done with that information or data?

Create – Process – Store – Retrieve – Exchange

So as an IT professional you can be doing anything from creating to exchange of information or data of any type and domain. So now you can guess how it can fit in your domain of studies and pursuit as well.

Every domain of knowledge and every profession has got its own set of data and information. Those are required to create and process, stored and retrieved. And then exchange also. Exactly this is where information technology plays its role. So you can understand how it is relevant and important for all the different domains and professions. 

Now let us see how this can affect the different career options in information technology.

There is a common misunderstanding that information technology professionals are mainly those who work as computer programmers or software developers or web developers and designers and so on.

It is true that information technology does involve development of software and websites for its purpose of creating, processing, storing, retrieving and exchanging information. But that does not mean that the whole of information technology has to be that only. 

These processes of information technology are usually not done by any single person, instead they are often executed by a team. The team contains different categories of information technology workers. And not all the categories have to do computer programming or website development. This means there are more than one scope of information technology specialization and one can choose his or her own traits and tracks.

Even one who is entering the data in the computing systems by typing on the keyboard he is also working with the information technology upto a certain extent with a certain specialization. And maybe his specialization can be typing on the keyboard. Similarly, there can be telecallers who will be doing telecalling which will fall under the exchange of information purpose of the information technology definition. Thus these are often called ITES or Information Technology Enabled Services. 

When a website is made, then there arises the need for a lot of content. The content can be in text format or image format or can be also audiovisual or sometimes only audio. One person usually is not expected to do all the job with delivery of professional high quality. So there can arise the need of people with many different skill sets, and all are inclusive to information technology applications. 

One can be working on digital photo creation, or text content creation, or audiovisual creation for the website. If the photo creation is for photo’s sake then that involves less information technology. But if one is creating photos for a website then he has to have knowledge of the website and its constructs. Only that will enable him to deliver high professional quality images for the website. Just like the typist and telecaller case above, these photographers also come into the domain of information technology.

Thus many different sectors of pursuits and professions become so integrated with core information technology that they themselves become to be known as information technology (IT) or in some cases information technology enabled services (ITES). 

Thus those people who are training themselves with programming the computer or developing the website do fall under the category of core information technology. But with that also comes the need of other most relevant activities useful for the total development and application of information technology systems. Thus more the number of softwares are needed to be made and more the number of websites are needed to be developed, more number of core as well as accessory information technology workers will be needed. 

Now the question is to ascertain and assess the chances of needing more and more softwares and websites, etc. More there will be requirements for these, the more will increase the associated manpower for working on those projects. 

The world is standing on the shoulder of information technology. From education to medical sectors, from transport to trades, business, sports, art & culture and all other sectors of human engagements and pursuits are using information technology. And this use is increasing day by day without any sign or hint of any downscale. And not any downscale is possible or feasible. 

In the future we are set to experience new heights of information technology applications through artificial intelligence, robotics and machine learning, virtual reality and so on. Every sector of our knowledge and engagements are in some way or other have been affected by these technologies. So we are going to see even more extensive use of information technology in human life and hence there is no probability of downscale. 

Only one thing is a bit to be concerned about the issue of information technology jobs or career. What is that?

As we learnt in the definition of information technology, it includes processes like creating, processing, storing, retrieving and exchanging data or information. In each step, there are different levels of human involvement. That created the immense job opportunities that we witnessed in the last few decades. 

But with changes and developments in information technology, we are bound to have changes in the employment areas also. We are seeing a lot of applications of automation in the different areas of information technology. With more advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, image recognition and processing, and so on, we will see more trends of automation in every sector of applications of information technology.

Automation on one hand increases speed and accuracy of certain processes, on the other hand eliminates the human resource requirements in a very significant way. This is bound to create a deep negative impact on the employment scopes in both core information technology and information technology enabled services. 

In the software and website development industry also, automation created a significant curtail in employment than that was before. And this trend will continue with even greater intensities in the coming days. Before a developer used to code every single piece of features and services of a software or a website. Now there are a lot of guided and automated tools available which make developments of software and website much easier and faster, that also at the cost of much lesser human resources. This has become a real great threat to human employment in the core IT sector. 

In other sectors where information technology is used as a support resource, there also automation creates ‘opportunities’ to get jobs done by computer alone and thus eliminate ‘unnecessary’ employment of skilled human workers. There can arise a lot of humanitarian and ethical issues of machines replacing humans and thus harming human interests at large. Technology should be there to facilitate people or deprive people? 

Despite all the issues on automation and so on, it is true that information technology produced the maximum job possibilities compared to other sectors. One of the great aspects of information technology is that it not only creates jobs directly but also a lot of it indirectly. 

Now information technology has influenced and changed almost all other sectors of human engagement, which indirectly increased the demand of human resources skilled in development and use of information technology devices. 

For example, the medical sector. Even a few decades ago, there was no penetration of information technology in this sector even though medicine always used to be one of the greatest job markets. But now the scenery has changed to an amazing extent. Today, almost every medical domain extensively uses information technology in many different forms. And this essentially created a huge requirement of information technology skills in medical industries. They need softwares, devices, websites and apps and thus need their operators, developers and maintenance staff. 

Almost all other sectors are influenced and changed in the same way. Today there is not even a small average office that does not use computers and softwares. So they also need suitably trained operators, developers and maintenance staff. Thus any skill you can acquire in the frontier of information technology can hugely benefit you in the job market. That’s why, for a 21st century job, you need to have information technology in your curriculum vitae in some form or other. Otherwise you may get a backseat in the competition.

Today the best phrase about information technology can be like “more is less”! Yes, it is absolutely true that the extent of relevancy and use of information technology in almost all human affairs already broke every boundary. From education to business, medical science to sports, and many more, are already using information technology at an insane proportion. Even friendships and relationships are almost totally dependent on information technology in some form or other. I have even heard cases like marriage over video conference with the bride at one place and bridegroom at another.

In this scenario, there are not even the minutest possibilities for information technology to wind up all its functions and effects from our life. Instead it is tightening its grip on us. I specifically used the word “tightening its grip”, because it is so easy to observe and realize that we are getting more and more dependent on information technology and that also in the bad direction or improper utilization.  Still whatever benefits are we getting from it, that is also not too less.

Benefits of comfort and convenience are now so closely knitted with the development of information technology that anyone can understand that it is going to stay for a long time until doomsday. Only the technological forms and processes can vary with time. Hence there you can take a subtle and unspoken guarantee of career and prosperity with information technology. 

I would like to conclude this article with a few words of advice for all who will be pursuing information technology for studies and future careers. 

As I said, there are a myriad of information technology jobs and profiles when speaking about careers. From IT Enabled Services (ITES) to core IT where you will be developing new software and apps, then there is even more as Computer Science where you will be working with more core things of the technologies used in IT. Everything you can take as directly or indirectly as the part of Information Technology (IT) as long as it remains relevant and related. 

But the question here is different and concerns about what you will be doing or willing to be doing in IT. You have to choose that because you are supposed to be your best judge. You have to ask more than one self-question, introspect and self-assess as perfectly as possible to ascertain which career or what job profile or which stream of Information Technology (IT) will be more suitable for you as your career. 

It should not be all about the pay package or social glamor or peer pressure or anything of that sort. It should be your likings backed by your abilities. I have seen plenty of students taking up the studies and career of core IT like computer programming and then inviting more misery in life than comfort and convenience. They have made such a choice perhaps on the basis of pay packages or job availability, social and peer issues. I have seen parents and guardians being almost ignorant about stuff like computer programming still pushing their child into that just for the sake of their social economical satisfactions. 

It is true that computer programming is very crucial and respectable as well as a high paid career in the domain of Information Technology (IT) and its applications. But on the same side we have to accept this fact also that computer programming is one of the toughest things among all the  human intellectual endeavors done on this planet. Would anyone like to become a Mathematician if it happens to be very well paid? Hardly anyone will dare it that way. The same way it goes for computer programming. 

So before trying a career in computer programming one needs to ponder and introspect about how spontaneously comfortable one is with this subject. How much likings and passion one has for this subject. I have also seen plenty of frustrated and hypertensed computer programmers and software professionals whose life virtually turns into hell due to this failure in assessment and judgment. I have seen many such programmers to either downscale or even get jobless after a certain period of time because of not being able to meet up with the speed of development in this field of information technology. 

So one should think and assess all the other options within the domain of information technology. There are a lot and it is increasing. I discussed that above. Before spending time and money behind any option, you need to make the right choice for you. Then you can use the most of your resources. 

There are a lot of directions of studies and degrees in the area of information technology and related domains. It is frequently seen that everyone tends to take up courses like computer engineering for developing a career in information technology. But they get more problems than conveniences and also they waste too much money and other resources for it. Almost all computer engineering courses are usually packed with papers on computer programming and database application developments and even more. Everyone is not equally suited for handling those subjects comfortably thus creating huge stress and anxiety, which ultimately eats away the physical and mental resources. 

For example if someone has to become a computer technician then spending hours behind computer languages and spending all sorts of resources to learn them can become very stressful in every possible way. So he needs to find out courses and options that suit his purpose best. An additional training on electronics will be more suitable and applicable for him than learning all the computer languages semester after semester. 

Someone may want to become a system administrator or a database administrator or a network administrator. There are many information technology related processes where one will need more accounting knowledge or even just having good keyboard typing speed or a sound griep on some human language can give one a great edge to achieve good position and opportunities in his respective information technology sector. It all depends on which area or sector one will be working. 

It is true that computer language programming is the best thing one can do in this era of information technology, but it may not be comfortable or suitable for all. One can do a few months of certification courses to ascertain and understand one’s connection with computer programming. If that goes very well and enjoyable then one can choose that to be his or her career option or otherwise need to find out something else. 

Whatever IT career you happen to choose, you are likely to get opportunities to upscale and develop. You need to take up the right training, in the right subjects and become efficient in your domain. This is an age of technology and specifically information technology, so the job market is not to exhaust any soon, instead almost ever developing. Students aspiring for good jobs can easily keep careers in Information Technology (IT) on his or her choice.