When choosing a career, you must consider your skills, knowledge, and personality traits to understand which option in a specified field would be most suitable for you. While many career paths are easier to decide due to lesser options. It is not the same when you are choosing an IT career because it is too wide, with numerous choices that require different skill sets and aptitude. A career in IT can take you in many different directions, and having an understanding of what the options mean should help to choose the right one.
Identify the branch
Information technology or IT is an umbrella term under which various specialization streams lead to different types of careers. One can easily make a good information technology career. Some of the categories that come under IT are Network and Cloud technologies, Information security, Hardware, services and infrastructure, Storage and data, IT management and strategy, Software development, web and mobile, and training.
You must understand each area with respect to the scope of work and the skills it requires, along with the type of work it involves. Thus, you can gauge how much it matches your expectations and how well you can cope with it.
Information security – Information security is a set of practices aimed at protecting data and keeping it secure from unauthorized access or alterations both during its storage and transmission from one physical location to another or from one device to another. Some people call it data security or Infosec in short.
Network and Cloud technologies – Also known as Cloud networking, a computer-defined software network hosted within a cloud environment. Computing resources, both internal and external, as well as users, can use the network to connect and communicate. The technology enables deploying virtual machines and networks to enable high volume data transfer with low latency.
Hardware and infrastructure – Hardware and infrastructure in IT refers to the physical components used for setting up the IT system, which also serves the purpose of telecommunications and the technologies that drive the systems. Hardware and infrastructure engineers are responsible for maintaining the IT framework of companies that allow them to carry all work related to data storage and transfer.
IT management and strategy – Strategy management for IT services defines and maintains the position, perspective, plans, and patterns known as the 4Ps of the organization with respect to the services and its management. It helps organizations to implement their IT strategies with a purpose that upholds the business goals.
Storage and data – This branch of IT deals with the upkeep and maintenance of the data storage systems within the IT framework by interacting with computers to extract information and storing it safely that can be used for making decisions and solving problems. Computer systems administrators are responsible for the day-to-day operations of the IT network.
Web and mobile – Web and mobile developers are responsible for developing websites and other software applications or apps for mobile devices. They are responsible for designing and developing websites from scratch.
Software development – Also known as programmers, they develop computer programs and applications to suit specific business processes.
Apart from the ones mentioned above, there are other choices as well. Be sure to select the one that suits your skills, requirement, and interest.