Studying IT at university is your ticket to a successful future
Information technology (IT) is one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy. The changes taking place in it open up new and, at the first glance, fantastic opportunities in other areas, for example, in design, transportation, management of people and resources, marketing and education.
Modern applicants of higher educational institutions hesitate and think if it is beneficial to choose a profession related to the IT sphere, because in our country there are already too many programmers who have difficulties with employment.
In this article, Pro-Papers will bring arguments why students should study IT at universities, overview trends in development of future technologies that will require skilled IT workers to serve them.
We have analyzed why simple code development in the near future will not be enough to “revitalize” the information system. And at the same time, we’ll give advice on what skills a simple student, studying IT at university, should have for a successful future.
There are several important processes in this industry now. First, telecommunication solutions provide chains of connections between different points of the world — accordingly, the volume of data passing through the network increases and solutions for their processing are developed.
Secondly, digital solutions are becoming more mobile and “friendly” to the user – if now almost every family has a laptop, and every second inhabitant of the planet uses a smartphone, then in ten years any citizen will have at least 5-6 devices, interconnected and worn on the body – for example, augmented reality glasses, a biometric bracelet for health care and a smart phone with a smart wallet function.
As the amount of information grows, the demand for new security systems, methods of filtering and data protection will grow, especially as the proliferation of large-scale cloud storage systems makes data leakage more dangerous.
The boundaries between the virtual and the physical world are becoming blurred, which means that society in the digital space will be organized along roughly the same principles as in reality – including state borders and government control.
What should a student who wants to build a successful career in the field of IT know? The difference between a developer with a salary of $ 10,000 and $ 250,000 does not lie in the plane of choosing a programming language. It depends on the level of knowledge and competencies. It is difficult for a mediocre programmer to earn a lot. Applications or websites created by such a programmer have many bugs, work due to “crutches” or do not work at all. A developer with a wide range of knowledge, able to create complex systems, is always in demand. When you hear that the creators of a cool startup, program or application spent $5 million, it means that 60-70% of this amount was spent on paying for the work of programmers.
Therefore, choose the IT sphere, which you like, and improve your skills in it as much as possible. Search for junior jobs in this area and mark requirements. So you will have a checklist that you need to know and be able to.
To begin with, let us opt for the direction of IT activities. These include: development, design, management, marketing, support and analytics. In each direction, Pro-Papers have selected the actual IT-profession, which corresponds to certain skills. We will try to describe them briefly.
In IT development, the most recognizable and well-known profession is, of course, the programmer (engaged in the creation of computer programs, algorithms, websites). The profession of a programmer is divided into many names by programming languages (Java, PHP, JavaScript, JavaAndroid, etc.), for example:
– Java programmer creates complex applications using this programming language;
– PHP programmer – a developer who uses this particular programming language, which is the most widely used today. This person works to “revitalize” the pages of the site;
– tester – checks the IT-product for various problems and inaccuracies in use, looking for pitfalls and bugs;
– JS programmer with the help of this language turns “lifeless” web pages into full-featured web applications, which allows to speed up user interaction with the site and reduce server load.
In the direction of IT-design we can distinguish the profession of a web designer – an artist with a technical mindset. We can say that their task is to create an attractive and convenient web design and interface, which in turn are indicators of quality software.
With IT management, “everything is simple” in general: IT director, project manager and product manager. Be a computer genius, a good manager, create and that’s all there is to it.
The direction of IT marketing is more diverse:
SMM-manager – is engaged in the promotion of the product in social networks;
SEO-specialist – promotes websites in the network;
Internet marketer – promotes the brand on the Internet;
IT services sales manager – an intermediary between a customer and an IT company;
PR-manager – a specialist in advertising and public relations.
IT support is a fairly large and important part of the IT industry. These include:
database administrator – develops and maintains databases;
system administrator – monitors the correct operation of computers and software;
information security specialist – invents systems that ensure safety of information at various levels;
network administrator – designs networks and establishes infocommunications;
CRM-manager – builds relationships with customers;
In IT analytics, there is a system analyst who develops an IT system that works to improve business performance, a web analyst that analyzes user behavior on the site, and a Big Data analyst who studies large data arrays in science and business.
Now that we have look through a variety of IT professions, it’s up to you to look closely and listen to yourself, analyze your knowledge, skills and choose which one suits you best.
