05 Nov 09 Choosing An IT Career Path
When you’re picking the type of IT career path you want, you have to consider your options as to what is available. Information Technology has around three basic career categories. The education you’ll need, as well as the skill set you should develop varies between each. So think about which sounds best to you, and which accommodates your life goals the best.
Engineering
Software engineering is a major career path within information technology. As a software engineer your responsibility would be to creating and modifying computer applications to fit the needs of the situation. A company would essentially hire you to convert computer software to work for them. This is a problem solving career, as you’ll be tasked with assessing a companies needs, and tailoring their software to best serve those needs.
Consulting
Information technology consultants are always in high demand, as they provide information to businesses about how to better use IT. A consultant assesses the companies technology needs with what sort of IT options would work best for them. Consultants can work independently, and oftentimes will function as their own separate entities. So a consultant job has a lot of freedom, as long as you have the proper credentials.
Analysis
Analysts are another career path. A systems analyst is in charge of assessing a companies current IT set up, then using the information to make improvements. So essentially you’re collecting data about how well the system in place works, and then analyzing the data to make the system work better. An analyst will be responsible for increasing efficiency through streamlining procedures, and updating technology. Anything that makes the company run more smoothly from an IT perspective, it’s an analyst’s job to find the solution.
Choosing your career path isn’t necessarily easy, but each offer varying levels of freedom. Really, the deciding factor should be your personal needs and goals. If you like to be your own boss, a more independent position like consulting might be your best bet. Weigh the pro’s and con’s of each, and figure out what’s right for you.
Tags: Best Engineering, Career Categories, Career Education, Career Information, Career Path, Computer Applications, Computer Software, Efficiency, Engineering Software, Freedom, Improvements, Information Technology Consultants, Life Goals, Personal Needs, Perspective, Proper Credentials, Separate Entities, Software Engineer, Software Engineering, Systems Analyst
21 Jul 09 Keeping Up On Technology
No matter the industry you are in, keeping up with relevant technology to your field is incredibly important in your bid to remain relevant and competitive over rival companies and to the intelligent consumer. Part of the battle is keeping up on new products as they come out, as depending upon how high tech your company is, you could have new technology coming out every few weeks with potential industry changing effects. But there are a few keys that you can keep in mind when it comes to staying relevant. Those being:
- Figure out your needs for successfully running your business.
- Figure the budget that you have to spend on new tech.
- Combine your findings from the first two, to find the most relevant technology.
- Allow time to test new tech and figure out realistic application within the company.
So firstly, you want to asses what you need to successfully run your business. Target what your business is going to offer, or already offers, and look to technology surrounding that. Whether it be computer software to better manage your clientele, or even faster computers to provide for better overall service.
Figure out how much money you can afford to spend taking risks on new technology. For any sort of advancement in any field a certain amount of risk taking is necessary, and you need to determine how much money can be spent on those risks. You want to have plenty to try and keep up with potential money saving/making technology, but not so much that a bad investment would hurt the company. Never be afraid though, as that new piece of tech could solve some financial problems in ways you couldn’t imagine.
Combining your findings means using the budget you’ve made for new technology, on the features that are going to be most helpful to your company first. Go after the tech that has the likelihood changing your company in the most dramatic ways, and target that first. You’ll always be taking a risk, but by targeting a weak point, or point that you could strengthen, you take the positive chance of reorganizing your company to be stronger than before.
Allow for time to test every investment you make before making a final judgment as to how it will apply to your company, and whether the investment was a success or not. Sometimes reintegration of an old system can take a while. Or sometimes fully understanding the nuances of a new item can take time before you fully understand how to make the best use of what you’ve bought. Give it some time, and let your investments play out, because that new technology could pay dividends like you couldn’t imagine.
Tags: Asses, Budget, Business Target, Clientele, Computer Software, Faster Computers, How Much Money, Intelligent Consumer, Likelihood, money saving, New Technology, Realistic Application, Relevant Technology, Risk Taking, Rival Companies, Taking A Risk, Weak Point
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