Career Choices and opportunities in Computer Science/ Information technology

Information technology has entered and benefited all sectors of industry. IT professionals design, support, and maintain computer hardware and software for various industrial and individual applications and are much sought after for their expertise and experience. Demand for programmers, systems architects, AI and machine learning experts, information security professionals etc. has been relentlessly growing. This growth is experienced in most job markets in the world.

The avalanche of interest in tech area can partially be contributed to:

• Very attractive graduate employment opportunities with above average paychecks.
• Career growth prospects to the horizon and beyond.
• Entrepreneurial pathways for the business minded world-changers.
• Fast moving, highly rewarding academia.

Career paths in Information Technology jobs;

Career paths in the IT industry can be broadly classified into the two main fields of hardware and software. Under hardware, you have manufacturing, maintenance, research and development, and management. Under software, you have manufacturing, development, programming, software testing, and maintenance and support. Among related areas are computer operations, database administration, sales/marketing, and data-center management. Popular job designations include computer hardware engineer, software engineer, information systems manager, programmer, network systems and data analyst, systems analyst, database administrator, systems administrator, support specialist, computer and information scientist, school/college computer teacher, and college or university professor.

Companies also advertise positions in the areas of networking, web designing, search engine optimization, computer programming, gaming, system/database administration, software testing, security, desktop support, technical writing, e-commerce, and software training. Freshers are naturally concerned about the outlook for their industry and their career prospects. Information technology workers have been able to do relatively well even during times of recession, though, indeed, job and salary cuts have been widely reported. However, as mentioned before, most companies use information technology widely and IT professionals continue to be in great demand, especially those with good skills, talent, and aptitude.

Typically, if you are a fresher straight from a university, you will undergo training for a certain period and then be designated as a software developer or programmer, for example. Depending on your work and the skills you develop, you can become a project leader in about three years. If you are selected to work onsite at a customer’s organization abroad, you may be considered for a manager’s role directly, and promoted, without your having been a project lead. These days, as you progress in your career as a junior IT professional, you can hope to be given the choice of continuing in the technology stream or shifting to the management stream, depending on your outlook and personal interests.

The individuals who want to continue to be a core part of technology development are identified as “individual contributors” and allowed to continue in that stream without being pressured to shift to the management stream for promotion to senior positions.

What can you do with a CS/IT/Info-Sec degree and what would be your role?

Application Programmer:

Simply put, applications programmers write the code for the software used in computers and other electronic devices. They create software applications by writing code that is error-free, maintainable, and scalable. They also test and evaluate applications, and tweak and improve applications to make them user-friendly. Other tasks may include interacting with customers to find out their requirements, preparing software and training manuals, and training users.

As an applications programmer, your first task would often be to find out your project requirements at meetings with the manager, the analyst, and most importantly, the client. This would enable you to confirm the input and output information that you need in order to create the software code for your project.

A more-than-basic knowledge of the domain your organization is involved in would help very much, and it would be good idea to read up topics that make you feel like a fish out of water. When you have all the work-flow information, you would turn this into code, and program computers by entering the code. Testing whether your application is running smoothly would probably be the next item on your to-do list. Chances are that you will find glitches, and you will need to fix them by modifying your code. Once you have created an application, you will need to prepare a user manual explaining the features of the application. Applications programs are called upon to suggest improvements to the software in their organizations or advise software upgrades. They may also be deployed for software evaluation or as trainers.

Project Manager:

As an IT project manager you would plan, execute, and monitor technology initiatives for organizations. These initiatives could be hardware installation, software development, network modernization, data management, or cloud computing. Your responsibilities would involve conceiving a project to cater to all of the client’s requirements, executing it, monitoring the implementation, and handing over the installation to the client. For the IT project manager, every project would start by meeting the client to understand the client’s requirements. You would then start planning the project stages and putting together a team to implement the project.

When the project starts, you would have to keep a constant eye on the progress of the project and whether everything is going along as planned. A major worry related to IT projects is that technology undergoes changes during the course of implementation of projects, which would press you to constantly review your planning. Typically, in the case of software projects, you may need to go back again and again to the drawing board because of technology advances in your domain.

Among other important concerns for an IT project manager are whether the project is progressing as per schedule and whether it is conforming to the budget. As an IT project manager, another responsibility is to ensure quality in all aspects of the project. After evaluating and testing the project, you are ready to hand over the installation or facility to your client. Monitoring of the effectiveness of what you have created may continue at the client’s site for some time.

Database Administrator:

The typical DBA usually has a long list of responsibilities: install, upgrade, administer, monitor, maintain, and secure databases of organisations. The main objective of DBAs is to use their knowledge and skills to make information available readily to database users, monitor and secure databases, design and adopt development strategies for database management, and conceive plans for handling future requirements.

Given your responsibilities as a DBA, you may often start their work day while still at home—checking emails or SMSs for system alerts. You will probably start preparing an action plan while still on your commute to work. Your typical work day as a DBA would start with a close look at the performance of servers, especially the critical ones. You will be monitoring the less important ones by a biweekly or weekly schedule. Testing systems and ensuring that your backups can be relied upon is another daily task, as your two main objectives are to maximise data recovery and minimise data recovery time in case there is a server downtime.

As technology is always changing, you will need to help developers add new applications or rejig existing ones without overloading the server.Other daily tasks may include opening new database user accounts, allocating user access, and reviewing troubleshooting systems. At the office, meeting with senior managers will take up much of your time. The end of your day will see you taking up a final inspection of the systems before leaving.

Business analyst:

As an analyst, you will ensure the involvement of all the project teams and also learn their individual requirements in order to implement the project. After fully grasping the requirements of both the client and the project teams, you will interact with the business and finance teams of your organisation and find out the viability of the project. Once the project viability is confirmed, you will start documenting the requirements and assist in drawing out a project management plan, with deadlines for each module, along with the project manager. This completes the initiation stage of the project. The next stage is project execution, and here your role is to clarify any doubts of the developers regarding the project requirements as spelled out by the client. Often, you will notice clashes between the spheres or interests of some of the teams, and you will have to ensure that these differences are resolved.

You will also keep an eye on the progress of the project (though project schedule monitoring is the job of the project manager), and get the developers to carry out any mid-course corrections in case the client makes any minor changes in the project requirements.In the final phase of the project, you will facilitate testing and previews of the project by the client. You will then organise the handing over of the new facility to the clients and collect feedback.You will prepare user and instruction manuals for the client, and will also document project experiences for your own organisation.

Web Applications Developer:

As a skill, web app development has to be one of the most versatile skill for someone to pick up. Due to the scale of deployment that is offered by a connected web of computers, a web app developer can create systems and apps for just about any industry under the sun AND put it in the hands of the highest number of users.

From startups to governments, web application development has become core IT activity and the demand for backend, front end or full stack devs in this domain command high salaries, are constantly in demand and end up finding very rewarding careers indeed!

Mobile Application Developer:

Whether you love the open web stack or you are a wizard with native tools and langauges, if you develop for the mobile hardware, you are never out of a job. Mobile applications are built to live with users for many hours each day. They get used so much and therein companies find endless business opportunities. And guess who they look for, to make their entrepreneurial dreams come true? Yes, a mobile application developer!