As the world around us continues to change with advances in computer technology and electronic networks, the demand for specialists in the field of Information Technology continues to grow at a rapid rate. There are a wide number of reasons why an IT career is the fast-track to personal fulfillment and career success, including the popularity of internet usage and ecommerce, the falling price of hardware and software, and the alarming rise in the sophistication of cyber-crimes.
As technology becomes more complex, there will be less people to fill in the jobs of the future. The nation will need more people with specialized knowledge who can fix problems, propose new ideas, and usher in informational innovations. Here are three IT careers that require highly-specialized technical talents:
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Forensics
If you love messing around with new technology, figuring out how things work, and you also happen to be fascinated by the amazing deductive reasoning of Sherlock Holmes, then you just might want to think about working for a data forensics company. Forensic Science is a bit of a cross-disciplinary science.Think of the popular television series, Crime Scene Investigations to get a feel for this highly intricate work. You will illuminate obscure evidence extracted from computers and storage devices in criminal investigations and will be called upon to figure things out that would baffle most people.
So what exactly will you be doing? You’ll be doing all sorts of sleuth-like things from recovering data to investigating theft of trade secrets to providing expert testimony in court.
During the course of a busy week:
- · You might create exact copies of data on a storage device that is identical to the original data in a way that is admissible in court.
- · You might image, recover, and analyze data from a smart phone or tablet.
- · You might extract data from damaged devices.
- · You might find deleted files and messages and restore them.
- · You might identify activity logs in a computer relevant to a case.
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Network Administration
As a network administrator, you will manage networks and communication systems. Your job will be to keep the information flowing through a network, so you will install and implement network hardware and software and perform a variety of tasks to manage computer systems and networks.
Here are some of the things you might do on the job:
- Troubleshoot network problems.
- Fix some problems with network security.
- Ensure that the network is running according to performance standards.
- Optimize the existing network to reduce costs and boost productivity.
- Install, secure and optimize a network for a new company.
- Make sure all sensitive data is consistently being backed up
It’s safe to say that this is a recession-proof career. Your CEO will have your number on fast dial because they will know who to call when the servers are down after an unexpected power outage or natural disaster.
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Database Administration
As a database administrator, you will be recognized for ensuring that data related to sales, manufacturing, payroll, and so on is as accurate as possible. Your work directly benefits the success of the firm and your problem solving ability to keeps everything running smoothly. Your work will involve business, technical, and communication skills. Your role is essential to the well-being of you company because it is up to you to make sure that all business data is completely accurate. You also have to ensure that it’s instantly available and that it’s secure. In the same way that a car runs well on premium grade fuel, a business runs on the quality of its data.
Industrial Age Fading Away
While many careers will be replaced by automation, artificial intelligence, and robotic machines that can lift more, move faster, and think accurately without fatigue, those in IT will continue to play a significant role in society’s future. This isn’t just a passing trend, but something that will only continue to grow. We are no longer in the Industrial age. According to a Techcrunch article, The future of American jobs lies with the tech industry, “The industrial age is over — U.S. coal mining has declined 25 percent since 2008, which resulted in 50,000 jobs being lost over a four-year period. The mining industry, in general, has lost more than 191,000 jobs since 2014.”
