Careers in IT

Careers in information technology have so much potential for growth as well as the possibility to earn a high income. I used to have a career working downtown, and I hated the commute. I would sit at my desk and dream of a job where I could sit at home and work in my pajamas. I would wish for a job that did not require me to literally get my feet wet on my way from the train to the office. I was moving up in the workplace, but I was not happy. When I investigated jobs that work from home that paid a living wage, I always would see information technology at the top of the list. This was before the pandemic, and not everyone was looking to work at home. The lists of jobs would usually start with IT specialist or web developer (Wells, 2020). Therefore, I am interested in this field. I want to work at home, and I want to make a lot of money. This post will go over jobs related to computer operations, hardware, programming languages regarding application and software jobs, database management, and network management and security.

The creation of computers opened endless possibilities. They originated form telephone switches and become giant tabulating machines. Computers now have gotten much smaller and faster. The switches have become chips and are as small as a pin head (Vahid & Lysecky, 2017). For the most part, a hardware developer would require a bachelor’s degree and they make $110,379 on average per year. This job path can lead to software developer, consultant, and even senior project manager. (Zappia , 2019) A hardware engineer might even create new hardware and lead in the charge in modern computer technology.

Software application developer is one career with a lot of potential. This job utilizes programming languages such as Java, JavaScript and Python.  It only requires a bachelor’s degree, and the average salary is $105,590 (Malvik, 2020). I am extremely interested in this career path and when I do a simple search of jobs on Indeed.com, I see remote possibilities with a salary of $116,000 - $142,000 per year. This is quite a fresh take compared to when I attempted to find a job after receiving my degree in psychology. There were no jobs available, and they did not pay even half as much. There are many other options as well including network system administrator, computer programmer, and computer systems analyst that range from $83,000 - $96,000 on average per year.  These jobs all use programming languages and offer opportunities for growth.

When discussing database jobs, it only makes sense to mention MySQL as it is appears to be the most popular. When searching jobs for database engineers, they all seem to mention MySQL which uses SQL. It looks like these jobs are still lucrative, but these careers range greatly with salaries. Some jobs available in databases are SQL data analyst salary with a median salary of $73,278 per year, data modeler making $119,200 per year on average, and data scientist averaging $116,295 per year (Economic Research Institute, 2020). These jobs include creating, maintaining, and analyzing database information.

Some of the best work at home jobs involving information technology are in network architecture and security. A system has transmission hardware and protocols, software, and infrastructure. Network architects ensure that communications run smoothly. This job has yearly average income of $113,223. One thing to note is that this career may require a master’s degree. It shows that 42% have a bachelor’s degree, while 29.6% have a master’s degree (Zippia, 2020). Information Security Analysts jobs are going to be a growing field in the next 10 years, and they make $99,730 on average per year (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2020). This growing field has a lot of appeal.

There are so many options to choose from when deciding which information technology career is the right one for me. When the qualifications include working at home and a bachelor’s degree, there are still a great amount of possibilities. All of these jobs have high salaries and open job markets. This post went over jobs related to computer operations, hardware, programming languages regarding application and software jobs, database management, and network management and security.

References

Economic Research Institute. (2020, November 9). Data Modeler Salary. Retrieved from Economic Research Institute: https://www.erieri.com/salary/job/data-modeler/united-states 

Economic Research Institute. (2020, November 9). Data Scientist Salary. Retrieved from Economic Research Institute: https://www.erieri.com/salary/job/data-scientist/united-states

Economic Research Institute. (2020, November 9). SQL Data Analyst Salary. Retrieved from Economic Research Institute: https://www.erieri.com/salary/job/sql-data-analyst/united-states

Malvik, C. (2020, 7 13). 9 Programming Careers for Coding Connoisseurs. Retrieved from rasmussen.edu: https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/technology/blog/programming-careers-for-coding-connoisseurs/

US Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2020, September 1). Information Security Analysts. Retrieved from US Bureau of Labor Statistics: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/information-security-analysts.htm

Vahid, F., & Lysecky, S. (2017). Computing technology for all. Retrieved from zybooks.zyante.com/

Wells, L. (2020, July 9). 20 best work-from-home jobs. Retrieved from Bankrate: https://www.bankrate.com/career/best-work-from-home-jobs/

Zappia . (2019, August 30). Computer Hardware Developer. Retrieved from Zappia The Career Expert: https://www.zippia.com/computer-hardware-developer-jobs/

Zippia. (2020, October 22). Network Architect. Retrieved from Zippia the Career Expert: https://www.zippia.com/network-architect-jobs/