What is an IT Job?

IT is an abbreviation for Information Technology.

For starters, I don’t think there is anyone more qualified than me to tell you what an IT job is. My IT career spans 20+ years starting back in 1989.

I’ve held jobs in IT nearly half of my life. I’ve worked for some of the smallest IT companies, the biggest in the world, and I’ve owned IT companies.

It includes an extremely vast category of job types stretching from simple computer jobs to some of the most highest paying jobs in the world.

So what exactly is an IT job?

An IT job is most commonly some type of computer support job. The job titles for IT jobs could be: Desktop Support Engineer, Computer Consultant, Programmer Analyst, LAN Engineer, WAN Engineer, Network Security Consultant, Database Programmer, CIO (chief information officer), Systems Administrator, Microsoft Administrator, Unix Systems Administrator. The combination of job titles in IT are virtually endless. What I have given you are some of the top categories of IT jobs. Underneath these categories, the list of titles goes on forever.

What would a person with an IT job do?

Someone with an IT job would most commonly work for a company in their Information Technology department. This person would support the office staff of employees as it relates to their computers. Everyone in an office most likely uses a computer.

Most people don’t know what to do when their computer breaks, needs a tune up, needs software updates, or how to move their information from one computer to a new one. This is where a person with an IT job comes in handy. This IT person will know how to fix computer problems for the office staff so the office staff can do their job.

An other example of what a person with an IT job would do is manage the network servers for a company. Network servers are the backbone of a company’s business. For all those office workers who use PC Computers, all their information and data is stored on a much larger and more powerful computer called a server. Network servers do everything. They store data, they make sharing data easy so everyone in the company can access it.

Network servers are very important to businesses and when they are not working right, the business could potentially lose millions of dollars. This is why they hire specially trained people for these IT jobs. These IT professionals are specially trained to keep the IT department working in top shape.

What is an IT Programmer Job?

I’ve already told you about how office personnel use PC desktops to do their work, and how Network Servers tie everything together, but it’s the programmers who create all the programs that PC’s and Network Servers use. With out programmers, you’d have nothing but a dumb metal box of wires that does nothing. Programmers create the programs that makes computers seem so smart. Without the programmers who created Microsoft Word, I would have no way of writing this article on my computer.

What is an IT job as it relates to sales consulting?

An IT sales job is generally designed for a person who has already been in the IT field for many years and they have accomplished many industry standard certifications. They already know how to fix and maintain PC Desktops, they know how network servers work. All this knowledge can make them a good candidate for a sales job in IT where they help other businesses solve their IT problems.

What is an IT training job?

An IT training job is one where a seasoned Network Consultant, or some type of well versed IT engineer will teach other people about IT and help them understand a certain technology, or product so they can go back to their company and perform this skill for in their job.

How do you get a job in IT?

Getting a job in IT is probably much easier than you think. You need to have some idea of what interests you in computers and then start there. If you like helping people, getting a job in IT customer support might be for you. Getting a job in IT could be as simple and buying a book from Amazon for $10, reading it and studying it, and then taking a few certification tests to prove you know what you’re talking about. Now you have a valuable and marketable skill you can add to your resume and you can begin looking for jobs that require this skill.

Of course that is putting it in it’s simplest terms and though that method works and is very popular, there are millions of people using that same technique which has flooded the IT job market.

So how do you get an IT job that pays good money and does not have a lot of competition? Simply put, that takes time. One of the best ways is to go to a college that specializes in training people for IT jobs. They have options for hands on classes, and you can even take on-line IT classes and get your degree or certification that way.

I started out in IT the hard way. I got my first job in IT because I liked to work on computers in my basement as a hobby. I did this for years while I worked at Radio Shack, where I sold electronic gadgets to hobbyists. After years of working on computers in my basement I got my first IT Job, at that time, the general public did not even know what an IT job was. IT jobs were a big mystery and the people who had them seemed a little odd, but not me.

How do you get a Programming job in IT?

There are many different programming languages. There is PHP, DB2, Cobol, C, Pearl, Oracle, SQL. The list is practically endless of programming languages. To get a programming job in IT, you would need to study that particular programming language on your own, in college or through online classes. Getting a programming job in IT is a great start for people who have strong math and analytical skills.

Now you know what an IT job is and what you can do with an IT job — you should be in better shape to take the next step. I have only scratched the surface of IT jobs. As I said earlier, the range of IT jobs is endless. If you are serious about getting a job in IT, I would suggest writing down some of the things that interests you about this profession and searching out colleges or training organizations who can help you perfect your skill set so you can become a good IT professional and secure a good paying job the IT field.