The Information Technology Industry - The Many Career Opportunities.

The information Technology Career has always been of interest to many individuals. As it stands right now, with the economy the way it is in 2010, there are layoffs and many other job and career related concerns, however, the IT Industry still holds a lot of promise as computers and the related software and hardware still need maintenance, support and customer service.
Coming from a point of just a couple of years ago, the trends were on a growth pattern of about 5% to 10% a year in Salary and much more significant was the overall need for IT Professionals.
Of the current concerns for employment in the IT Industry, one may look to freelancing, contract work or outsourced labor solutions to find their niche in the Information Technology Field.
Career Builder has their 'Top 10' list of jobs in the IT industry as of 2007-2008 as follows:
1. Lead applications developer
What they do: Manage software development teams in the design, development, coding, testing and debugging of applications.
What you need: Bachelor's degree in computer science or a related field and three to five years experience in specific technologies.
Salary range: $80,250 - $108,000
Salary change*: 7.6 percent
2. Applications architect
What they do: Design components of applications, including interface, middleware and infrastructure; comply with employer's design standards.
What you need: Bachelor's degree in computer science or information systems; a master's degree is desirable. Employers request a minimum of eight years related work experience and specific software skills.
Salary range: $87,250 - $120,000
Salary change: 7.5 percent
3. Messaging administrator
What they do: Control e-mail and groupware systems, including associated servers, operating systems, and backup and recovery programs; fix system problems and attend to service requests.
What you need: Bachelor's degree in computer science, computer information systems or a related field, plus two to three years or more of experience working with the messaging systems used by the employer.
Salary range: $87,250 - $120,000
Salary change: 7.5 percent
4. Data modeler
What they do: Analyze organizational data requirements and create models of data flow.
What you need: Bachelor's degree in computer science, IT or mathematics, and several years of data management experience.
Salary range: $74,250 - $102,000
Salary change: 7 percent
5. Network manager
What they do: Direct day-to-day operations and maintenance of the firm's networking technology; collaborate with network engineers, architects and other team members on the implementation, testing, deployment and integration of network systems.
What you need: Ten years (or more) experience in a networking environment combined with several years of experience managing technical personnel. Professional certifications are also valuable.
Salary range: $74,500 - $98,500
Salary change: 7 percent
6. Senior IT auditor
What they do: Establish procedures for audit review of computer systems; develop and apply testing and evaluation plans for IT systems and ensure compliance with industry standards of efficiency, accuracy and security.
What you need: Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, business or a related field, and an average of five years' experience in IT auditing.
Salary range: $86,750 - $114,750
Salary change: 6.9 percent
7. Senior Web developer
What they do: Plan and implement Web-based applications; coordinate with product development, marketing, product management and other teams in bringing new applications online.
What you need: Bachelor's degree in computer science, electrical engineering or a related field, plus a minimum of five years of experience working with a mix of Web technologies.
Salary range: $76,250 - $108,250
Salary change: 6.6 percent
8. Business intelligence analyst
What they do: Design and develop company data analysis and report solutions; review and analyze data from internal and external resources; communicate analysis results and make recommendations to senior management.
What you need: Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems or engineering, and several years of experience.
Salary range: $78,250 - $108,250
Salary change: 6.6 percent
9. Help desk (Tier 2)
What they do: Resolve difficult issues that derive from Tier 1 support and require five to 15 minutes to settle; decide when to create work tickets for issues that can't be solved by phone or e-mail and require a visit to the user's workspace.
What you need: Besides patience and a positive attitude, requirements depend on your position level. Tier 2 positions call for two to four years work experience, and a bachelor's degree or a two-year degree and additional work experience in a help desk setting.
Salary range: $35,750 - $46,250
Salary change: 6.5 percent
10. Staff consultant
What they do: Assist with project planning and requirement specifications; create prototypes and alternatives with colleagues.
What you need: Bachelor's degree in computer science, business or a consulting-related field. Industry-specific proficiency, plus business experience and two or more years of consulting experience are also typical requirements.
Salary range: $59,250 - $82,250
Salary change: 6.4 percent
This is pretty accurate assessment of the fields and what is to be considered a 'general overview' of the job task, what is required for skills, what type of schooling is required and the estimated pay or salary range.
With the changes in the economy and the ongoing need for information technology or IT resources, as you can see with the career fields above, there is a growth in the industry as indicated by the salary change. However, with the current economy right now there has been an adjustment in the volume of jobs available.
However, each of the above career positions shows a lot of future promise based on the IT Industry growth patterns.
If you are interested in placing well in any interview process for an Information Technology job experience really is the key as well as the ability to get a long with people.
As for the future, we don't know what it holds but the way the world is going with Personal Digital Assistant Phones, Virtualization of Enterprise Computing Architecture, new technologies on the horizon, mini computing as well as centralized and cloud computing, you can expect pockets of career opportunities in the IT Industry for some time to come.

Joshua Penman is a full time IT Consultant, SEO and Web consultant for the site www.ComputerSoftwareJobSearchSource.com and www.InformationTechcnologyJobSearchSource.com Full reprint rights are granted for this article as long as the document remains intact in it's entirety along with the footer.

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