As I mentioned in last month's column, I've been getting a lot of letters asking about career directions. Whether you're a newcomer to IT or it's been your chosen path since you can remember, there are lots of choices. Not every one will be right for you. And the one that seems to be right for you now might not be right for you next year or next month.
Decisions, Decisions
I firmly believe that any career decision you make is the right one - even if it seems like a mistake at the time. That's because I think that it's just as important to know what you don't want to do as what you do want to do. Remember all the crappy jobs you had during high school/college? (Reality check: If this slides you back into dreamy nostalgia, take out your wallet or look at your last pay stub. Should you still want to go back to your slacker days, stop reading now. There's nothing for you here.) This is presumably what propelled you into IT. Or why you think you're interested in it now.
IT is a very, very hot career area. You can't read any labor market report without seeing the number of jobs in the field going begging because there aren't enough candidates. But don't be misled by the idea that you can attend a short course and immediately step up into a high-paying new career. Most of the letters I receive are from people who have completed these courses and who are now shocked by the fact that employers aren't falling all over themselves in the rush to hire new grads.
The thing to remember is that jobs in IT, as in every other career area, have prerequisites. The jobs that are open are not entry-level, and may be incredibly specific in their requirements.
Not only do different jobs have different requirements, they emphasize different skills and aptitudes, are performed in different types of environments, under different working conditions. It's crucially important to know whether you're a good fit for the job target you're identifying. But before you can check the potential fit, you have to know about the differences in IT careers.
One Employer's DBA is Another Employer's Applications Developer
It's often hard to tell just exactly what occupations in IT there are. I couldn't begin to tell you what employers are looking for now when they advertise for analysts. It could mean so many different things analysts gather business and/or systems requirements, fix software operations problems, track bugs, program in a multitude of languages, troubleshoot hardware and perform dozens of other tasks, according to a typical Sunday's want ads.
Employers look for MIS staff or IT professionals; computer support staff or systems support coordinators; systems administrators or LAN/WAN administrators. I'm in the field and I get confused. My point is that employers are very likely to name the same job differently. It's your responsibility to understand what the employer means by what he/she calls the job.
Hardware, Software
I'm a simple person, so I've got a simple taxonomy. According to any number of labor market information sources and my personal experience with people in the field, there appear to be two major career areas in technology - hardware and software. You're either one or the other.
Hardware people design and build networks, configure servers, desktops, routers, switches, develop and install system security solutions, develop directory structures and otherwise assure the continuous physical operations of enterprise architecture.
Software people are programmers. They develop data models and conceptual, logical, and physical designs. They use a wide variety of programming languages to tell computers of varying sizes, types, and strengths what to do, when to do it and how it gets done.
I think that's pretty much it. At least at the basic level. Hardware people tend to be active and physical (you will move around and lift heavy boxes); software people tend to be cerebral and logical (you will sit in front of your machine for hours writing code). Both kinds, in my observation, tend to have strange senses of humor and are given to collecting toys. For the most part, these are distinct paths. Unless you work in a very small enterprise, in which case you are pretty much expected to know how to do everything.
There are also business analysts, who develop requirements for systems by interviewing users and observing business process; engineers, who actually design chips, computers, and other physical pieces of equipment; QA specialists, who test applications to insure that they actually work they way they're supposed to; technical writers, who document system specifications for hardware and software; and trainers, who teach employees how to use the software programs used in a business.
At the risk of losing your attention, take a look at this site: http://partnering3.microsoft.com/skills2000. Microsoft has put up a short interactive quiz that will give you some insight into the computer jobs that might interest you. It's a very minimal evaluation that should not be viewed as definitive. This is like a "rate your attractiveness to the opposite sex" piece in a magazine. It's supposed to provide food for thought, not a life goal. But it could be helpful as a starting point. The site also has some useful links for additional career research. It should come as no surprise that Microsoft products and technologies are highly recommended.
Bottom line, research the occupation you're interested in. Or think you might like. Talk to people who have those jobs. Ask them what they do each day. See if that sounds interesting. Don't jump into a career direction because you think you can make a lot of money or because you hate the job you're in right now. And pay attention to what's happening in the field.
I got a letter from someone who attended an unnamed career institute for a program in mainframe programming with a concentration in COBOL. After a few months, he got laid off and is wondering if there's a future. Well, sure there is, but it will be limited. COBOL programmers are maintaining legacy mainframe apps, not designing web applications. There may need to be a connection to that COBOL data, but once somebody designs an object that performs the function, um, thanks a lot, but we don't need you any more. Think growth - not maintenance - if you're planning for a bright future.
If You Don't Like Your Job Title, Wait 2 Weeks
The field and its nomenclature change virtually overnight. For example, that's why you'll still see advertisements for webmasters, though it's not clear quite what that means any more. Two years ago, the webmaster was the individual (the only individual) who designed the site, controlled the content and wrote the code.
In many companies today, the function of webmaster has been delegated to a person in a business unit who has editorial control over content on the website area (intranet/internet/extranet) belonging to that unit. Through the magic of XML, cascading style sheets, and the ability to save Word documents as HTML, it no longer requires an IT professional to maintain basic website content.
Since brochureware doesn't cut it on the web anymore, webmasters have been replaced by Java/CGI/Perl developers, user interface experts, graphic artists, internet architects, and a host of others. As the business functionality of internet applications grows, demands for specialized skills increase as well. The proliferation of application types and eBusiness capabilities guarantees that this will continue.
What this means is that no one in IT can learn to do one or two things and then be comfortably prepared for a lifetime career. And this is one of the key determinants for selecting an IT job target.
Learning Machine
To be successful in an IT position, no matter what type it is, you must like to learn new things. If you're an indifferent student, this field is not for you. This doesn't mean that you have to be good in a traditional school setting, just that you need to keep learning constantly. Be prepared to do it on your own time, since not every employer will recognize the need for you to keep up. I'm sure there are jobs where lazy types can hide out and get by on the skills they brought with them, but I haven't seen any lately. It's important to keep growing...careerwise, you snooze, you lose.
More...
Later in the year, I'll devote a few columns to the outlook for particular occupations. Write to me at jamie@jobcircle.com if you'd like to suggest one for me to examine. I'll also write about how to pick a training program. Next month, Resume (Up To) Speed.
Enjoy this article? Read more of JobCircle.com's Career Coach articles.
Jamie Fabian spent more than 15 years as a human resources executive before changing careers to become a senior project manager for a growing IT consulting company. Now in management consulting for a large Pharma company, Jamie would like to be seen as a hybrid of Tom Peters, Tom Jackson, and Tom Wolfe, but spends too much time working, driving carpool and watching mindless TV to write more than this column. You can contact Jamie with questions and comments at jamie@jobcircle.com.
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