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Is Technology A Good Career Path For You In 2022? Four Reasons To Say Yes

Many job seekers are researching if information technology is a good career path for 2022 because information technology is a hyper-growth industry right now. 

There is no question, for the right person with the right skillset and temperament, working in the technology sector can be a great career move. 

I worked in this field in software sales and managed IT services, so I am familiar with the many opportunities here. It’s a good career path for both men and women.

So yes, there are lucrative opportunities for a career path in technology. 

The big question is, are you cut out for this field? We will examine this question in this article.

In this article: Is technology a good career path for me in 2022? Four reasons to say yes, we will cover

For the right person with the right skillset and temperament, there are lucrative opportunities for a career in technology. The big question is, are you cut out for this field? We examine that here.

The many benefits of pursuing a career in technology: four reasons a career path in technology is a smart move

  • You can make very high earnings in the information technology field
  • There are numerous career paths you can take once you gain some experience
  • There is high demand for IT professionals in many areas
  • There are lower education requirements for certain information technology certifications

Let’s take a look at these four aspects, one by one:

Above average earnings in the technology field

Depending on experience and position, the average software engineer can make $80,000 to $100,000 per year – quite a bit higher than the national average for media annual earnings of around $47,000. I list some example salaries below.

There are numerous career paths available in the IT sector

Once you have your certification and a couple of years of experience, you have a wide range of career path options you can take. 

The IT industry is integrated with almost every other industry, so there are plenty of ways to go, from current careers to emerging growth sectors, listed below.

How to decide on a career path: Here are current tech employment opportunities by job titles and average annual salaries (with experience) according to the Investopedia.com and other sources:

  • Software engineer & development – $102,000
  • Information Technology Manager – $127,000
  • Computer support specialists/Help Desk – $47,000
  • Information Security Analyst – $88,000
  • Computer systems analyst – $82,000
  • Computer research scientist – $75,000
  • Web developer – $63,000
  • Sales engineer – $96,340
  • Data Analyst/scientist – $118,000
  • Computer programmer $58,000
  • IT Director – $123,000
  • Network engineer/systems administrator – $87,000
  • Database administrator – $92,000
  • Cloud and remote computing – $113,000
  • Cyber security $101,000
  • and many other

The future in information technology is very bright indeed, with emerging growth technologies including:

  • Artificial intelligence
  • 5 G
  • Quantum computing
  • Internet of things
  • Autonomous driving vehicles
  • Robotics
  • Blockchain developer
  • Machine learning
  • Smart workplace
  • Smart fabrics
  • Biotech
  • Augmented reality
The future in your technology career path is very bright indeed, with emerging growth technologies like AI, blockchain, cybersecurity, and robotics providing many new opportunities well into the future

High Job Demand

There continues to be strong demand in the IT industry, with Software Developer and Data Scientist as the top IT jobs in demand as of 2021.

Infrastructure, security, and automation are also at the top of the list in 2021. Demand can change depending on economic conditions, what industry is booming, and the availability of certain skill sets. 

There are currently over 700,000 Tech job openings, with as many as 300,000 cyber security jobs needing to be filled.

If you position yourself properly with the right experience, education, certifications, and choice of job silo, you will always be in demand. 

Education Requirements

IT Certification exams – get certified for skills to gain credentials

In many cases, there are lower education requirements for a career in IT. Not all jobs in this field require a typical 4-year degree. You can get ‘certified’ in specific areas and learn a piece of the profession at a time until you earn enough credits to be considered a full-fledged engineer.

You gain certification credits by taking exams that validate your working knowledge and expertise. You may also take courses to learn a topic and then take an exam to get the certification. The courses range from 3 months to two years, depending on your profession choice and discipline.

As the number of certifications you hold grows, you can also become ‘cross-certified’ – meaning you have certifications in two or more related fields for example cyber security + data architect or Nutanix Certified Professional + in Multicloud Infrastructure.

Certification to get a good job in IT costs considerably less than a traditional 4-year college degree – however, STEM majors are still at an advantage for many advanced careers in science and engineering.

4-year degree and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Majors

There is a benefit to having a 4-year college degree or degree in computer science & engineering. Most of the top jobs in research, academia, and in emerging growth technologies such as AI and robotics require science and engineering degrees in the related disciplines.

Some employers require college degrees for all senior IT professionals, others may require advanced degrees in Science, Physics, and Engineering.

STEM started as a governmental initiative to build computational literacy in lower education and higher education in order to increase technology proficiency in the workforce.

Certification to get a good job in IT can cost considerably less than a traditional 4-year college degree. You can get ‘certified’ in specific areas and learn a piece of the profession at a time. STEM majors are still at an advantage for many advanced IT careers, and Computer Science and Engineering degrees may be required for some emerging technologies.

What is the best IT career path? How to know which technology job path is best for you

So we can agree that there are breathtaking opportunities in current and future technologies. 

Now you only have to examine your skills and aptitudes to answer  “What is the best IT career path for me?” Because the jobs are definitely there and in demand. Certification is affordable or within reach.

Now the BIG question becomes “Is technology a good career path right for me?”

Depending on the kind of job you are gunning for, there are several requirements to this industry. So you want to closely examine if you have what it takes and that it’s a career you are meant for. 

You don’t need to meet all of these requirements, but depending on what your technology career path ambitions are, you could need to possess some or many of these attributes:

  • Strong aptitude for logic and technical skills – you need an aptitude for technology, computer engineering, scripting, and coding, like to learn the new cool stuff, comfortable with the ever-changing industry, and of course, strong coding skills are the minimum requirement for most jobs in this field
  • Certification – depending on your field, to certify for technology career credentials typically requires a mix of hands-on experience and going through a course to take a test so you can show you have a solid understanding of the technology, coding, and programming 
  • Personality – you must be a thinker, with common sense who can react quickly to the problems that regularly come up, curious and persistent to keep pace with new technologies, have the patience and tenacity to figure out difficult problems, be cool under pressure with a sense of humor, be flexible, be able to work with all kinds of people and often work with minimal supervision 
  • Soft skillsthere are many soft skills required in the technology field, including good communications skills, flexibility, a curious problem-solver, organization, analytical abilities, creativity, project management,  resourcefulness, and enjoy helping others    
  • Hours – this field is flexible, with work from home opportunities, has typical daytime hours and also many shifts you can work, occasionally may require extra hours if a problem arises that must be fixed, for equipment refresh, if there are updates to software or when new hardware needs to be installed, etc.

You need to assess if you are hard-wired for this kind of career, or you can become frazzled. 

One of the big challenges in this field is working with minimal supervision, in front of a screen and you may be on your own to fix a problem.

If you are not a ‘natural’ for this field, aren’t practiced at working through untangling problems in code and software, this can be a stressful, lonesome profession. 

What I am talking about by having a natural aptitude, I am thinking of how Elon Musk was coding at 11 years old. Tiger Woods was golfing at 4 years old. Serena Williams was playing tennis at 6 years old.

These skills came easy to them. Does tooling around with technology come easy for you? Do you have the self-confidence to try to master a new technology? If so, technology as a career path will work for you.

Luckily, there are many ways to start and build a career in the technology field

In my experience, there is always some level of job you can find in this field. If you are not especially technical and not sure if you would be proficient with sophisticated software coding and scripting, with a little bit of effort and training you can work in starter positions. There is a computer tech support/help desk, you can get certified and learn laptop/workstation hardware repair and even become a software developer:

  • Computer support specialist/Help Desk solves common problems for computer users. You typically have a console with scripted steps to recommend to the user, depending on the nature of the problem, such as rebooting the computer, checking settings, etc., and you will typically use an app to remotely log in to the users’ computer to check settings and attempt a fix;  if a problem can’t be fixed the help desk might open a ticket for a higher level technician to solve the problem or just switch out the device with a replacement device, so you can physically work on it and repair
  • Hardware repair/tech support overlaps with the computer support specialists, can include physical hands-on computer device management and security, securing connections between devices or workstations, setting up software and apps on a device, setting up new users, switching out devices if they are not functioning, repairing computers, etc.; requires in-depth knowledge of device troubleshooting and software settings
  • Software developer in training – Some software development companies will train you from the ground up, with ZERO experience or certification, if you show aptitude. They will give you an aptitude test to see your comfort with logic, algorithms, and problem-solving. Software development is labor-intensive, so if you pass, they hire you and will sit you in front of a computer screen to read code, do quality control and look for errors. Over time you will learn coding languages, take courses to gain credentials, become proficient in coding and scripting, and bingo! you are a software developer
Does tooling around with technology come easy for you? Do you have the self-confidence to try to master a new technology? If so, technology as a career path will work well for you

Summary of if technology is a good career path for you

There are many opportunities for a good career path in technology IF you have the aptitude. With desire and persistence, there are a bunch of ways to gain entrance into this field.

STEM majors grads with master’s degrees are the first choice for employers in science and engineering jobs, but there are numerous other career paths without a college degree to enter the field and build a well-paying career. 

Research if you have the aptitude, as technology does have certain skill set requirements. If you do have those skills, technology can be an excellent and lucrative career path for you.

Still uncertain if technology is a good career path for you? 

Now you can discover how to identify what career is your Destiny in my Free Report:

how to unlock your career destiny ebook with larry lafata

Larry Lafata

 Larry LaFata is the founder of defineyourcareer.com and the world’s only Career Discovery Coach. He is dedicated to helping you discover your Career Destiny, regardless of your background, education, or experience. 

Larry’s innovative courses include Define Your Career Destiny one week home study course and a two-hour Career Destiny Workshop for Friends where best friends can discover their career or business destiny together.

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