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.
Let’s take a look at these four aspects, one by one:
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.
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.
The future in information technology is very bright indeed, with emerging growth technologies including:
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.
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:
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.
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:
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:
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