INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
WHAT IS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY?
Information technology is the integration of information systems and computing technology. Computer-based information systems combine hardware, software, people, procedures, and data to provide people with data processing capabilities and information for the efficient operation of their lives. Information technology has an impact on nearly every aspect of our lives, at home, at work, and at play. From ATMs to video games to Internet research, we are all caught up in the use of information technology.
WHAT COURSES DO YOU NEED TO TAKE?
The speed at which IT has overtaken the world has found many students unprepared to meet educational demands. Too often, high school graduates arrive at college with too few science and math courses to be successful in the required computer and science curriculums. It cannot be overemphasized that you take all the courses you can in high school to prepare yourself for college-level technology study. Information technology is applicable to any field, and more colleges are offering discipline-specific courses. Realize that regardless of your field of interest—music, accounting, education—you can design a degree plan to integrate that interest with IT. The following are the types of requirements and electives generally available:
- Introduction to Computer Information Systems
- Business Information Systems
- Current Topics in Computer Information Systems
- Business Application Systems Development
- Structural Systems Analysis
- Information Systems Analysis
- Decision Support Systems
- End User Computing
- Centralized Data Systems
- Object-Oriented Technologies
WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH A DEGREE IN IT?
Information technology impacts every field, and there simply are not enough graduating students to accommodate the demand. In the United States alone, 350,000 jobs will go unfilled for lack of qualified technical graduates. There is literally a new career field being created every few months that did not exist in the past. For example, a few years ago, Web page designing was not a career field; now it is.
Information technology departments within corporations include positions as chief information officer (CIO), programmers and systems analysts, network designers and administrators, LANS (local area networks) specialists, Internet site specialists, and user liaisons (communication specialists who interface with the computer users). Other positions that may or may not require a degree are job and data specialists and PC specialists who work at help desks. Because many companies rely on outsourcing to supply their IT needs, there are thousands of consulting opportunities.
With the rapidly changing nature of the industry, continuing education in the private sector offers innumerable opportunities. Any employee who uses computing must continually be instructed as upgrades and new programs are installed. There are more instructors today in the corporate world than in colleges, and over half of them teach IT.