Despite innovations, disruptions, and rapid changes, IT is one industry that continues to survive and thrive

Contrary to popular misconceptions, the information technology sector is flourishing and will continue to employ skilled workers in large numbers. Factors like automation and new technologies only open new opportunities for your IT career path.

Technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and robotics, scientific advancements like space exploration and medical procedures, provide tremendous opportunities for IT experts.

For IT professionals in the US who are scared of outsourcing, fear not! Most of the outsourced jobs are mundane, repetitive jobs which will be automated sooner or later.

However, the innovative IT jobs are on the rise. In addition, there are numerous opportunities for someone who is a tech wizard.

If you’re interested in knowing what an IT professional’s career path looks like, keep reading….

It’s difficult but interesting

Working in the IT industry is not a cakewalk. But then, nor is it in any other industry!

If you have an affinity for technology and enjoy working on new complex challenges, the IT industry is for you.

You might have heard numerous stories of IT professionals who work day and night in their offices without even the time to go home just for a few hours.

It’s true. There are times when they have to slog and stretch. However, what most of the people ignore is the fact that a large number of people in this industry are highly passionate about their job. They enjoy their work more than anything else, which is the reason for their sustainability and growth despite the work pressure.

Working in the IT industry lets you apply your analytical mind, logic, and creativity.

If you want to become a successful IT professional, you must have passion, persistence and stamina.  If you do, success will be yours.

Career paths in the IT industry

Information technology is a vast industry with 100s of specialties. Some are discussed here:

Database Administrator

Big Data’s a revolution. Every enterprise generates massive volumes of data through its customer interactions, which is needed for analytics. This is where a DBA plays a key role.

Graphic Design

It’s where the creativity meets technology. If you’re a skilled artist, becoming a graphic designer is the right career for you.

Video Game Developer and Tester

Advancements in technology and graphic designing have made video games more sophisticated than ever. There’s tremendous scope as a games developer or tester.

Animator

Animators get to show their skills to a far greater extent now than ever. From animated movies to live action films, and advertisements and games, animation offers tremendous scope.

IT Security

The advancements in IT have also increased the threats. Viruses and malware are pretty common, and there’s always a requirement for more skilled IT security professionals to deal with the threats.

Programming and Coding

Coding shall never be out of the fashion. Most of the top entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerburg started out as coders. There’s immense scope in this field.

Project Manager

This comes as an advanced career path once you’ve moved up the ladder in the IT industry. As a project manager, you get to manage people and entire projects.

Conclusion

IT industry continues to offer significant scope for those who are willing to work hard and smart. Learn IT courses and programming languages online to move one step ahead towards building an exciting career in the IT industry.  If you’re looking to begin a new career, browse our course catalog and see how easy it is to get started in an IT career.

Average annual compensation for software developers and system engineers in the USA is around $104,500. A career in the IT sector not only offers a handsome salary and tremendous learning opportunities but it also provides a global exposure. The demand for digital tools and services is growing across all industries in the USA which is driving the growth in employment in Information Technology sector.  There is no better time than today to build a sound career in the IT industry!

Here are your 5 Steps to Landing a Job in the IT Industry

1.) Learn a Programming Language

To develop a career in the IT sector, you need to learn a programming language or a particular IT skill. Join an online course and gain mastery over any programming language or related skill set. Check out the applications and specialized software programs that are powered by the language you are learning. Try to work on as many real word projects as possible.  Practice rigorously, and build a robust portfolio. The portfolio will be extremely useful in showing your skills to potential employers.

2.) Get Certified

Not all programming languages have official certification exams. However, for some languages such as Java SE 8 programming, etc. you have the option to get certified by an authorized body. Taking advantage of certifications to advance your career in the IT sector is a smart move. Get certified by the appropriate widely recognized body. While the certification may not be entirely necessary, it will help you gain more credibility in your area of expertise and set you apart from other similarly qualified applicants.

3.) Write a Focused Resume

You need to invest significant time in developing a resume that represents your skills and accomplishments. Don’t copy the buzzwords from the internet. Prepare a short resume (1-2 pages) with all relevant details. It must be tailor-made for the job you are applying. This means it should have only the pertinent information related to the position you are applying for. By creating job customized resumes, you will increase your chances of getting that all important first interview.

4.) Expand your Network

Make an impressive LinkedIn profile and add relevant connections on a regular basis. Use a professional profile photo and complete the employment section with updated information. Use the right keywords that reflect your personality traits and professional skill sets. Engage with industry professionals and develop genuine relationships on the platform. Ask your classmates, current and former colleagues for a recommendation on LinkedIn. Remember that a majority of recruiters go through candidates’ LinkedIn profiles before calling them for the interview. Thus, an excellent LinkedIn profile can contribute significantly to your career’s success.

5.) Prepare for the Interview

An interview may last for 30 minutes or more. However, almost a third of interviewers know within the first 90 seconds whether they are going to hire you or not. That means, your first impression not only counts but impacts the selection process significantly. Thus, work on your personality and do everything that boosts your confidence. Pay close attention to your  outfit and personal hygiene. If the interview is on the phone, be aware of background noise and any speaking habits that hurt your credibility (“uhhh…”, “like…like…like”, speaking too fast, etc.)

Before appearing for the interview, brush-up your knowledge about the company and make sure to have a list of relevant questions pertaining to the job in question. During the interview, maintain a direct eye contact with the interviewer. Crack a smile when you are feeling less confident and speak assertively. Recruiters don’t hire people who are not sure about their expertise. Thus, stay positive and be confident during the entire interview process.

The Bottom Line…

Being prepared for the role you want and the company you’re interviewing for is crucial.   Be ready to work hard and become an expert in your field. Enroll for advanced online IT courses to keep your knowledge updated. Remember that to be successful in the technology industry, you need to learn new things continuously so that you can add value to the business from the start and all the way through your career.

Whether you’re an active job seeker in the ever-changing IT industry or an entrenched veteran in need of new challenges, your New Year’s resolutions are ready-made.

A clear takeaway from the recent article in CIO.com offering career resolutions is all IT pros need to evolve along with the industry. As organizations gear up to add staff in an IT job market expected to hit the ground running in the year to come, your organized competitors for those jobs are already doing much of the following:

• Expand your sphere of influence to understand the big-picture business side of the industry you target
• Chart out a career map which includes a skills analysis, plan to bridge skills gaps and network of peers and mentors
• Build a current, dynamic personal website to market your “brand”
• Keep on top of your social profile by searching for yourself to see what comes up, much like your prospective hiring manager would
• Proper interview follow-up can pay under-appreciated dividends
• Get out of the comfort zone with new classes, seminars and industry introductions

Check out GogoTraining’s expansive list of video based courses and try something new – shake it up!

Source: CompTIA IT Careers Blog

Today is December 12, 2012. If you’re a Facebook, Twitter or another social network user, you’ve seen “12-12-12” documented heavily for the last week. The fascination with this date is that we’ll never experience another set of all three – the day, the month and the year being the same in our lifetime (if you’re throttling yourself wondering why, there is no 13th month). The next occurrence will be the year 2112, and I think I can safely say that anyone who has the capability to read this article will not be around then.

So I thought it would be interesting to look at what are some other things that we will never see again: Blockbuster – once the king of VHS and DVD in-store rentals; Hostess brands – you remember Twinkies?; MySpace – one of the first social networking sites.

Innovation at all levels impacts how long a company can stay in business. It’s needed in product updates, packaging, updating applicability, communication and audience. We live in a  interesting times, where word of mouth means more than ever before thanks to Facebook and Twitter; where advertising has moved from the printed page to Google Ad Words (Google’s advertising program); and where we learn about the products and services we’ll buy looking at screens that minimally measure 2.5 X 4. Constant innovation is needed. Incorporating new technologies can give you access to a new audience, improve your product or service above your competition or provide a much desired feature. Staying on the “in business” list requires innovation and inspiration. 2013 is waiting…..

Are you old enough to remember when the IT department was made up of mainframe computers, and users had to file requests for reports they wanted? The IT department had “kingdom” control over information. The penetration of PCs into that arena caused a huge paradigm shift, as control shifted from the IT department to the user. With that came a new set of business rules, and the first signs of computer security as we know it today. Mind you, the mainframe never left the scene; its functionality shifted to tasks that were best suited for that environment instead of the overly dynamic environment of the user request. But the PC forever changed the way information is commmunicated within organizations. And here we are again looking down the long barrel of another shift – this one caused by multiple technologies, the Cloud and smart mobile devices.

The Cloud is the source of the shift up, but not because it’s new exciting technology; this technology has been around for a long time. We just haven’t needed it till now. As companies handle increasingly large amounts of data and face the hard economics of enlarging data centers and adding servers, the Cloud is starting to look “mighty fine” as an alternative. Company IT departments are grappling with security and privacy issues. Security plays an important role but is in the best interest of the supplier to have the latest security measures since this is the number one concern of clients. Privacy is currently being handled through authentication involving limited to full access based on usernames and passwords, and job roles defined around that. There are many ramifications including impact or shift to jobs, and will become evident as the trend continues.

Smart phones and tablets are causing a shift out for IT, as more and more employees are conducting business from these devices, and the devices are achieving networking and computing abilities similar to the PC. Security and privacy as in the Cloud, have bubbled up to the surface as the key concerns. As organizations adopt their use for their employees, concerns with security have increased with such things as information-stealing applications.  The variety of phones and operating systems also poses a challenge for organizational support, along with the additional training needed. Business rules are popping up to deal with such issues as what information should and shouldn’t be stored on the device; who owns the information that is stored, how frequently the syncing of that data occurs and many others.

Here we go again….

Source: Intel.com, Intel’s Vision of the Ongoing Shift to Cloud Computing white paper.

http://computer.howstuffworks.com, Cloud Computing Concerns, Jonathan Strickland

http://www.spsm-workshop.org, 2nd Annual ACM CCS Workshop on Security and Privacy in Smartphones and Mobile Devices (SPSM)

That is what the marketplace is saying. Sales of smart phones are expected to increase 20% (yes, 20%, that is not a typographical error) in 2013, accounting for over 50% of IT industry growth. Without it, anticipated growth is a mere 2.9%.

And within the smart phone market, who is the winner? Android phones ! With over 64% of market sales this last summer, the Android phones, specifically from Samsung leaped forward. So is anyone reading their email and accessing the internet on their PC anymore? Apparently, this is also a shrinking market as more and more people use their smart phones for these functions. People accessing the Internet through PCs will shrink by 15 million over the next four years, while the number of smart phone users will increase by 91 million. Trends are predicting that we’ll all walking around with smart phone and tablets, and PCs will become a thing of the past.

Imagine this brave new world as Aldous Huxley coined the phrase.  (Who’s he, you ask? He wrote a classic book – you remember those? Paper, binding, page numbers at the bottom, roughly 5 X 7 inches). Business conducted in coffee shops, parks, restaurants, subways, street corners. Corporate headquarters serving to bring groups together rather than house offices. Streets with standing desks position every several yards.

What about developing countries? Will they be left behind? No! They are one of the fastest growing markets for inexpensive smart phones. With the advent of several manufacturers producing $100 smartphones coupled with moves to 3G networks, these countries are joining this new world in spite of average earnings of a few dollars a day.

Lots to think about as we move into 2013!

Sources: Techcrunch.com, Gartner: Global Mobile Sales Down 2%, Smartphones Surge 43%, Apple Stalls as Fans Hold Out for New iPhone

Network World, IDC’s 2013 Tech Predictions: Mobile Devices, Emerging Markets Drive Growth

Beta.Fool.com, Smartphone Usage Expands in Emerging Markets

It’s been a hard year for corporate executives. Not only have they faced the challenges of moving their companies forward in a trickle-growth economy, they have also had to manage this forward move with less staff, less budget and more dispersed employee locations. Many are suffering under the stress of these responsibilities, and an extended vacation would be a welcome break.  Breaks of this nature can create havoc without the right team to step in temporarily at the helm. We have the perfect candidates to to consider.

As Chief Executive Officer, let me introduce Max Shepherd. Mr. Shepherd has an extensive background in managing tough situations. He held the CEO position at ASPCA for many years,and brought them to prominence in their field through his innovative marketing and barking expertise. He has also earned his bones in staff management. His hallmark is managing his underlings as he would his own family, and through Human Resources, is known for an organization that is very protective of employee rights and abilities.

Mr. Shepherd works closely with his right-hand man, Rob Malmut. Mr. Malmut has been working with Mr. Shepherd for over 10 years and provides a complimentary set of skills that enable the team to create a successful working dynamic and environment in which seniors managers thrive. Prior to working with Mr. Shepherd, Mr. Malmut was responsible for IT Security and the Press Room at the Iditarod in Alaska, and provided assistance with grant writing to the Alaska State government. He is known for his succinct communication style and rough but steady manner.

Mr. Shepherd’s team includes Director of Information Technology, John Mutt. Mr. Mutt has worked with Mr. Shepherd for the last 7 years and bring a great deal of varied experience to the team. Prior to working with Mr. Shepherd, Mr. Mutt worked for Petco, a pet products and food retailer, and was responsible for revolutionizing the web site purchasing capabilities. He also worked at Fancy Feast creating and maintaining their IT systems but left because of philosophical differences. While Mr. Mutt has a quiet, and seemingly insecure countenance,  he is a great asset to the team and very effective in his role.

Mr. Shepherd also brings with him a very capable manager of finance Timothy Boxer. Mr. Boxer has worked with Mr. Shepherd for 4 years and has a strong international background in finance. In his last position, he was Chief Financial Officer for Hanes. Through diligent oversight of the budget and restructuring of debt, he enabled Hanes to step into an offer with Fruit of the Loom. Prior to this position, he managed the financial consulting division of Devereau, Oberlin and Gossinger, (D.O.G. Consultants), an international consulting firm that held many contracts in Europe and the Middle East.

Mr. Shepherd and his team are ready to be of service to your organization. They can be contacted at 877-546-4446 or by email, info@gogotraining.com.

Sources: http://nickvt.blogspot.com/2012/05/dogs-office-environment.html

Last week, we brought you the top 5 technologies that companies will be implementing in 2013 based on the Computer World survey results.  So now we’ll look at rest of the “hot” jobs that the Computer World survey identified:

1. Cloud & SaaS – Companies are getting on board fast with cloud-computing, especially as they try to keep up in other areas where there may be limited cost cutting opportunities. Cloud offers the ability to cut costs and keep services. Architecture, configuration and security are the hot jobs in Cloud.  It’s newer companion is SaaS (that’s software as a service, not to be confused with SAS, Serial Attached SCSI).  Computer World results show that 25% of the hiring companies plan to hire in this area.
2. Virtualization – Everyone’s doing it! Especially since there have been some improvements made. Administration and Security continue to remain the top jobs within this, along with VMware Certified Professional – Datacenter Virtualization certification.
3. Networking – Networking is still a strong demand area in spite of Cloud becoming its own little niche area. Computer Word states, “There will always be demand for skilled and experienced network administrators and engineers, regardless of the economy and other external conditions.” Cisco skill sets are top of the heap along with the ability to convert non-virtual networks to the virtual environment.
4. Mobile Apps & Device Management – More and more businesses are taking advantage of marketing and communicating through mobile devices so this makes it to Computer World’s top 10 list. Having skills in this ever changing technology area is a decided plus, with iOS 5 and Android programming skills being at the top of the heap, along with security.
5. Data Center – Data Center jobs are hot, in spite of showing up in the 10th position. This area has been overlooked in the past years as being of significant importance, and now many companies are looking to placed skilled data center professionals into these positions. Hottest jobs are forecasted to be in the sever/data center operations, systems integration, and database management.

And remember: ALL jobs involve talking to people, so if that isn’t your strong suit, we recommend getting suited up in that area. Taking courses in interviewing, communicating effectively, and  managing small teams will go a long way to getting and keeping a position.

Happy hunting!

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