Honey

A common question I haven’t been able to answer lately is “How do I begin a career in computers?” I never really know what to say, so I thought I’d do some research and share my thoughts here.

The computer industry is extremely broad and offers a vast array of drastically variant opportunities. There are careers to be had in customer service and user support, in network administration and system administration, software engineering, user interface design, and project management, to name a few.

There are a number of ways to narrow your focus in order to seek the specialized training and opportunities where you may have the greatest success.

1. The first step is to understand what kind of position will bring you the most satisfaction. I’ve included short job descriptions below for you to peruse but this may take significantly more research to find the right path for your interests and talents. You might consider taking a career assessment evaluation such as the MAPP test for more information.
2. Determine what’s possible for you. Once you have a general idea of the path you’d like to pursue, use a tool such as careerbuilder.com to determine how many job opportunities there are with that focus in your area. If you need training, is it available in your area and is it affordable?
3. Talk to people who have the career you want. This might be the single best thing you can do to ensure that you’re headed down the right road. Find out what their daily work entails and deeply consider if this is the kind of thing you could do every single day.

As promised, here are general descriptions of a select few jobs in the computer industry to get you started:

• Computer Software Engineer: Develop, create, and modify general computer applications software or specialized utility programs. Analyze user needs and develop software solutions. Design software or customize software for client use with the aim of optimizing operational efficiency. May analyze and design databases within an application area, working individually or coordinating database development as part of a team.
• Computer System Analyst: Analyze science, engineering, business, and all other data processing problems for application to electronic data processing systems. Analyze user requirements, procedures, and problems to automate or improve existing systems and review computer system capabilities, workflow, and scheduling limitations. May analyze or recommend commercially available software.
• Database Administrator: Coordinate changes to computer databases, test and implement the database applying knowledge of database management systems. May plan, coordinate, and implement security measures to safeguard computer databases.
• Network Systems Analyst: Analyze, design, test, and evaluate network systems, such as local area networks (LAN), wide area networks (WAN), Internet, intranet, and other data communications systems. Perform network modeling, analysis, and planning. Research and recommend network and data communications hardware and software. Includes telecommunications specialists who deal with the interfacing of computer and communications equipment. May supervise computer programmers.
• Computer Programmer: Convert project specifications and statements of problems and procedures to detailed logical flow charts for coding into computer language. Develop and write computer programs to store, locate, and retrieve specific documents, data, and information. May program web sites.
• Computer Hardware Engineer: Research, design, develop, and test computer or computer-related equipment for commercial, industrial, military, or scientific use. May supervise the manufacturing and installation of computer or computer-related equipment and components.
• Computer Support Specialist: Provide technical assistance to computer system users. Answer questions or resolve computer problems for clients in person, via telephone or from remote location. May provide assistance concerning the use of computer hardware and software, including printing, installation, word processing, electronic mail, and operating systems.
• Network and Computer Systems Administrators: Install, configure, and support an organization’s local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), and Internet system or a segment of a network system. Maintain network hardware and software. Monitor network to ensure network availability to all system users and perform necessary maintenance to support network availability. May supervise other network support and client server specialists and plan, coordinate, and implement network security measures.