Jobs in it

There are a lot of different jobs in IT, some of them require special knowledge and a university degree, and the others need experience first of all.

The latest survey of the labour market carried out by one of the US employment agencies gives the following results. There are three the most essential jobs for almost any company: security specialist, IT support engineer and IT systems engineer. These people are well-paid and get good benefits from their company, for example a company car. Also if you want to work as a freelancer a software engineer or designer will be the choice for today. It is reported that most people with a university degree in IT work as a systems support engineer (analyst programmer), while the job of a computer services engineering technician requires a lot of experience and is low-paid nowadays.

Security specialist is a person who tests the security of networks systems and advises customers how to introduce and maintain security policies including: setting up secure password systems and installing firewalls, keeping out hackers and dealing with viruses. Off-the-shelf systems are ready-made systems that are purchased from systems suppliers. In-house systems are developed by the employees of the company.

An IT support engineer is a professional who provides help for computer users by designing, building and maintaining information technology systems. He can start out in his career by working on a help-desk.

An IT systems manager is responsible for developing and implementing computer software that supports the operations of the business. A university degree is usually required but not necessarily in computing. The best qualification for becoming a manager is experience.

A software engineer/designer produces the programs, which control the internal operations of computers. They use program libraries to produce programs. They also design, test and improve programs for a variety of purposes including computer-aided design and manufacture.

A computer engineering technician is responsible for installation, maintenance and repair of computers and peripherals. They install, test, troubleshoot, upgrade and carry out routine maintenance on hardware, ranging from personal computers to mainframes.

A systems support engineer is an analyst programmer who is responsible for maintaining, updating and modifying the software used by a company. Some of them specialise in systems software that involves use of machine code and specialized low-level computer languages. They may sort out problems encountered by users including amending an area of code in the software, retrieving files and data lost when a system crashes.

ASWER THE QUESTIONS: 1. What jobs in IT do you know, besides mentioned in this text? 2. What is the difference between an IT support engineer and a computer engineering technician? 3. Why do you think the latter one is low-paid? 4. Is it difficult to become an IT systems manager? Prove your opinion? 5. Do you want to be a software engineer/designer? 6. Why are the security specialists so essential for business? 7. Do you want to choose one of the mentioned jobs? Explain your choice. 8. What is firewall? What is its function? 9. Should the employees and their employer install a password system? 10. Will secure password system keep the company’s secrets in any case? 11. What is a help-desk? 12. Are you satisfied with your Internet provider’s technical support? If not, explain. 13. Why do you think your Internet provider has a good technical support? 14. In what sphere will/do you work (software or hardware technical support, programming, installation and repair, network)? 15. Do you want to be a boss or to be a subordinate? Why?