Asking what jobs are available in the computer industry is a huge question. It's like asking what jobs are available in government or in education or in health care. Actually, since all three of those industries are served by the computer industry, it's as big as all three of them put together and more. So this isn't a question that we can answer in one class period. But we can get a start.
How did the computer industry get so big? Just like cells growing in a Petri dish, it has grown rapidly by dividing itself over and over. Each generation of computer jobs gets more specialized. And as computers have invaded every aspect of life from the corporate level to the personal level, the computer industry has grown to feed and support computer owners.
1940's: Secret military attempts to break German and Japanese message codes. (scientists, mathematicians, electrical engineers)1950's: Mainframe computers for corporate business accounting -- first split between manufacturers and purchasers (scientists, electrical engineers employed by manufacturer; programmers, data entry operators employed by corporations)
1960's: Computers move down into smaller companies, rapid development because of NASA's demands; manufacturers departmentalize into research (scientists), design (engineers), production (parts assembly), marketing (sales people), and support (repair and training personnel)
1970's: Widespread use in many financial businesses -- banks, insurance companies, government, etc. Corporations who use computers have departmentalized, bringing mainframe computer experts in-house to run big systems, dividing computer jobs between even more areas of specialization (system analysts, programmers, database managers, shift operators, data entry operators, etc.)
1980's: Birth of the personal microcomputer. Increased ownership forces manufacturers to provide expanded support systems, dividing them into "tiers". Computers find their way onto the desks of every employee, not just those in the Computer Department or the accounting office.
1990's: The Internet comes of age. New forms of communication force new job roles -- web site development and maintenance, e-mail management, etc. Network technologies provide new job roles for design and installation of networks. Security becomes an issue, creating specialists that protect networks against intruders and crime.
2000's: Computers become so widespread that manufacturers can no longer pay US wages to an ever-growing number of support technicians. As a result, many major manufacturers out-source support to third-world countries. Rapid development of new and better technologies forces companies to seek already-trained personnel and to train and retrain existing employees.
Today the question is not so much one of what computer jobs are available, as it is how much will you use a computer to do your job, whatever it is!
Each of the following links leads to a website that has information about computer professions. Go to each link to find the answers to the questions.
- What is "informatics"?
- What five areas of training in informatics does Indiana University offer?
- What does an Informaticist do for the company that hires them?
QuickStart Intelligence Microsoft Training Partner
- What five "levels" of certification are available? (Look at the last word in the job title)
- Write down the names of job titles you don't understand.
- What businesses and industries would people with these skills work in?
Certification Magazine On-Line
- Make a list of the job types found on this web page.
- How many different businesses or industries are covered?
- Which jobs serve the computer industry themselves, and which ones serve other industries by using computers?
Now that you know the names of some IT job roles, pick two or three that interest you. Use the Internet to find out more details about them. Then write a paragraph about each that summarizes what you learned, and turn it in to your teacher.
