Becoming a Techie – 101
The worst of the recession looks to be over and companies are starting to hire again. Great news! If you are in the market to find a new job or career where do you look? The same is true if you are just coming out of college and are looking for employment that might not be in your main field of study. Since I have spent the last 10 years in tech, I may be biased, but I recommend technology.
The demand for tech professionals is continuing to grow with many tech jobs remaining in demand during even the bottom of the recession. And technology jobs are going to be one of the first to return. I have already seen this to be true with IT job demand since the January 1!
So if you aren’t a techie, but want to be (or at least think about it) what positions are the most in demand?
Well, the folks at Network World did some research and came up with the following listing. I am only going to directly discuss the first two and add one that is not on the list. The entire list can be found at www.networkworld.com.
First on the list is Security specialist/ethical hacker. Most websites are like Swiss cheese and hackers are having a fun time hacking in to everything they can. There are even websites that list sites that are vulnerable and how to break in. Want to be surprised, go to YouTube.com and search on “hacking how to” videos – there are plenty of them. This is going to be a major field, so get in now, with the Wash/Balt region becoming the epicenter for IT security for the world you can’t go wrong.
Next on the list is Virtual Systems Manager. If you aren’t familiar with the concepts of Software as a Service (Saas) and Cloud technologies, take a few minutes and read up on these topics. Predictions are that more than 50% of all software will be purchased using a Saas model – meaning that you will pay as you go. Cloud technology and virtualization allow for companies to significantly reduce their risk and costs by using technology computing resources that are “in the cloud” you no longer need to know where your servers are. Let someone else worry about it and cut your costs by 50%.
Other positions on the list include Capacity Manager, Network Engineer, Open Source Specialist, Service Assurance Manager, Electronic Health Records Manager, Sourcing Specialist, Service Catalog Manager and Business Process Engineer. All good jobs and worthy of some research should you be interested in choosing a new career.
Also give some thought to a Social Media Analyst. These folks are very much in demand as everyone works to grapple with the best way to utilize Facebook and Twitter to create and maintain communities of friends, clients, customers, prospects, and vendors. Being able to do a little HTML will dramatically raise your price tag for this position.
So the good news is that companies are starting to hire and tech positions are one of the first to gain momentum. Do some research and jump in – a bright future awaits. If you want more information on what the Baltimore business community is looking for in IT positions, feel free to visit www.g1440.com and check our list of positions that businesses are looking for.