The world is changing rapidly due to technology. This can make it difficult when choosing what to do with your life. After all, artificial intelligence is helping businesses automate many positions and functions.
Automation benefits businesses by saving on costs, but it’s not beneficial for those who are made redundant. If you don’t want to end up out of a job after years of training, you’ll need to carefully select your future career. Given that computers are used for more and more functions, IT might be one of the safest career choices.
Is the Demand There?
According to research by Tech Jury, the IT industry will grow by 13% between 2016 and 2026. So, yes, there is a definite demand for IT professionals.
This demand is reflected in the salaries earned in the industry. Tech Jury’s research revealed that the average salary for IT professionals was $84,580 in 2017, more than double the average wage across all industries. There is more interesting info in the infographic, which is the site created based on Tech Jury’s research.
For our purposes, though, we want to focus on IT as a career.
Is There Room for Advancement?
If visions of sitting in a dead-end job where you slowly die from mind-crushing boredom are worrying you, IT could be right for you. That said, writing page after page of code is not the most exciting way to spend your day.
But there’s much more to IT than simply programming and fixing computers. You could become a security consultant and join the fight against hackers. You could start out as a basic IT drudge, analyzing systems for potential threats and watching for signs of an attack.
From there, the sky’s the limit. You could progress to the supervisor of the department and work your way up the corporate ladder to head the company’s IT division. If you can prove that you have mad skills, you can write your own ticket.
If you’re not interested in working for someone else, there is plenty of scope in the industry to start your own business. Or maybe you could come up with a moneymaking software program. Bill Gates started out with little more than an idea and look where he is now. Could you be the next Bill Gates? Why not?
The IT field is varied at the moment, and as technology advances, it’s getting even broader. You might get hired to help build system architecture or software, train AI, or create robotics to name a few.
There is plenty of room for growth for someone with a keen eye for detail and a knack for IT.
Final Notes
IT is an exciting field that offers a lot of opportunities. The industry is set to become even more interesting in the future as more and more job functions become automated. If you’re looking for a career that’s not going to go the way of the dodo in the next decade, you can’t go wrong with IT.
Join the discussion on this topic with The Phat Startup by visiting our contact page.
