Information technology is often regarded as one of the fastest growing and highest paying sectors today. Health care and technology are considered to be among the leaders in industries that continue to hire even during recessions. There is also a lot of job security, as people will always need more computer hardware, they’ll always need someone in Web development to fix their Web site, and they’ll always need someone to help them fix problems such as viruses.

Cities that rank well for recent graduates and IT professionals include:

• New York
• Atlanta
• San Francisco
• Los Angeles
• Boston
• Minneapolis
• Seattle

Japan and South Korea are often considered top cities for technology. The largest information technology in the world – Samsung Electronics – is not based in the U.S., but in Seoul, South Korea. The largest IT company in the U.S. is Hewlett Packard, based in Palo Alto, Calif. Several of the biggest IT companies in the world are located in California, but IT jobs are available all over the nation. Some IT technicians are self employed and work from home.

Skills needed in IT
People who are successful in information technology need more than basic computer skills – knowing how to play video games and send e-mails isn’t enough to be able to program software. Just like there’s a big different between knowing how to drive a car and knowing how the engine operates – there’s also a big difference between downloading software and knowing all the ins and outs of computer hardware.

In order to be successful with computers and IT, you will need skills in:

• Logic
• Math
• Data manipulation
• Ability to focus on a project, especially for tasks that can get very technical.
• Good communication skills to work with your team or with customers.

Jobs in IT
Information technology jobs can vary widely. Jobs available today include:

• Server support technician
• Software engineer
• Threat research analyst
• Web business analyst
• Computer programmer
• Systems engineer
• Web development
• Desktop & Web Publishing
• Software developer

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of different programming languages. You can’t learn all of them, but you can learn some of the most commonly used ones and keep track of the programs that are starting to become more popular.  Even their names sound technical and complicated – such as JAVA, C, Visual Basic, PHP, AJAX, JavaScript, Perl and C.

Ability to continue learning
The world of IT and technology is a constantly changing world. From 1997-2003, the number of American households with a computer that had access to the Internet tripled. You may not necessarily end up working where you expect to. And the programming languages of today may not be the programming languages of tomorrow. Going to school and studying these programs will help IT professionals understand the importance of continuing to learn – even after reaching the workforce.

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