Though the focus of this article is IT careers, the situation or career you choose is important no matter what field you are in. Consider this: The average person lives to the age of 75 and works from the ages of 22 to 60, and you spend an average of 8 hours a day, 5 days a week at work; therefore, in the span of 38 years, you will spend over 62,000 hours at work. That's too much time to spend in boredom or disappointment. As previously stated, part of the intent of this book is to assist you in anticipating some of the factors and variables that play significant roles when you're deciding whether or not to pursue a career in IT.
Money
Let's not beat around the bush. Few things motivate people more than money. Sure, there are jobs that people do through choice, many of which are not that financially rewarding, but unless you are fortunate enough to have some special kind of financial advantage, you are going to have to pay the rent and put food on the table. In this respect, IT is an attractive field indeed. Wages and salaries for IT professionals can be quite good.You are not, as a programmer or network engineer, likely to earn the same as a major league baseball player or a film star, but with a few years of experience and some hard work, you can earn salaries similar to those of other professional fields (such as the legal and medical professions) without having to invest several years of your life in school and internships. One of the advantages of IT is that much of the learning is done on the job-while you are being paid for it! However, if you think a career in IT is a "shortcut" to making money fairly quickly and easily, you are mistaken.You'11 find that there are no shortcuts here-you will truly pay the price, but you'll reap the benefits of the investment you make in IT in a different manner than you would the benefits of an investment of another profession.
Salaries in IT do tend to be on the better side of average, but by how much? That is a difficult question to answer. Even when talking about first jobbers, it is hard to predict what pay scales are likely to be. A trainee PC support person will earn considerably more working for a software company in California's Silicon Valley than a person going for the same role in a small manufacturing business in Des Moines. In that respect, IT is no different from any other industry. The type of company and the location are all likely to have a large impact on what you will be paid. One thing that does make a difference, though, is the demand factor. Companies in small towns struggle just as much as the big boys do to attract the best IT staff. What the smaller companies may be able to offer, which perhaps the larger companies cannot, is a working environment that may appeal to certain people.
So why is the money so good? IT, like anything else in life, is subjected to the forces of supply and demand. As long as there are fewer people available to do IT jobs, the money will continue to be good. If a point in time arrives when the gap between the demand for IT skills and the individuals who possess them begins to close, then expect wages for IT staff to start dropping. In the foreseeable future at least, this outcome seems unlikely.
Your earning potential will depend on many factors, including how flexible you are prepared to be about your work, but the two major forces are simply your level of experience and your qualifications. Although there is no quick way to gain experience, you can do things to make the experiences you have count for more, such as following up what you do at work by studying outside of the workplace or keeping detailed notes of everything you are shown or that you do. As for qualifications, the thinking is reasonably simple. The more relevant qualifications and certifications you hold, the more you are likely to be paid, though increasingly, employers are only recognizing qualifications and certifications if you have experience to back them up.
Though money can be a major force in your decision to work in IT, it should not be a major driver in your overall career choice. Working in IT is very different from other job areas in that it demands a high level of continual personal development at a pace that can, at times, be overwhelming and difficult to keep up with. If you enter the IT field only for the money and you're not interested in the subject, you are likely to find this continual development an uphill (not to mention stressful) struggle. For this reason, and to encourage you through those sometimes difficult times, it is essential that the level of interest is there. There is no shortcut to this developmental cycle either. If you don't take the time to upgrade your skills, your earning potential will be short-lived indeed. So basically, the monetary rewards that working in IT can bring are great as long as you enjoy what you are doing. If you're not interested in technology, a career in IT is unlikely to be right for you. Besides, there are plenty of other ways to make a living.
How's your curve ball?
