Why You Should Consider a Career in IT

If you’re looking at potential career paths, you will ideally want one with excellent employment opportunities, a great rate of pay and one that has the potential to advance your position and skills.

There is almost no better option to tick these boxes and more than starting a career in Information Technology (IT). This is because businesses and society are so intertwined with tech, and it’s only becoming more so as time goes on.

If you decide to study IT courses, you can get the skills almost every business is looking for. Any information technology professional will have a wealth of employment opportunities to take advantage of. Plus, if you decide to go into a role that designs and implements new information technology systems, you will literally be working on shaping the future of the digital world.

If this sounds interesting to you, read on for more reasons why working in IT is such a good career move.

There is a Job for Every Interest

No matter if you’re an excellent problem solver or you have great ideas about how technology can advance public health, there are information technology jobs to suit you. IT isn’t an isolated industry, every sector relies on it to run its systems and processes, so you can combine your IT career with any of your other interests and passions.

If you’re a football fanatic, you could get the skills that enable you to advance VAR and other technology that is used to capture the exact movements of players in a match. Or you could use a passion to prevent crime and deviant behaviour to set up the systems that block attacks from criminals of the dark web. There is no end to the need for advanced IT skills.

IT Professionals Are in Demand

The information technology industry continues to remain on the list of the fastest-growing industries worldwide. Employers are constantly scrambling to find professionals to meet the IT needs of their business, but there aren’t enough qualified workers to fill this skills gap.

The national shortage of IT professionals currently includes IT Support Professionals, Data Scientists, Blockchain Engineers, Cloud Engineers and Cyber Security Analysts, just to name a few. Currently, it’s estimated there are well over 90,000 unfulfilled job opportunities for IT professionals in the UK.

With the rate technology is evolving, there is also a constant stream of new careers emerging in IT. So, this skills gap will continue to widen.

Information Technology Careers Are Well Paid

Jobs in IT are some of the highest paying in the modern workplace economy. This no doubt depends on your position and level of skill, but even starting salaries for IT graduates are well above the national average.

With experience on the job, your wage in an IT career will continue to increase. In the UK, information technology professionals earn on average £47,5000 per year, but if you continue to advance your knowledge and skills to reach a senior position, your earnings can be so much more.

Some annual wages you can expect for a number of desirable careers in IT are:

• IT Support Manager: £42,000 - £50,000
• Developer: £42,000 - £57,000
• Data Scientist: £70,000 - £85,000
• Security Architect: £63,750 - £95,750
• Programme Manager: £81,000 - £115,000
• Enterprise Architect: £122,000 - £140,000
• Chief Information Officer (CIO): £141,000 - £250,000

There’s Plenty of Room for Progression

As an IT professional, your career can evolve as quickly as the IT industry itself if you’re prepared to dedicate yourself to the level of learning required. The industry is changing almost daily as we learn how to harness information technology in new ways. This is why career progression in IT jobs is faster and easier in comparison to other industries.

If you’re dedicated to gaining the skills needed, you could see yourself entering a managerial position just a few short years after graduating. So, if you’re ambitious, thirsty for knowledge and eager to get ahead, you will have a very bright future ahead of you as an information technology professional.

How You Can Get Qualified for An IT Career

As so many areas of IT are new and evolving, it is possible to break into an IT career without qualifications if you can prove your skills and ability. However, that’s not to say information technology courses aren’t the best way to get started.

Unless you are naturally gifted in IT, you will need to build up your level of knowledge to a desirable level for employers to consider you. With so many areas and uses for IT, there is a huge amount you need to learn.

Depending on your current level of knowledge, you may simply need to brush up your skills in other areas by watching free online information technology training courses. Though, if you want a thorough education so you can hit the ground running once you get hired, it’s best to study information technology courses that go into more detail.

If you want to gain IT knowledge and skills from home, you can study an array of online courses that will help you achieve a number of IT career goals with learndirect.

learndirect’s information technology courses list includes:

Information Technology Short Courses

You may have a wealth of IT knowledge already and just need to pick up additional knowledge in specific areas. In this instance, information technology short courses would be ideal. With learndirect, you can study key areas like cyber security, HTML and even the latest Microsoft programmes.

Information Technology Crash Courses

As mentioned, you don’t always need a degree to break into the IT industry, but you do need to know what you’re doing.

This is why information technology crash courses are so valuable, as you can study a course that covers the IT spectrum to gain valuable skills in a number of areas. With learndirect, these courses are studied online and can be completed at your pace. Flexibility that can put you on the fast track to your IT career.

Our Level 3 Information Technology Certificate covers everything from information systems to data storage and security. With this course under your belt, you can either progress into an entry-level IT role and work your way up or have a great basis for further learning.

Pre-University Information Technology Courses

If you want to get to the top, you will find many senior information technology careers will expect to see undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications. Luckily, learndirect have pre-university information technology courses that can help you meet your degree entry requirements quickly.

Our information technology access course is an Access to Higher Education Diploma (Computer Science). This is a Level 3 qualification that is equivalent to three A Levels and will enable you to enrol on a degree if you meet the rest of their entry requirements.

The course is designed to introduce you to a wide range of key information technology areas and bring your knowledge up to the perfect level to continue studying confidently at university. You will cover everything from the mathematical principles that underpin computing and programming concepts, to cyber threats and legislation and how to design and develop a website.

With this level of knowledge, not only will you be eligible for degree-level learning, you will have a much better idea of which direction you would like to take your IT career. You will have more opportunities to specialise as you move through undergraduate and postgraduate level studies.

With this calibre of IT qualification, you could quickly advance to the highest paying IT Leadership roles or move into roles at the forefront of innovation by working as a Machine Learning Engineer or an AI Developer!

Study IT Courses Online with learndirect

By choosing to study information technology courses online through learndirect, you can work towards an exciting career in IT around your existing commitments. Putting fewer obstacles in the way of you and your new career as an IT professional.

Each of our information technology courses is delivered through an engaging array of online learning materials, all of which are immediately available as soon as you start your course. This means you can progress at your pace and complete the course whenever you’re ready. Something which can help cut the time it takes you to qualify considerably.

Find out more by contacting our Course Executives today. They are on hand to help you find the right course and answer any question you have about becoming an online student with learndirect.

Call them now on 01202 006 464 or contact them online.