IT's the way to go

Wednesday, 27 January 2010 12:47 Written by Theo Boshoff

If you’re looking for a career change or are fresh out of school and not a hundred percent sure what you want to do, read on as this article might help you decide.

According to Landelahni Recruitment Group, now’s a good time to get into information technology (IT). The recruitment agency says that the poor 2009 matric results, combined with the low numbers of students qualifying in maths, are again negatively impacting the future of the IT skills pool in South Africa.

But if you’ve done great in maths, Sandra Burmeister, CEO of the Landelahni Recruitment Group, says: “IT could be the career for you, since the sector is facing a dire shortage of skills, and is currently importing talent from countries such as India.”

IT is a good subject to study because it opens up career opportunities, says Burmeister, and it isn’t always necessary to approach companies pre-armed with a formidable list of qualifications, since most IT companies put an extremely high emphasis on on-the-job training and mentorship, as well as on short courses and vendor certification.

What is rather a bonus, if you choose to follow this career, is the fact that all companies need IT personnel. It’s not only large IT companies, such as Microsoft, Fujitsu, Acer, and Oracle, to name a few, who are looking for IT-skilled resources.
“Because IT is a business enabler, these skills are in high demand throughout the commercial world, particularly in the financial sector,” Burmeister adds.

You can either follow an IT career in the field of operations, development or strategy. Operations is a good way to enter the IT realm and, according to Burmeister: “Certifications such as A+ and N+ will stand you in good stead, as will an understanding of the ITIL and Cobit frameworks, as well as learning programming languages, such as Java and C+.”

Just think of it this way: IT has become such an integral part of a business that a position as the chief information officer (CIO) can lead a person to even take the top spot in the organisation as the chief executive officer (CEO). Yes, the times are changing and it is no longer only the people with an accounting background stepping up to take the reins at companies.

Things seem to still be looking good for those people interested in a career in technology.

We hear it is much better and more secure than being a milk farmer these days.

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