Career Clusters in Information Technology
Information technology (IT) is one of 16 career clusters used by schools to help students find career fields of interest. Once IT is identified as an area of interest, students, with the guidance of teachers and counselors, can begin to explore job opportunities in this field as well as how to achieve it. Students interested in IT will find its jobs grouped in four career clusters.
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Network Systems
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A career in network systems allows a person to play an important role in a business as they connect computers and allow people to share documents and other resources. Jobs within this career cluster in information technology include network technician, network administrator, PC support specialist and security administrator. With the need for network administrators expected to grow by 27 percent between 2006 and 2016 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, learning how to design, install and manage network systems may be the right career decision.
Information Support and Services
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Workers in information technology who are responsible for managing information systems and large or multiple databases are employed in information support and services. This career cluster also sets up computer systems and installs software on computers as needed. It is expected to grow at least 13 percent between 2006 and 2016. Jobs in the specialty include computer information system managers, database administrators, instructional designers and help-desk specialists.
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Programming and Software Development
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New software programs are constantly being developed and implemented to help businesses operate more efficiently, and employees of the programming and software development career cluster are responsible for these advancements. Some jobs in this field are found in software companies where new products are being developed while other jobs are in businesses that need software expertise to install, manage and troubleshoot software programs. Computer software engineer, applications engineer or computer programmer are just a few of the job titles that can be found in this growing specialty. In fact, computer software engineers are expected to be one of the fastest growing occupations between 2006 and 2016 as jobs increase 38 percent.
Web and Digital Communication
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Websites have become an integral part of the marketing and media for businesses around the world, and it's the responsibility of employees in the Web and digital communication career cluster to create and manage online media and information. Graphic artists, web designers and webmasters are just a few of the occupations available in this field.
Pathways
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Pathways have been developed to lead students to their chosen career cluster in information technology. These pathways have been designed for different grade levels of students including middle school, high school and college. They provide a course outline of classes students should take to achieve their goal of a career in IT. To see which pathways are suggested based on their educational level, students can speak with school counselors or academic advisers.
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- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Vivek Patankar
