Before the popularity of data science, information science and technology was a field that allowed students and professionals to apply their coding skills to the management of information, data, and complex systems. As an interdisciplinary field, information technology (IT) offers multiple career opportunities for students that want to learn and apply their technical skills. Coding skills for information technology reflect the most in-demand avenues across the study of information and data.
Building a Career in Information Technology
Building a career in information technology is an excellent opportunity for students and professionals skilled in managing both people and data. IT is anindustry that focuses on using computers and technology to send and receive information and data. Information technology encompasses multiple specialty areas, such as network administration, database management, cybersecurity, and data governance.
With the rise in big data and technology everywhere, from corporate offices to educational institutions, there is also a rising demand for information technology specialists. IT specialists are tasked with protecting and managing information systems and communication networks. This includes managing the accessibility of information and data and developing the protocols required to use technology within the context of an organization. Building a career in information technology involves understanding and regularly updating your knowledge of how to engage with various information systems and networks.
In-Demand Skills in Information Technology
Another part of building a career in information technology is staying up to date on the many in-demand skills in information technology. As technology changes, the field of information technology also changes. Professionals in this field will greatly benefit from learning new skills and updating the skills they have learned in the past throughout their careers. And each of these skills can be easily gathered from a coding bootcamp or certificate program.
Coding Skills
Coding skills are highly in-demand within the information technology industry. Because information technology specialists work in the back-end of various computational systems, professionals in the field should have a comprehensive understanding of writing code in several programming languages. Depending on the type of information technology work you are doing, different languages make the most sense to learn.
For example, an IT specialist who manages access to a website or platform should know HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. An IT specialist working with financial technology should understand languages like Python and SPSS. In addition, the popularity of databases within information technology also requires advanced knowledge of the SQL programming language to communicate with databases, retrieve data, and design the architecture of a network.
Data Organization and Analysis
Much of information technology work focuses on data organization and analysis. Whether organizing and analyzing the data that comes into a system or the data created by the system and its users, IT specialists are tasked with using their coding skills to manage data flows and pipelines. By adequately organizing and categorizing the data that enters and leaves an information system, IT specialists can monitor the integrity of data transferred and accessed by different users and key stakeholders.
Data organization and analysis skills include understanding how to use different tools and data analytics technologies. Depending on the workplace, this could mean using spreadsheet software like Microsoft Excel to organize files and records, such as the data accessibility roles within an organization. There are also specific data organization tools and analytics technologies for IT, such as database management systems and data governance tools.
Database Management and Architecture
The back end management of information systems is also an essential skill within information technology. Database management and architecture is where IT specialists apply their coding skills and knowledge of data organization. In some cases, an IT specialist builds an entire database management system for a client or organization based on the company's needs. However, there is already a database management system created to manage data and its accessibility in most cases.
In those cases, an IT specialist is tasked with managing the daily operations of a data storage system. This includes staying up to date on the permissions of a network or database, such as who has access to which data, keeping up with the software updates for the system, and new methods of database management. For example, many companies are making a move to cloud database providers. An information technology specialist would be tasked with transferring the data from one database to another.
Network and Cybersecurity
Although there is a difference between information technology and cybersecurity, network and cybersecurity are essential skills for an IT specialist to know. When managing a database or how users communicate within a network, cybersecurity ensures that data transfer from one place to another is safe and secure. Like database management, network security monitors the behavior and permissions of different users. This information is used to determine normative behavior within a network, making it easier to determine when users are safely engaging with data and technology and when there is unusual activity in a network.
IT specialists focus on identifying user patterns and behaviors within information technology security and use that information to defend the system against potential attacks. This includes using various techniques and strategies to defend a system and protect it. Many information technology specialists need to apply software and technology to a network to protect it from malware and cyberattacks. The IT specialist can develop this software or learn cybersecurity from their general knowledge of the best products for a particular system or by taking a network and cybersecurity coding bootcamp.
Starting Your Career in Information Technology?
Noble Desktop's coding bootcamps include several courses and certificate programs for starting your career in information technology! Aspiring information technologists can take a variety of in-person coding bootcamps at a location near them or find one of many virtual courses through Noble Desktop's live online coding bootcamps.