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which area in IT is good for a beginner?

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by joel40004000

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I have been thinking which area,I should go into ,in the IT field: 1- to go study Computer Networking and repair 2- computer programming .Please am confused,I need urgent help,someone who know the current situation in IT and can forsee the future trend in IT should please advise me.Is it wise to spend huge amount of money to obtain university/college degree or just obtain certificates and go into the job market.I have no option for now to study something else.
please feel free to notify me thru my email.thanks

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by maxwell edison

The area of computer network security may have the most promising future potential as well as the most need.

by hal 9000

Worm I would have to agree with Max here network security is the only growing area in IT right at the moment and for the foreseeable future but what you have to remember is that a lot of these jobs are being outsourced to other companies to save money and a very lot of them are being sent offshore so right now isn't the ideal time to be entering the IT workforce as a "Life Changing Decission" if you plan to work for any large or medinum company it is very likely that the job just won't be there in a few years as it will either be outsourced or shipped offshore to save the company money.

Don't get me wrong IT is fun, and very exelerating as the amount of time for change to accure is getting faster all the time but it is anything but secure with all the "Golobilasition" that is going on right now.

by oldefar

I have to disagree with both Max and Colin regarding IT security being a growth area. Security as a unique practice had momentum in the late 90's and maybe through 2002. Since then it has returned to being a niche commodity or part of the basic skill set. You can put it along side such other "growth" areas as quality consulting, ISO certification, and business continuity planning.

Application development (programming) is already seeing a downturn in India. A simple case of more capacity than demand.

The one relative growth sector is within the small business area. However, you need to think turn key solutions and specific business objectives because the purchaser is also the stock holder.

Wireless has a current growth, but it will top out and become a commodity before you finish your training I suspect.

by mattaall

Why dont you do both take it one step at a time and remember knowledge is Power the more you know the more you'll make.

by hal 9000

You would probably be better off looking at the Tablet market right at the moment as that will be the "Growth" area for some time to come but it is a fairly limited field unless you get involved in programming fro things like "INK" or some other specific Tablet application which hasn't as yet been realised.

These portable devices are the way of the future and right now we are only seeing the begining of them.

by oldefar

Looking at some recent reports by the US government, the pending legislation regarding data protection, the widespread use of Linux in EU and particulary in Germany, and state level bills requiring consideration of open systems on all projects - we may be at the brink of seeing MS dislodged.

by hal 9000

What happens between SCO and IBM and all the rubbish that will come along as a result of that current problem. Right at the moment SCO is attempting to bludgen Linux users into paying them a licence fee although SCO hasn't listed any ccopyrite issues in their Lawsuite with IBm only breack of contract issues.

While I have no doubt that Linux will recover in the long run for the short term it may be in for a rocky ride and this lawsuite is timed right at a time when Linux is a serious contendor to Microsoft so just for the time being I'd stear clear of it until this mess is soughted out.

But that wouldn't stop me from learning all I could about it so that when things return to normal I would have a head start in the Linux field.

by maxwell edison

If you don't know what your next step should be, look farther down the road to see where it is you want to go. Is it your ambition to write the next operating system? Then go into programming languages. Is it your ambition to build, run, or maintain one of the networks on the inter-network? Then go into networking. Is it your ambition to come up with a computer design that could rival and compete with Dell? Then go into computer building and repair. Is it something else?

You have to know where you want to go before you can figure out how to get there. If you don't really know, or haven't thought about it, take a look at your dreams (your day dreams). We all have them, although we may not think too much about it. If you could just snap your fingers and place yourself into a situation - any situation - what would that be? There ya' go. That's where you should be headed, and working backwards from there will make that first step a little more clear.

Best of luck to you.

(Okay Maxwell, listen to your own advice.)

by oldefar

Colin, you raise some good points. However those are issues of cost - public domain versus proprietary software. There will be hard cost factors impacted by what happens with SCO.

The bigger issue is technology, and open source is quietly gaining serious mass within the government sectors of the US. In particular, there are bills pending and passed making the consideration of open source a requirement for new projects. This means the accounting types will be requiring justification for NOT using open source software on projects.

NSA has come out hard in support of open source for all of its systems. DoD has followed suit. Homeland Security is almost at the point of blackballing MS due to security issues.

This will have a bigger impact than the license issues in the long term.

by hal 9000

Hi Ken, A lot of new Government ITR is switching to open source here as well because it just works better and as even the internet would fail without open source OS we are more dependant on it than most people realise.

On the very last Government job that I consulted on I was asked to tie the computers of the Taxation Department, Social Security and any other Departments that actually paid out money to the Public Sector and I suggested Linux on all these computers {which was accepted} and a dedicated fibre optical cable linking all of these computers Australia wide {this wasn't accepted} and the Powers that Be went with the Telstra Fibre Optical cable for their connection when asked I just replied that at the moment it would surfice but as the use of optical fibre grew Telstra would just pinch some of the bandwidth for their own use at the expence of the link to which I was told that we own Telstra and they will do what they are told to. Well that worked OK for a short time but when the next Government came to power they started selling off Telstra and now they only own 50.1% sure it is a controlling interest but they are currently trying to sell this off as well, but what is interesting is the people that I worked with there are now telling me that they are loosing bandwidth and they are noe seriously considering a dedicated cable for thie exclusive use {only 10 years too late} bvut I guess that they will eventually get there in the end and the fact that it is going to cost them Billions more shouldn't even be considered {unless you are one of the tax payers who is actually footing the bill.}

Actually even the Queensland Police are slowely switching from an Apple based system to a Linux System {It would be interesting watching the adverage Police Officer working with the new system as they arn't all that computer literate.}

But I do agree with you that the Open Source is the way to go as it will in a short time be the opperating system of choice for any Governemt or big business work and the W#indows will be restricted to the desktop until those staf can be retrained for open source programs but this will take time to impelment and in the short term there will be little demand for these skills but in the longer term I think that the MS skills will be as obsolute as the Apple is nowdays.

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