Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Truth is, I.T. degree has a whole lot more into it



Time flies so fast, especially when you are having a great time. Last October 2011, it dawned on me that I have been working for one of the biggest IT companies in the world for three long years now. I have since transferred teams from the time I entered the organization and have had experienced so many different things.

Looking back when I was in elementary, high school, and even college, taking on an IT degree seemed like it’s just all about computers, programming, and software. Apparently, there’s a whole lot more into it.

Graduating from college gave a bunch of pressure in going into a great company that provides good training opportunities and compensation. When I entered my organization, that’s the time I realized that IT has a wide variety of career paths and choices. And there’s nothing to be afraid of.

Here are lessons I’d like to share.

You don’t need to be a programmer. There are many people who don’t love programming, or programming just doesn’t love them however hard work they put on it. I vividly remember telling my interviewer, “Give me any IT job except anything with programming.” It might sound stubborn, but I got hired in a matter of weeks.

Learn the basic IT and you’re good to go. Big organizations have a lot of roles that need not be an expert of anything – at least for fresh graduates. In fact, they welcome applicants even without knowledge on the technology you’re being hired for. You just need to have the base knowledge and discipline of IT and eventually just learn the technology through trainings.

Remember important things from your courses. Companies do not expect you to remember everything you’ve studied for the last 14 years. However, I would suggest remembering only the most important concepts from a select number of courses you have taken. You’d realize that it will come in handy as you work up the corporate ladder.

There’s more than just hardware and software. Whatever suits your personality and working preferences, you would surely find the right role for you. Good at organizing, managing clients and documents? There are Project Management roles. Excelling in development? You may choose to be a Software Developer. Inclined towards implementing IT projects through system configuration and testing? Several Project Implementation roles are available. Want a resolver/contact center setup of different levels? You’re assured to find Support roles. And the list goes on.

Even non-IT graduates get to land jobs in an IT organization. As a fresh graduate, you don’t have to fear. What companies usually look at are the personality and characteristics more than just grades. Learn the discipline that education gives and finding a job will be a breeze.

This article is my 39th contribution to Manila Bulletin -- one of the Philippines' leading broadsheets -- published on October 17, 2011 (Monday) in the TechNews Section. You can view the PDF version here.

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