HOW TO BECOME AN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIST
HOW TO BECOME AN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIST
According to an article in The Ottawa Citizen, as the knowledge based economy in North America grows, the skills gap is rapidly increasing. By the end of 1999, there will be a shortfall of 20,000 high tech workers in Canada. There is no universally accepted way to prepare for a job as an information technology specialist because employer's preferences depend on the work to be done. However, a bachelor's degree in computer science or a related field is becoming a prerequisite for most employers together with relevant work experience and specialized training. Employers look for specialists who have both a strong programming background as well as a familiarity with the type of computer systems used in the employer's organization. Cynthia has worked at MT&T for 14 years. She worked as a Telephone Service Representative before she became a programmer six years ago. After three years maintaining mainframe, stand alone systems, she started working on the network side.
Cynthia notes: "There is a lot of training involved. A lot of the training does not exist in Nova Scotia. You either go to Ontario (for example, a 3 year optional Co-operative Education Program is offered at Seneca College in conjunction with York University) or the States. The training is under the sunsolaris and Oracle programs. Solaris is just an operating system on a unix box just like you have DOS or WINDOWS.....Now there is an Information Technology Institute which actually offers a course here in Halifax. After taking this course, you are almost guaranteed a job. You go in with 90%+ guarantee that you will have a job when you come out. There are companies that are picking up students from there as soon as they graduate."
Many specialized training programs require an undergraduate degree as well as a successful completion of a logic aptitude test and a personal interview. Courses include: Fundamentals of Network Computing, Network Software Development using Visual Basic, Object Oriented Programming in Java using Visual Age, Oracle 8 Application Development in Oracle's Network Computing Environment, Project Management, Team-Based Problem Solving, Strategic Application of Technology, Communications/Presentation Skills and Career Management.
In short, Information Technologist Specialists
learn the most popular and most "in demand" applications that are used
to develop software in large and small corporations, government, consulting
firms, and non-profit organizations. They develop skills in project
management, team-based problem solving, change adaptiveness, and interpersonal
communications. As "specialists" or "experts" they have the ability
to adapt to virtually any type of application they are exposed to.