Many of you wrote to ask what I think of a career in IT, now that there’s a market slump and technology companies are shedding people around the clock and around the world. Some of you want to brave it, and have asked what kind of IT courses you should take, given the environment we are in now. As always, there’s no cut-and-dried answer. I really believe that IT isn’t a sector anymore; it is the entire environment we live in today. Computers are used across every sector of business, from aircraft manufacturing to zymurgy, and across every type of job function, from accounting to zoo-keeping. It’s a perfect time for people who are interested in more than one field or have peer pressure to get into IT but a love of something else. Art and computers? Music and programming? Whether you like it or not, a PC is likely to be at the centre of whatever it is you end up doing. So learn to use it well. If you have an aptitude for marketing, learn PowerPoint. Budding accountants should familiarise themselves with Excel and Tally. Almost every professional should learn how to use the web, email, and Word to write basic documents. You don’t even need to take a course to learn many of these. It’s not necessary to learn web design for every job in the new economy. A tiny minority will build and maintain websites; the rest will be creating, selling, accounting for and managing products and services. There will be very few internet-only companies; instead, the net will become part of every company’s operations, like the telephone did. If you are sure your inclinations are towards building websites, know that it is for specialists. A generalist course does not mean much. Follow your aptitude and passion, and lean toward graphic design or programming. Spend time with a career counsellor — but be careful of salespeople masquerading as counsellors, especially those paid commissions by institutes or overseas universities. Compare content, duration and price, ask for a discount, and then decide. There are no mandatories here, only a much wider range of options than the old doctor-or-engineer choices. You may even like to start your own business.
