Careers in IT

Webmaster

The webmaster is the person in charge of creating, managing, and maintaining one or more Web site. He or she has the specialized knowledge and skills to maintain the integrity of the site's content and its embedded links (hyperlinks), updates the information as often as required, and attends to the questions and problems of the site's users. The jobs of a webmaster include writing HTML for Web pages, organizing the Web site's structure, responding to e-mails about the Web site, and keeping the site up-to-date. On some Web sites you might see a phrase that says, "send dead links and other Web site problems to webmaster@domainame.com." At times, being a webmaster can be a rather arduous job.

Computer support specialist

Computer support specialists help people with computer problems. Some computer support specialists called help-desk technicians field phone calls or e- mails or make house calls for people who are having difficulty with a particular piece of computer hardware or software.Most of these people who need help have no technical expertis. Other computer support specialists known as technical support specialists provide support to people in the information processing department of a company. In addition to troubleshooting problems, they may be responsible for the operation of the company's computer systems.Still other support specialists specialize in setting up computer systems that are delivered to customers. This includes installing the operating system (the program that tells the computer how to run software programs loaded onto it) and any software the client will need.All computer support positions require strong analytical thinking and problem- solving abilities. Support specialists must write technical reports about the problems they encounter.

Technical writer

A technical writer is often tasked with writing documentation that explains technical issues in ways that non-technical people can understand. A technical writer might be responsible for writing the how-to manual for a software application. Technical writers are often copy writers and vice-versa.

Software engineer

A software engineer is a licensed professional engineer who is schooled and skilled in the application of engineering discipline to the creation of software. A software engineer is often confused with a programmer, but the two are vastly different disciplines. While a programmer creates the codes that make a program run, a software engineer creates the designs the programmer implements. By U.S. law no person may use the title "engineer" (of any type) unless the person holds a professional engineering license from a state licensing board and are in good standing. A software engineer is also held accountable to a specific code of ethics.

Network administrator

A person who manages a local area communications network (LAN) within an organization. Responsibilities include network security, installing new applications, distributing software upgrades, monitoring daily activity, enforcing licensing agreements, developing a storage management program and providing for routine backups.

Database administrator

A database administrator (DBA) is similar to a database developer or designer except that the DBA's key responsibilities is ensuring that a database is available at all to the users and programs that need it. This includes making backups and archiving data. It also includes on-going monitoring to ensure that the database is responding to requests quickly. Sometimes the DBA has some hardware knowledge so that the appropriate servers can be purchased so that the database's performance is not impacted by hardware bottlenecks.

System analyst

A system analyst is the person who selects and configures computer systems for an organization or business. His or her job typically begins with determining the intended purpose of the computers. This means the analyst must understand the general objectives of the business, as well as what each individual user's job requires. Once the system analyst has determined the general and specific needs of the business, he can choose appropriate systems that will help accomplish the goals of the business.

Programmer

Before the Internet became widely used, most custom software development fell in to the category of client/server software. The "client", in this case, was an end-user's computer and the "server" was often a powerful computer located in a computer room either on-site or off-site. The workload would be shared by both the client and the server. This contrasts with most web development in that most of the work is being performed by the server. The client is usually just responsible for displaying the user interface and forwarding an end-user's requests to the server.
Thus, the computer programmer is the one who would write the code that would run on the client as well as the code that would run on the server. Because the client often had Microsoft Windows installed, there was often less graphic design needed for the user interface because many of the screen elements were standardized.