There are many careers and occupations that are known to
stand the test of time. Medical practitioners, accountants,
and teachers have existed for millennia and will probably
exist until the robocalypse. Today, we need to add computer
and information technology professionals to that list.
If you really want to get technical, computers started back
in the early 1800s. However, computers as we recognize
them today were invented over 70 years ago. They have
significantly evolved during this time, from what used to be
large, room-sized computers that would occupy as many as
1800 square feet of space, to fitting in the palms of our
hands.
Whether the roles that exist today are called computer
engineers, programmers, or database administrators, the
tech industry has now become a permanent and lucrative
industry that you should consider getting into.
1. It’s where the jobs are and will be.
Although the role of a computer engineer or computer
programmer has been changing and evolving along with
technological advancements, these careers are here to stay.
They will change and evolve over time as technology moves
further into robotics, Internet of Things, cognitive
computing, and so on, but if you are looking for an exciting
career and job security, this is the place to be.
Source: Analysis: The exploding demand for computer science
education, and why America needs to keep up – GeekWire
This chart tells us that this industry is growing very rapidly,
and by 2020 we are expecting to have a shortage of 1
million computer programmers or engineers. This type of
shortage implies several things. For one, with higher
demand than supply, employers will pay high salaries to fill
these positions. It also means that you will have more
choice in selecting what company you wish to work for.
2. The average salaries are very high compared to
other fields.
The United States Department of Labor Statistics shows a
software developer earning an average of 93K per year. And
that was in 2012. This has increased significantly over the
last few years.
Source: United States Bureau of Labor Statistics
In hot market hubs such as Silicon Valley, an entry-level
software developer will earn a starting salary of 90-100K+.
3. It is standing the test of time.
Technology companies are lasting longer than originally
thought — we now have technology companies like IBM that
have been around for over 100 years. IBM demonstrates
how a technology company adapts. For example, they’ve
moved from mostly mainframe computers to cognitive
systems like Watson, which lets companies predict health
trends or recommends trending gifts during the holidays .
If you look at our aspirations as a race, we want to have
flying cars, we want to invent teleportation, we want to
explore the universe and live on other planets and the list
goes on. All these things would not be even considered
possible without computer technology. This will continue to
drive demand for these types of careers.
4. Demand in universities continues to grow.
Universities worldwide continue to see unprecedented
growth in their computer science/engineering enrolment and
have been expanding to keep up with the demand.
“An introductory computer science course at Harvard
College broke records this fall, becoming the most-
registered-for cla$$ at the prestigious institution and
proving once again that computer science is among the
fastest-growing areas in education.” — D. Frank Smith,
Edtechmagazine
Here’s a list of the best global universities for computer
science:
1. Ma$$achusetts Institute of Technology
2. Stanford University
3. Harvard University
4. University of California—Berkeley
5. Tsinghua University
6. University of Texas—Austen
7. Nanyang Technological University
8. University of California—San Diego
9. National University of Singapore
Source: USNews.com
If you are interested in the criteria on how these were
ranked, click here .
5. You want to be rich and famous.
Many of the richest people in the world have become rich
through technology . That includes bigs names like Bill
Gates, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and many other
incredibly wealthy individuals.
As I mentioned, computer science, software development,
computer engineering, or other terms that define and
represent technological roles and careers may evolve over
time, but are clearly the foundation for the future. The
market is definitely headed that way as we advance
technology to the next level. I don’t see any signs of this
trend slowing down.