A career in information technology is one of the few that can be planned in this world of uncertainty. Let’s explore together why and how to do it right, analysing pros and cons of different career paths.
Work of the present and the future
Anyone who wants to work in computer science has a specific course of study and a series of professional options to evaluate and choose from. This is not the case in many other areas of work, where uncertainty reigns: with a humanities degree you may end up working in the marketing department or with a legal background you could end up doing administrative work.
The luck is mutual: companies like Nexsoft can choose their staff from among young people who have left university or are already working, but who have the training and motivation to work in the field. Those who have also had a high level of training also know to choose professionalism, because the Italian IT sector is able to develop talents and take them to the highest levels, as demonstrated by studies and international experience. This, however, can also complicate things, as because the opportunities are easy they end up not thinking well about actual vocations and expectations and therefore risk making the wrong choices.
What are the roads that lead to a career in IT?
The freedom of freelancing
Freelance consulting is a path that many take, perhaps when studying, and which can offer excellent prospects, but also become a dead end.
To freelance, you need:
- a spirit of initiative,
- a certain commercial instinct,
- a willingness to change and keep up to date with the market.
These characteristics do not depend on technical skills, and presuppose a lifestyle choice.
The world is full of freelancers who deal with big and small problems and perhaps collaborate with larger and more structured companies.
This road can lead to becoming major consultants, often well paid and called on to give courses, to speak at conferences and direct seminars. But obviously it is a risky road, because it makes you grow professionally only through your spirit of initiative, and can end up in a dead end (if I specialise in a sector that for technological or market reasons has no future, how do I recycle myself?), that however requires a vocation for freedom.
IT departments: work forever
The second road is employment in the IT department of an organisation or company. In this case you are within a well-organised structure, which does other things and uses information technology as a tool for its activities. A bank, an industrial company, a public body, these are the entities we’re talking about.
In this case the vocation must be that of an employee who is interested in technical aspects, but who will inevitably tend to specialise in the specific sector. If I work in a bank, that is, I will more easily become a specialist in banking issues than in technological issues, and my professional life and career will be marked by this.
If the entity in which I work is very big, I will also have the opportunity to change technologies and application areas; if it is small to medium I will end up dealing with the same theme and the same environment forever. A choice that can be comfortable, which can open to professional growth in other areas, but which is not very motivating from the point of view of technical expertise.
IT service companies: the technical challenge
Then there are the software houses and advanced IT service companies such as Nexsoft. Here the work is very oriented to technology, the change – of environment, of application sector, of tools – is continuous, the possibility to grow in groups is very high. A challenging choice, in which the opportunities and benefits offered must be weighed up well. The motivation for working in this kind of business must be:
- Willingness to work to goals;
- The inclination towards group work, and towards communication, and professional and social dialogue;
- Readiness to change, to upgrade, to be flexible.
At Nexsoft we look for people with these characteristics, confident that we can offer an environment in which to grow, but also a working climate oriented to listening and collaboration. This is what came out, moreover, from an internal survey in which the staff participated.
We are confident that those who work with us find every reason to grow professionally and satisfy the demands of work of quality – challenging, but without excessive stress.
If you too want to dive into our work with passion and start your career at Nexsoft,
take a look at our job opportunities and get to know us right away!
