IT is a very young field of activity. Especially for Russia, which due to the complex political transformation of the first years of independence for a long time could not go on par with the technological development of Western countries. Today, of course, IT specialists from our country are rapidly closing the gap with foreign colleagues. Ordinary citizens are beginning to become interested in information technology. IT sphere - what is it? What professions do people work in? Is it difficult to work in the field of IT technologies?
Theory
Information technology (the English abbreviation is IT, and in full is "information technologies") is a set of areas of human activity, as well as educational disciplines that are related to the processes of creating, storing, processing data, as well as managing them using computers (and other types computer technology).
IT: international interpretation
IT sphere - is it a science or an applied activity? It is believed that both. It can be supported, for example, by the authority of large international organizations. There are, in particular, two popular definitions of the essence of IT from UNESCO. According to the first, information technology is a set of disciplines (of the nature of technological, scientific or engineering research) that study the ways of organizing the activities of people who process and store data. The second definition given by UNESCO experts is as follows. IT is a computer technology, as well as methods of its interaction with people and industrial equipment, its applications, as well as aspects of the socio-economic and cultural development of people related to its work.
What place does the Internet occupy in the structure of such a phenomenon as the IT sphere? What is this in the understanding of information technology theorists? Interpretations of the role of the Internet, of course, are many. But in most expert interpretations, the World Wide Web is just a tool for transmitting (exchanging) data. The Internet is usually not classified as a separate class of IT activities.
IT: people and professions
People whose business profile is related to the implementation of tasks within the framework of information technology are generally referred to as IT specialists. There are many specific examples of activities that fit this definition. Consider some common IT professions: programmer, system administrator, and webmaster.
Programmer
This is a person who is qualified to create and edit algorithms written in special languages and designed to organize and organize the process of input-output data using a computer or other type of computing equipment. What is it about? About the programs, of course. These very algorithms that are set by a person make the computer understandable about his "orders." Examples of programming languages are C ("C"), Perl, Java.
Using the program, the user makes it clear to the PC what he wants from him. In turn, the computer, recognizing the "requests", gives out in a language that is understandable to the person - text, pictures, sound - the result.
Programmer: theorist or practitioner?
A programmer is not a scientist or a theorist. Even if he works in a university and performs tasks related to research. That is, it is important to understand that this person, first of all, produces something, and therefore his activity can be considered applied. Programming is the field of IT-technology, in which the aspect of the practical usefulness of human-produced actions plays a crucial role. Here, it is always expected that any theoretical work will lead to a specific result.
A computer program is not just text in a particular language. It is also a standalone product capable of working autonomously from others. A key feature of the program is independent functioning. It can be transferred somewhere in the form of files or, as an option, sold.
The IT business, in fact, for the most part is based on the sale of the results of the work of programmers. The largest IT companies: Apple, Microsoft and others make money on this.
To work with programs, it is not at all necessary to receive a special education and to be a certified specialist - these are only possible methods for obtaining the required skills.
Multilingualism is the main requirement
Typically, programmers know several languages for constructing algorithms at once. If not, then mastering new ones is usually not difficult, since the basic principles of “communication” with a PC are generally the same. Some languages are better adapted to the creation of computer games, others - to the release of text editors. In very many cases, having written a program in one language, you can "translate" it into another without losing functionality.
System administrators
An example of another common profession in the IT field is a system administrator. This is a person who is qualified to ensure the stable operation of the computer equipment entrusted to him. That is, it is, first and foremost, an employee. A system administrator is a profession to a lesser extent, a functional role to a greater extent. This can also be evidenced by the fact that in the lists of university specialties "system administrator" is extremely rare. While the "programmer" - regularly. However, both activities are recognized by professions.
A person’s job as a system administrator is generally not related to writing programs. Most often, the “admin” deals with the hardware components of computers, and is involved in setting up printers, modems, monitors, etc.
Often, the work of system administrators boils down to training (instructing) other employees in the basics of correctly working with computers and other devices. If the company is large, and its staff has several "admins", then everyone can be responsible for a particular area. Relatively speaking, Ivanov - for the efficiency of the internal computer network, Petrov - for the stability of the communication channel with the Internet, Sidorov - for the correct functioning of programs on the employees' PCs.
We see that system administration is an example of a profession in which a person is busy working with the hardware area of that global category, which is the IT field. There is no doubt that this is the same as programming, the most important part of information technology.
Webmaster
This is a person engaged in the creation of sites on the Internet, a representative of one of the youngest IT professions. Programmers and system administrators were still at a time when the worldwide network was at the stage of theoretical development. Webmasters and programmers are, to some extent, close professions. They are united by the fact that they create a product that is significant in terms of using a computer - a website or a program. IT is a field of activity where many professions and specializations are similar. But there are still many differences.
The webmaster operates with a special language - HTML. It has certain similarities with programming languages, namely, algorithms by which a person makes it clear to the computer what he wants. In this case, what the webpage displayed by the browser should look like. But HTML has one feature that does not allow it to be ranked as a programming language: the algorithms it creates are not able to execute independently. The fact is that a web page is not a program, but a document created so that the Internet browser correctly recognizes it.
Of course, a lot of webmasters use specialized programming languages designed to give the created site improved functionality. In this case, we are talking about placing on the Internet not web pages, but capable of independently executing algorithms. And then two professions come together: the webmaster, in addition to the main activity, becomes a programmer.
IT literary scholars
It is worth noting that the creation of websites is an area of IT technology, which is adjacent to a large number of very different industries. Often, webmasters turn to designers, psychologists, who can help make the site able to impress users. A significant role in the creation of sites is played by humanitarian fields - linguistics, philology, literary criticism, because the text is the most important component of web documents. It should be competent and attractive for visitors to virtual portals.
IT is a field of activity adjacent to a very large number of other industries. This is, above all, marketing. It is understandable - IT business involves the promotion of computer products in various markets. This may be sociology, which allows you to understand the specifics of public sentiments regarding the development of computer networks or the distribution of any software or hardware solutions. Mathematicians, economists, ecologists can help IT specialists.
When professions are not similar
Despite the fact that all of the above activities are related to IT, people representing one of them may have nothing to do with the other two. It is possible that a programmer who knows dozens of computer languages may not have a clue how an internal corporate network works or how to set up accounting software. While all these tasks are easily solved by the "admin". In turn, the webmaster, having a remarkable talent in building cool websites, may not be able to cope with the correct adjustment of the color scheme of his own monitor and will call for help from the same system administrator. The latter, well versed in the intricacies of establishing a connection between corporate PCs and Internet service provider's servers, it is possible that he will not understand a word from the hypertext markup language.
Narrow profile or broad specialization?
There is a version that work in the field of IT-technologies should be as narrow a profile as possible. In some cases, this is justified, but only if the specialization that a person chooses is really in demand by the market in a strategic perspective. An IT specialist who knows only one programming language, albeit perfectly, may sooner or later encounter a situation when his skills become obsolete. In this regard, many experts recommend programmers to be trained in the study of several languages - albeit not so deeply, but with the continuing ability to change the profile depending on the situation on the labor market. The same goes for system administrators and webmasters. True, it is extremely unlikely that both of these IT positions will cease to be relevant to the market. It’s hard to imagine that firms such as a system administrator or a webmaster will disappear in firms. No matter how the IT sphere changes, a site development company and a brand supplier of accounting or other specialized software are likely to remain among the most common business units.