Should I major in IT and attempt to find a career in it?

[Danielle Sarah]

I am currently one class away from acquiring an AA in IT. I have a 3.6 in the IT academic program (3.38 overall due to failing my first programming course this semester). Weirdly enough, math and science are my weaknesses. I was initially a Psychology major (3.72 degree audit) and chose to not go that route due to all the schooling. I wonder if I should stay where I am and when I transfer to university to acquire the BS, change my major. I was thinking HSA but I do not know what to do with that either. What may be best? I hear go see an advisor but the only answer I ever get is: "Follow your passion". Sadly, your passion does not necessarily entail $$$$$$. Help people.

 

[jedishrfu]

IT can open many doors. You are almost there, complete your degree program.

Next consider getting a BS that will get you into a college and from there you can decide what to do next
or get a job and take your time deciding what you want to do while saving your money in preparation for it.

Personally, I would go get a BS as that will put you on par with other IT folks and during that time at school decide whether you want to change directions.

 

[JakeBrodskyPE]

In IT, things move so fast that educations often go obsolete in just a few years. Thus, among your IT employment goals, you should plan on continuing education.

Also, it is my opinion and experience that IT departments tend to reflect the health of a company. If the IT department is disorganized, poorly funded, or suffers from terrible internal politics, chances are the rest of the company does too. Many companies treat their IT departments as pure overhead, instead of an investment. It shouldn't surprise you then when the IT department leads the way into oblivion.

Personally, I'd research another field and apply the IT education and experience to that field. For example, network design for a financial company can be really interesting.

I guess my point is to beware. IT can pay nicely, but they also have to put up with a lot of hate and discontent.

 

[Danielle Sarah]

In IT, things move so fast that educations often go obsolete in just a few years. Thus, among your IT employment goals, you should plan on continuing education.

Also, it is my opinion and experience that IT departments tend to reflect the health of a company. If the IT department is disorganized, poorly funded, or suffers from terrible internal politics, chances are the rest of the company does too. Many companies treat their IT departments as pure overhead, instead of an investment. It shouldn't surprise you then when the IT department leads the way into oblivion.

Personally, I'd research another field and apply the IT education and experience to that field. For example, network design for a financial company can be really interesting.

I guess my point is to beware. IT can pay nicely, but they also have to put up with a lot of hate and discontent.

What other fields would you suggest? Something does not consist of upper level mathematics and Physics or Chemistry? Statistics? I was also thinking Health Service Administration.

 

[Danielle Sarah]

IT can open many doors. You are almost there, complete your degree program.

Next consider getting a BS that will get you into a college and from there you can decide what to do next
or get a job and take your time deciding what you want to do while saving your money in preparation for it.

Personally, I would go get a BS as that will put you on par with other IT folks and during that time at school decide whether you want to change directions.

You are implying to complete the B.S. program in Information Technology and from there, see what other fields it can be useful in? You do not understand, Physics is going to kill me, I do not understand it :(

 

[StatGuy2000]

You are implying to complete the B.S. program in Information Technology and from there, see what other fields it can be useful in? You do not understand, Physics is going to kill me, I do not understand it :(

Danielle, you've posted a number of times on how much you're struggling with math & physics. To me this reflects one or both of the following:

1. Your earlier education did not give you a solid background on the material.

2. You learn mathematical concepts at a slower pace than others (which is fine -- different people have different strengths, and learn different material at different paces)

Either way, the only real remedy to move forward and improve on your math & science skills is through a combination of intensive tutoring (whether in-person or through online material like the Khan Academy) and independent hard work. But I believe that by taking this route, you (like everyone) will ultimately learn to understand the material.

Now onto your original question, let me ask you the following. What kind of career do you ultimately want to pursue? What interests you? What kind of skills can you bring? Before deciding whether to pursue IT or not, those are the kind of questions you need to answer.
Once you can answer these questions, then you can determine what is the most feasible thing to study to get to that role.

Remember, there are a lot of different types of jobs that can bring you the $$ (as you've stated), not just IT or Health Service Admin. Ultimately, where you're most likely to be successful is in a job that you can, if not feel passionate about, then at least comfortable in and enjoy every once in a while.

 

[JakeBrodskyPE]

Expanding on what StatGuy wrote, you should have some idea of what you like to do. Do you enjoy building big, complicated things? Did you enjoy building large things with legos or blocks? If so, then working in IT could be a lot of fun. Do you enjoy mentoring others? You may like management. Do you like competition? Business may be a good lead. Do you enjoy gathering and studying data? You might like accounting.

An IT degree could be a very nice way to get your foot into many of these fields. Like many endeavors, IT by itself is insufficient. You have to couple it with something. So IT with accounting could lead to a lot of interesting work. IT with education could also be fun if you like teaching. IT with business systems would be an interesting line of work to. There are many ways you could go with this degree, but you do need to figure out what you like doing.

 

[Boolean Boogey]

Look into certifications that apply to what job you want. Certs can get you a leg in the door, but I would try to get a 4 year degree in the near future.

My suggestion is to get some certs, work for a tear in the field, then pick a 4 year degree based upon what you like doing. That's sort of how I ended up going for EE, I design small processes and implement controllers as well as program PLCs for my job. Without this job I wouldn't have known what I liked.