What Can I Do with a Bachelor’s in Information Technology Degree?

An infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree pre­pares stu­dents for the many ways in which com­put­er sys­tems use soft­ware, hard­ware, and net­works to man­age (and secure) the trans­mis­sion and stor­age of infor­ma­tion and graph­ics across the world. Many con­sid­er the Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy indus­try to be the next excit­ing fron­tier to explore. IT is fas­ci­nat­ing work and offers many career options for tech­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­als. The Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy indus­try is expect­ed to out­pace the gen­er­al econ­o­my in terms of job growth in the next few years.

So, for those who have asked them­selves — Is an Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degree worth it? — The answer is a defin­i­tive yes!

Read on to learn what an Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degree will do for you.

Relat­ed:

• Best Bach­e­lor’s in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy Degree Programs
• Best Online Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy Degree Bach­e­lor’s Programs
• Fastest Online Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy Degree Bach­e­lor’s Programs
• Most Affor­dable Online Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy Degree Bach­e­lor Programs

Accreditation for Information Technology Programs

There are many fac­tors that deter­mine which school will pro­vide the best pro­gram for any one stu­dent. Most degree seek­ers first deter­mine if one of the school they have select­ed has been accred­it­ed by an offi­cial­ly-rec­og­nized accred­it­ing agency.

School accred­i­ta­tion is a sig­nif­i­cant com­po­nent of any degree or pro­gram; how­ev­er, it is espe­cial­ly impor­tant in the com­plex field of Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy — one of the fastest evolv­ing indus­tries at presents As such, a school’s over­all accred­i­ta­tion and spe­cif­ic infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy accred­i­ta­tion is crit­i­cal to know. Before sub­mit­ting an appli­ca­tion to a school, be cer­tain that the school’s accred­i­ta­tions meet the require­ments of future employ­ers. The real­i­ty is many Infor­ma­tion-Tech­nol­o­gy employ­ers insist that an appli­can­t’s degree is from an accred­it­ed school.

Regional Accreditation

The Unit­ed States Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion is ulti­mate­ly respon­si­ble for rec­og­niz­ing rep­utable schools with­in the Unit­ed States. To do so, the US Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion has set up six regions, each of which is over­seen by an inde­pen­dent accred­it­ing body rec­og­nized by the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment. Region­al accred­i­ta­tion (despite the mis­lead­ing name) is a nation­al­ly-rec­og­nized accred­i­ta­tion con­sid­ered the stan­dard for edu­ca­tion­al qual­i­ty. A school that oper­ates with­out region­al accred­i­ta­tion will not like­ly be con­sid­ered valid in the eyes of future employers.

Information Technology-Specific Accreditation

Accred­i­ta­tion is a per­plex­ing top­ic when one con­sid­ers the many acronyms to learn when research­ing the avail­able pro­grams. The pri­ma­ry accred­i­ta­tion agency for the Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy indus­try is the Accred­i­ta­tion Board for Engi­neer­ing & Tech­nol­o­gy — ABET.

Since 1932, ABET accred­i­ta­tion require­ments have reached most cor­ners of the globe. Every year, more than 100,000 stu­dents earn their degree from ABET-accred­it­ed online schools — locat­ed in more than 30 coun­tries and offered by near­ly 800 universities/colleges.

What is ABET accreditation?

ABET — the Accred­i­ta­tion Board for Engi­neer­ing & Tech­nol­o­gy, is a non-gov­ern­men­tal over­sight agency tasked with deter­min­ing if a post-sec­ondary infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy pro­gram meets estab­lished cri­te­ria in the fields of nat­ur­al sci­ence, com­put­er sci­ence, engi­neer­ing, applied sci­ence, and engi­neer­ing. ABET accred­i­ta­tion is the indus­try-accept­ed way to assure future stu­dents that the school they have cho­sen meets the edu­ca­tion stan­dards demand­ed by the infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy industry.

Schools offer­ing online Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degree pro­grams — who meet ABET’s accred­i­ta­tion require­ments — Become ABET-accred­it­ed online schools. The abil­i­ty to pub­li­cize infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy under­grad­u­ate pro­grams offered as ABET-accred­it­ed online school is one of the ABET accred­i­ta­tion advantages.

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)

The Asso­ci­a­tion to Advance Col­le­giate Schools of Busi­ness (AACSB) was found­ed in 1916 by sev­en­teen colleges/universities to accred­it busi­ness schools in the Unit­ed States. By the end of the 20th Cen­tu­ry, AACSB-accred­it­ed schools could be found in many oth­er coun­tries. Recent­ly, the AACSB has set their sights on approval from the Inter­na­tion­al Orga­ni­za­tion for Stan­dard­iza­tion (ISO).

Types of Information Technology Degrees

Are you a tech whiz?

Have you recent­ly asked your­self — Are there any IT pro­grams near me? Or, are there any qual­i­ty IT pro­grams online?

The answers are like­ly, and yes.

Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­als are employed across near­ly all sec­tors of the econ­o­my. Their respon­si­bil­i­ties are quite diverse. Stu­dents inter­est­ed in earn­ing their Bach­e­lors in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy (IT) degree, grad­u­ate with an impres­sive selec­tion of job opportunities.

When stu­dents begin to explore their many career options as an IT pro­fes­sion­al, it is impor­tant to dif­fer­en­ti­ate the bac­calau­re­ate degree options. The major­i­ty of IT pro­grams offer a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degree, a BA in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy, or some minor vari­a­tion thereof.

In addi­tion to the var­i­ous Bach­e­lor’s in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degrees offered, a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy can very often be earned as an online IT degree. Online infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree pro­grams offer flex­i­ble sched­ul­ing, which is a must for work­ing learn­ers who are pressed for time. An online IT degree is a qual­i­ty degree offered from pres­ti­gious university’s spe­cial­ty pro­grams. Stu­dents should gath­er infor­ma­tion along the way to a final deci­sion. This includes:

• Bach­e­lor of Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy syllabus
• Infor­ma­tion Sci­ence and Tech­nol­o­gy degree programs
• Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy course subjects
• Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degree requirements
• Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy major subjects
• Online Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy courses

A quick online search reveals:

• The top-ranked Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy schools
• The avail­able accred­it­ed Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy programs
• The best Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degrees
• The best IT asso­ciates degree online
• An accel­er­at­ed Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degree online pro­gram option
• An afford­able online Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degree program
• A cheap online Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degree program
• The avail­able data regard­ing Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy online schools

Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degree online pro­grams dif­fer from one pro­gram to anoth­er, so it is impor­tant to under­stand each program’s spe­cif­ic Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degree require­ments by review­ing the school’s Bach­e­lor of Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy syllabus.

Bachelors in Information Technology Degrees

A Bach­e­lor of Arts degree — a BA in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy — typ­i­cal­ly requires four years to com­plete, but accel­er­at­ed pro­grams can take less than two. This holds true whether a stu­dent stud­ies on-cam­pus or stud­ies for an Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degree online. Stu­dents tra­vers­ing the Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy path­way will explore the fun­da­men­tals of infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy dur­ing the first two years. Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy course sub­jects include:

• Com­put­er Networks
• Com­put­er-Based Systems
• Data­base Management
• Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy Project Management

The Various Types of Information Technology Degrees

The of Infor­ma­tion Secu­ri­ty field offers many degree vari­a­tions. Pro­grams dif­fer and are based on the school’s spe­cif­ic approach or sub­spe­cial­ty pro­gram. These infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy pro­grams are offered by pro­fes­sion­al schools and top-ranked Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy schools with pro­fes­sion­al stud­ies pro­grams. Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy pro­grams are offered as an IT Asso­ciates degree online, a Bach­e­lor in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degree, as well as grad­u­ate and doc­tor­al degrees.

Stu­dents can select an Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degree online pro­gram that offers a spe­cial­ized approach to the degree. A few exam­ples are list­ed below:

• Certifications/Licenses in Infor­ma­tion Technology
• Com­mu­ni­ca­tions
• Cyber Secu­ri­ty
• Data Min­ing
• E‑commerce Tech­nol­o­gy
• Graph­ic Design
• Health­care
• Human/Computer Inter­ac­tion
• SEO Solu­tions
• Soft­ware Engineering
• Web Devel­op­ment
• Wire­less Networks

The type of Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy cho­sen will dic­tate the exact Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy course sub­jects and the Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy major subjects.

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So, are you still ask­ing your­self — Are there any IT pro­grams near me? Are you still won­der­ing if there are qual­i­ty IT pro­grams online? Of course, there are. Some of the most eas­i­ly acces­si­ble Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy online schools are at your fin­ger­tips as you read this narrative.

Sign on to find an online IT degree that meets your edu­ca­tion and career objec­tives. Most online Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degree pro­grams allow stu­dents to apply online. Many infor­ma­tion-tech­nol­o­gy pro­grams offer a chance for a stu­dent to com­plete an online appli­ca­tion at no charge.

Certifications/Licenses in Information Technology

The major­i­ty of the busi­ness­es and sec­tors that define the econ­o­my depend upon the skills and tal­ents of IT pro­fes­sion­als in the Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy indus­try. Some indi­vid­u­als might find it dif­fi­cult to fath­om just how vital a role Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­als play in the mod­ern econ­o­my, but the real­i­ty is, infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­als are huge­ly impor­tant to most indus­tries in the econ­o­my. The economy’s grow­ing depen­dence on the infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­al is the pri­ma­ry rea­son the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics (BLS) pre­dicts an above-aver­age growth (13%) through the year 2026. The Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics notes that the strongest growth will be in the Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy sub­spe­cial­ties of Infor­ma­tion Secu­ri­ty, Data Stor­age, and Cloud Applications.

Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy spe­cial­ists sup­port most indus­tries and gov­ern­ment agen­cies by apply­ing tech­ni­cal solu­tions using soft­ware, hard­ware, net­works, or Inter­net appli­ca­tions. Those inter­est­ed in pur­su­ing a career as an Infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­al will find many ways to earn a degree and many degree lev­els to reach for.

An Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­al gen­er­al­ly begins their path to their IT career with an asso­ci­ate’s degree or bachelor’s degree in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy. How­ev­er, it is not­ed that there are many cer­tifi­cate cours­es in the IT indus­try that can be earned as a stand-alone achieve­ment or as an addi­tion­al edu­ca­tion accom­plish­ment that com­ple­ments an under­grad­u­ate degree.

Certifications in Information Technology

A cer­tifi­cate pro­gram offers spe­cial­ized infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy course­work. An Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy cer­tifi­cate course typ­i­cal­ly takes between 6 months and 1 year to com­plete. Stu­dents fol­low a con­cen­trat­ed focus with­in a spe­cif­ic area. Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy cer­ti­fi­ca­tions are the per­fect solu­tion for those who want to spe­cial­ize in an IT skill or expand their knowl­edge of a spe­cif­ic IT subject.

Specialist Certification Options

There are a vari­ety of Infor­ma­tion-Tech­nol­o­gy cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams from which indus­try pro­fes­sion­als can select. A few exam­ples of these avail­able Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy cer­ti­fi­ca­tions are list­ed below:

A Com­put­er Pro­gram­mer
Com­put­er pro­gram­mers are tasked with the respon­si­bil­i­ty of writ­ing (and test­ing) com­put­er code. Com­put­er code dic­tates how com­put­er sys­tems and appli­ca­tions will oper­ate with­in their dig­i­tal envi­ron­ment. A com­put­er pro­gram­mer’s objec­tive is to make sure that the pro­gram meets its intend­ed appli­ca­tion. Com­put­er pro­gram­mers gen­er­al­ly work inde­pen­dent­ly and, often work from home. Com­put­er pro­gram­ming Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams cov­er the pro­gram­ming lan­guages of JAVA, C++, and Visu­al Basic.

A Com­put­er Net­work Archi­tect
A Com­put­er Net­work Archi­tect spe­cial­izes in cre­at­ing and imple­ment­ing com­mu­ni­ca­tion net­works for busi­ness­es, orga­ni­za­tions, and agen­cies. Their tal­ents effec­tive­ly man­age the stor­age and trans­mis­sion of data across WANs — Wide Area Net­works. Addi­tion­al­ly, they man­age data func­tions on Cloud Infra­struc­tures, Local Area Net­works (LANs), or a com­bi­na­tion of net­work types. A Net­work Archi­tect must work close­ly with data secu­ri­ty spe­cial­ists to design a pro­tec­tive data environment/network. Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams are gen­er­al­ly offered by tech­nol­o­gy com­pa­nies, so they ensure the end user is adept at nav­i­gat­ing the com­put­er net­work safely.

A Com­put­er & Infor­ma­tion Research Sci­en­tist
An Infor­ma­tion Com­put­er Research Sci­en­tist spe­cial­izes in the improve­ment of cur­rent com­put­er tech­nolo­gies. In addi­tion, Infor­ma­tion Research Sci­en­tists solve com­pli­cat­ed Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy prob­lems by design­ing brand-new cut­ting-edge tech­nolo­gies to address spe­cif­ic indus­try issues. These com­plex prob­lems require a sol­id knowl­edge of algo­rithms, the tools which per­mit Infor­ma­tion Research Sci­en­tists to dis­cov­er effi­cient com­put­ing tech­nolo­gies. Their research tools include robot­ics, pro­gram­ming, and data min­ing, among oth­ers. Insti­tu­tions of high­er learn­ing often employ com­put­er net­work archi­tects. Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy cer­ti­fi­ca­tions in this spe­cial­ty depend on the industry.

A Com­put­er Sup­port Spe­cial­ist
A com­put­er sup­port spe­cial­ist has received advanced train­ing regard­ing the cus­tomer-cen­tric area of infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy. Some sup­port spe­cial­ists work with­in spe­cial­ized call cen­ters help­ing end users all over the world. Still, oth­er sup­port spe­cial­ists trav­el across the coun­try (and the world) to solve tech­nol­o­gy issues on-site, at var­i­ous client locales. A Com­put­er Sup­port Spe­cial­ist often facil­i­tates com­mu­ni­ca­tion between IT pro­fes­sion­als and non-IT pro­fes­sion­als. Most sup­port spe­cial­ists fine-tune their abil­i­ties by com­plet­ing a cer­tifi­cate course regard­ing the prod­uct they support.

Data­base Admin­is­tra­tors
A data­base admin­is­tra­tor is tasked with the design and over­sight of a data­base. In gen­er­al, data­base admin­is­tra­tors are respon­si­ble for the safe trans­mis­sion and stor­age of big data. Addi­tion­al­ly, data­base admin­is­tra­tors design test­ing struc­tures to offer trans­paren­cy as to the per­for­mance of the data­base. The prod­uct man­u­fac­tur­ers gen­er­al­ly man­date cer­ti­fi­ca­tion programs.

Popular Beginner Information Technology Certifications

Not­ed below is a par­tial list of pop­u­lar Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy Cer­ti­fi­ca­tions for indus­try professionals:

• CCDA: A Cis­co-Cer­ti­fied Design Associate
• CCNP Rout­ing and Switching
• CISA: A Cer­ti­fied Infor­ma­tion Sys­tems Auditor
• CISM: A Cer­ti­fied Infor­ma­tion Secu­ri­ty Manager
• Cer­ti­fied Eth­i­cal Hack­er (CEH)

In gen­er­al, the more advanced, high­er-pay­ing infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy posi­tions require the IT pro­fes­sion­al to com­plete a vari­ety of cer­tifi­cate programs.

Careers in Information Technology

Mov­ing on, the next log­i­cal ques­tion should be “What are some entry-lev­el Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy jobs?” The nar­ra­tive that fol­lows offers help­ful guid­ance regard­ing avail­able entry-lev­el Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy jobs in today’s job market.

The com­put­er, in one fash­ion or anoth­er, is used in the man­age­ment of gov­ern­ment agen­cies, orga­ni­za­tions, busi­ness­es, and, of course, people’s per­son­al lives. Com­put­ers are an inte­gral part of mod­ern soci­ety — and they are here to stay.

The Com­put­er Indus­try, which includes Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­als, is poised to take advan­tage of the industry/economic pun­dits’ inter­pre­ta­tion of pow­er­ful indi­ca­tors that sug­gest the technology/computing sec­tor will expe­ri­ence a strong growth peri­od over the next decade. The result of this per­sis­tent growth is great news for those look­ing for entry-lev­el Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy jobs for recent grad­u­ates. An IT pro­fes­sion­al will find a wide-open job mar­ket in the near future, which just might be like­ly to be longer than that.

As a result, an Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy spe­cial­ist can expect to find a need for their spe­cial­ty ser­vices to remain high. Remem­ber, near­ly all-eco­nom­ic sec­tors have grown depen­dent on com­put­er appli­ca­tions to man­age their business.

Most entry-lev­el Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy jobs require the job appli­cant to pos­sess a bac­calau­re­ate degree pri­or to work­ing. Some Bach­e­lor of Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy jobs may require the IT pro­fes­sion­al to earn addi­tion­al IT cer­tifi­cates as one advances through their career. It is not­ed that there are lim­it­ed amounts of entry-lev­el tech jobs no degree avail­able in the mar­ket­place, but, their avail­abil­i­ty is scarce. The same would be true for entry-lev­el tech jobs no experience.

Because the com­put­er indus­try impacts most, if not all, eco­nom­ic sec­tors, there are many entry-lev­el IT job titles to choose from — they can be found in fed­er­al or state agen­cies, non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions, and high-tech inter­na­tion­al businesses.

An Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­al who has earned a bachelor’s degree will find more advanced entry-lev­el infor­ma­tion tech jobs than some­one search­ing for entry-lev­el tech jobs no expe­ri­ence required.

Check out some Bach­e­lor of Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy jobs list­ed below. Note: This is a par­tial list.

Com­put­er Pro­gram­mer — writes and test com­put­er code to ensure the pro­gram or appli­ca­tion deliv­ers its intend­ed pur­pose
Data­base Admin­is­tra­tor — respon­si­ble for the man­age­ment, stor­age, and trans­mis­sion of data
Net­work Admin­is­tra­tor — respon­si­ble for the dai­ly tasks of com­put­er sys­tems man­age­ment
Secu­ri­ty Ana­lyst — respon­si­ble for pro­tect­ing the com­put­er or net­work, and keep­ing pace with dig­i­tal threats and risks
Soft­ware Devel­op­er — typ­i­cal­ly the cre­ative force behind videogames
Sys­tems Ana­lyst –respon­si­ble for man­ag­ing a com­put­er sys­tem by increas­ing its efficiency

Information Technology Degree Salary Expectations

Just a few decades ago, com­put­er techies had the imag­i­na­tion and fore­sight to real­ize just how impact­ful the com­put­er would be on every­day life. And, as recent his­to­ry has taught us, they couldn’t have been more right. The tech­nol­o­gy indus­try is tasked with mak­ing life eas­i­er by automat­ing repet­i­tive or dif­fi­cult tasks. And, in mak­ing that hap­pen, com­put­er pro­fes­sion­als had no choice but to cre­ate an intri­cate, com­plex, elec­tron­ic envi­ron­ment that is seri­ous­ly dif­fi­cult for many to under­stand. This is one exam­ple of why Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­als can look for­ward to job secu­ri­ty in the future.

With lit­tle room to argue, the world has become seri­ous­ly depen­dent upon the com­put­er’s pow­er. The world’s pop­u­la­tion is unlike­ly to give it their depen­dence on it. This is great news for the Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy indus­try, and only improves the career out­look for Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­als. Strong demand for IT pro­fes­sion­als will, if you fol­low the prin­ci­ples of sup­ply and demand, push the IT pro­fes­sion­als’ salaries in an upward direction.

Accord­ing to fed­er­al gov­ern­ment sta­tis­tics, the Bach­e­lor’s in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy salary is antic­i­pat­ed to grow at a rate of 13% through 2026 — faster than the gen­er­al economy’s antic­i­pat­ed growth. So, what can you expect a BS Infor­ma­tion salary to be?

As log­ic would dic­tate, the entry-lev­el Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy jobs salary is at the low­er end of the salary scale. How­ev­er, the entry-lev­el Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy jobs salary is still con­sid­ered a respectable salary by most. An IT degree salary will increase as you gain expe­ri­ence and addi­tion­al edu­ca­tion through advanced stud­ies and cer­tifi­cate courses.

Information Technology Career Salary Statistics

Accord­ing to the fed­er­al government’s Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics (BLS), Com­put­er and Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy jobs had an annu­al salary of more than $84,000 (May 2017). The Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy medi­an salary was more than twice the medi­an salary of all US jobs com­bined ($37,690).

In addi­tion, the US Depart­ment of Labor esti­mates that from 2016 to the year 2026, there will be more than one-half mil­lion new jobs cre­at­ed. The fol­low­ing IT spe­cial­ties will like­ly see the strongest growth and a more ele­vat­ed Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degree salary:

• Cloud Com­put­ing
• Data­base Management
• Infor­ma­tion Security

An Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy career salary varies and depends upon sev­er­al fac­tors. Most who know agree that a job applicant’s edu­ca­tion is one of the pri­ma­ry fac­tors that deter­mine just how high an IT degree salary will go. A Bach­e­lor’s in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy salary offers most entry-lev­el work­ers an oppor­tu­ni­ty to get their foot in the door to the IT field, where the poten­tial for growth is strong. A BS Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy salary is a smart edu­ca­tion­al spring­board that pro­pels infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­als to a posi­tion of man­age­ment or leadership.

Information Technology Professional Associations and Organizations

Every field and busi­ness sec­tor has one (or many) pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions devot­ed to sup­port­ing the pro­fes­sion­als who work in the indus­try and, to improv­ing the over­all indus­try, when­ev­er pos­si­ble. Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­al asso­ci­a­tions pro­vide a wide vari­ety of ben­e­fits to work­ing IT pro­fes­sion­als who are members.

There are infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­al asso­ci­a­tions sup­port­ing the IT indus­try and its work­ing pro­fes­sion­als. These infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions are often cre­at­ed to meet spe­cif­ic indus­try needs. They include:

Asso­ci­a­tion of Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy Pro­fes­sion­als (AITP) is con­sid­ered the infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy asso­ci­a­tion of Amer­i­ca, and the world. The Asso­ci­a­tion of Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy Pro­fes­sion­als is inter­na­tion­al in its scope; as it helps infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­als advance their careers, which fur­thers them near their pro­fes­sion­al objec­tives across the world. Mem­bers of the Asso­ci­a­tion of Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy Pro­fes­sion­als will dis­cov­er how infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­al asso­ci­a­tions are tru­ly great resources for indus­try pro­fes­sion­als. They allow IT pro­fes­sion­als to effec­tive­ly net­work and search for addi­tion­al career opportunities.

Comp­TIA— The Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy Asso­ci­a­tion of Amer­i­ca (ITAA) is an indus­try-lead­ing trade group com­posed of com­put­er sci­ence pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions. Comp­TIA oper­ates as a non­prof­it com­put­er sci­ence pro­fes­sion­al organizations.

Data Man­age­ment Asso­ci­a­tion Inter­na­tion­al (DAMA) — DAMA is one of the infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions whose mis­sion is to find viable ways to help indus­try pro­fes­sion­als advance their stud­ies and careers. DAMA orga­nizes and man­ages a net­work of local DAMA chap­ters where mem­bers can attend pro­fes­sion­al lec­tures and IT-relat­ed work­shops. Addi­tion­al­ly, the Data Man­age­ment Asso­ci­a­tion Inter­na­tion­al pro­vides a spe­cif­ic indus­try des­ig­na­tion to its mem­bers: CDMP — The Cer­ti­fied Data Man­age­ment Professional.