Is what you're looking for in a job down another tech career path? Here's a checklist of some common positions to help you transition.
The great thing about the tech industry is that, with a little tweaking, your skills can lead you to a variety of positions instead of locking you into a single career path.
If you're just starting out, or if you've been at it for a while and would like to try something new, check out this basic guide to what different occupations require as far as duties, skills, hours, work environment, and electronic leashes (pagers and cell phones and laptops – oh my!).
Help desk
Duties: Helping users set up hardware and install software. Troubleshooting user problems via telephone and in person. Providing hardware and software training. Talking users through a variety of software-use tasks over the phone.
Skills: Knowledge of PCs and operating systems. Knowledge of the software the company uses, which is often a combination of vendor and proprietary software.
Hours: Usually the regular business hours; often a variety of shifts to choose from.
Electronic leash requirement: None, unless you're on call overnight or during the weekend. This usually rotates.
Environment: Varies depending on business. Fairly casual, as there's little face-to-face human contact.
Network specialist
Duties: Troubleshooting network performance, monitoring and upgrading networks as necessary, assisting help desk with related user complaints.
Skills: Knowledge of TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, and NetBeui; knowledge of NT and Unix networking; experience with hardware such as routers and cables.
Hours: Business hours, plus time on-call as necessary.
Electronic leash requirement: Mandatory. Networking departments are a 24-7 operation.
Environment: Depends on business, but generally casual. Crawling around on the floor to lay cable doesn't generally mix well with nice white shirts.
Programmer
Duties: Creating software for business needs. Developing design documents and code. Troubleshooting malfunctioning code – both yours and that of other programmers. Meeting with customer representatives to facilitate the formulation of appropriate design.
Skills: Familiarity with appropriate language, experience with structured and object-oriented programming, familiarity with target OS.
Hours: Usually normal business hours. However, you will probably find yourself pulling overtime as projects approach their deadlines and when code reaches quality assurance testing.
Electronic leash requirement: Sometimes.
Environment: Generally casual, unless you're working more with the business-analysis aspect of programming.
Systems administration
Duties: Troubleshooting server performance, monitoring and upgrading the server(s) as necessary, assisting help desk with related user complaints.
Skills: Knowledge of operating systems, such as NT and Unix; familiarity with networking, knowledge of internal applications
Hours: Business hours, plus on-call time. This is a 24-7 operation.
Electronic leash requirement: Yes.
Environment: Generally casual, because there's little client interaction.
Database administration
Duties: Troubleshooting database performance, monitoring and upgrading the database as necessary, assisting help desk with related user complaints.
Skills: Oracle, SQL, and your company's proprietary database tools.
Hours: Generally business hours, plus on-call time.
Electronic leash required: Sometimes, depending on the position.
Environment: Often casual, though sometimes business if you have to meet with clients and/or vendors.
Quality assurance
Duties: Find bugs and present them to developers. Create test plans. Research problems reported by users.
Skills: Knowledge of test procedures.
Hours: Generally business hours, though longer during the final phases of a project.
Electronic leash required: Rarely.
Environment: Often casual.
