Introduction
As we know that the IT industry is booming across the globe right from the mid-20th century. Today, every organisation or industry that is working is mainly due to the booming IT industry. Every organisation requires IT solutions to keep their businesses running. It is hard to imagine any company that is not dependent on IT products and services. There are several job opportunities for IT professionals but this article is mainly focused on exploring some of the key job profiles available for M.Sc Information Technology (IT) students.
Although the list is exhaustive, we try to understand some of them in this article.
Important Job Roles for M.Sc Information Technology (IT) students
1. Application Analyst
An Application Analyst is the one who has to maintain IT services and should engage in face-to- face correspondence with users who need technical support.
Role of an Application Analyst
As an application analyst one will oversee practices and processes to ensure integrity, safety and availability of all data and applications as part of an organisation’s information systems. As an application analyst one will ensure the processes that are needed for a business to function smoothly without any glitch.
Responsibilities of Application Analyst
As an application analyst one is needed to:
- Identify organisational need for development of new applications
- Prepare technical specification and roadmaps for software development
- Perform routine systems backup and upgrade regularly
- Installation of new operating systems and releases
- Provide instructions and training to fellow mates whenever necessary
- Monitoring, recording and responding to requests for support
- Investigating and diagnosing system faults and errors
- Resolving technical issues related to networking and software
- Analyse the error trends and work towards reducing or minimising downtime
- Communicating of the technical messages regarding systems issues to the users promptly
- Coordinating with software suppliers to fulfil the requirements of the organisation
- Schedule and run regular tests to enhance current systems and applications
- Identify and develop functionality changes
Expectations
- An application analyst is expected to have the ability to switch between tasks quickly and stay controlled in problematic situations
- An application analyst is expected to work on multiple projects at any time
- An application analyst is expected to deal with both internal and external clients
- As an application analyst one is expected to have excellent analytical ability and decision- making skills
2. Applications Developer
Application Developers are required to make computers to perform specific tasks, based on their client specifications.
Role of an Application Developer
As an application developer, one is required to translate software requirements into workable programming code and maintain and develop programmes for use in business. They usually work within the specific development fields such as mobile, phone applications, accounting software, office suites or graphics software. They are required to have in-depth knowledge of at least one computer language.
Responsibilities of an Application Developer
As an application developer one is required to:
- Establish detailed programme specifications through discussions with clients
- Clarify the actions that the programme is intended to perform
- Breakdown the programming specifications into simple elements and translate the logic into the programming code
- Test sample data sets to check the output from the programme works as intended
- Install the programmes into production after rigorous software testing
- Device possible solutions for the anticipated problems
- Evaluate and increase the effectiveness of the programme
- Tweak the programme to new requirements as necessary
Expectations
- As an application developer one is expected to negotiate with the clients and develop the applications according to their requirements
- An application developer is expected to develop the applications within the specified deadlines
- The Application Developer is expected to have in-depth knowledge of both development and operations in software development life cycle
- Application Developer may be expected to perform software tests and fix the minor bugs
- Application Developer is expected to implement innovative logics and ensure that the software performs better.
3. Business Analyst
As a business analyst one will be analysing the data and creating the solutions for the same. They are required to work with a variety of people and have a good grasp of information technology.
Roles of a Business Analyst
As a business analyst one is required to work within an organisation, helping to manage change and plan for the future in line with their goals. They are required to demonstrate excellent understanding of the way the organisation works and the sector it operates. As a business analyst one is responsible to play a key role in communicating between the internal departments and external parties by acting as a translator.
Responsibilities of a Business Analyst
As a business analyst one is needed to:
- Communicate with the internal colleagues to understand the needs of departments and the organisation as a whole
- Work with external stakeholders to understand and investigate feedbacks received for service, function or product provided
- Use data modelling practices to analyse the findings and create suggestions for strategic and operational improvements and changes
- Consider opportunities and potential risks attached to suggestions made
- Identify the processes of information technology required to introduce the recommendation
- Ensure plans are made and processes are created to evaluate the impact of the changes made, including taking responsibility for including and reporting on this evaluation
Expectations
- As a business analyst one is expected to make significant change and impact within the role and make a substantial difference to the success of a company and the satisfaction of its employees
- One is expected to work within the deadlines and juggle with multiple projects at one time
- A Business Analyst is expected to travel and meet different clients and also all the stakeholders
4. Cyber Security Analyst
As a Cyber Security Analyst, one is required to prevent cyber security attacks and protect the sensitive data of the organisation. They are necessary to take up all the protective measures to prevent the sensitive data from the cyber attackers.
Role of Cyber Security Analyst
Cyber Security Analysts help to protect an organisation by employing a range of technologies and processes to prevent, detect and manage cyber threats. They are also responsible to protect the computers, data and networks and programmes from getting hacked.
Responsibilities of the Cyber Security Analyst
As a Cyber Security Analyst, one is needed to:
- Keep up to date with latest security and technology developments
- Research and evaluate emerging security threats and ways to manage them
- Plan for disaster recovery in the event of any security breaches
- Monitor for attacks, intrusions and unusual unauthorised or illegal activity
- Test and evaluate security projects
- Design new security systems or upgrade the existing ones
- Use advanced analytical tools to determine emerging threat patterns and vulnerabilities
- Engage in ethical hacking procedures and simulate real-world scenarios
- Identify the potential weaknesses and implement measures such as firewalls and encryption
- Investigate security alerts and provide incident response
- Monitor identity and access management, including monitoring for abuse of permissions by authorised system users
- Monitor and respond for phishing emails and pharming activity
Expectations
- As a cyber security analyst, one is expected to prevent the websites from getting hacked
- A cyber security analyst is expected to act immediately, take up mitigation efforts when the website gets hacked
- As a cyber security analyst, one is expected to keep the backup of all the data in the systems of an organisation
- Cyber Security Analyst is expected to run security checks regularly to rule out any cyber attacks
Conclusion
There are many career opportunities for M.Sc Information technology students. Although, the majority of them are hired in IT companies at different roles. The M.Sc Information Technology students are skilled professionals and there is no dearth for jobs for them in the IT industry. Every organisation requires IT professionals no matter in which sector they are into; the IT professionals are required in large numbers to maintain their systems and networks. The students who are passionate about IT Industry and IT technologies can join M.Sc Information Technology (IT) course and get hired in well-paid and decent jobs across different organisations.