IT Jobs Outlook

IT Occupations: IT is among the the fastest-growing industries. Some popular jobs in this field include computer support specialists and system administrators. Computer programmers, computer software engineers and computer systems analysts are also in demand.

Education: A number of companies are becoming more flexible about requiring a college degree for support positions. The completion of a certification training program may help some people to qualify for entry-level positions. Relevant computer experience may substitute for formal education.

Scope: Computer support specialists and systems administrators held about 797,000 jobs in 2004. Of these, approximately 518,000 were computer support specialists and around 278,000 were network and computer systems administrators. Although they worked in a wide range of industries, about 23 percent of all computer support specialists and systems administrators were employed in professional, scientific, and technical services industries, principally computer systems design and related services.

IT jobs really are the "it" jobs of the decade. Touted as one of the 25 fastest growing industries in America, IT jobs are expected to grow at an astounding 40% through 2014. More computer use plus cheaper computers mean the best IT jobs can be found in the professional sector. Happy hunting!

• IT Jobs Outlook