Back in the late 90's, there were a number of computer scienctists claiming to know java in hopes of landing a job for $80k+/year.  In fact, I know a woman you did just that:  land a project management position with a large telecom and have no experience whatsoever.  I guess the company figured that some talent was better than no talent and that, with some time and training, she would be productive.  Like all gravey train stories, that one, too, had an end.  After only a year, she was given a pink slip.

Not only are those days over, job prospects for the IT professional have become considerably more demanding.  Saying you know java today is like saying you know that you have expertise with the computer mouse; that's nice, but what else can you do.   This demand can be attributed to an increase in global competition along with the introduction of a number of varied technologies.   Take .NET, Python, Ruby, Spring, Hibernate ... as an example;  most of them, along with many others, are the backbone of the IT infrastructure of most mid-to-large scale US corporations.  Imagine the difficulty in finding the right mix of experience, knowledge and talent to support, maintain and devlop with such desparate technologies.

Well imagine no more.  According to the IT Hiring Index and Skills Report, seventy percent of CIO’s said it's challenging to find skilled professionals today.  If we add the rapid rate of technological innovation into the mix of factors affecting more businesses now than ever before, it’s understandable that the skill gap is widening.  Consider this as well:  the economic downturn has forced many potential retires to remain in the workforce.  This is detailed in MetLife's annual Study of Employee Benefits which states that“more than one-third of surveyed Baby Boomers (35%) say that as a result of economic conditions they plan to postpone their retirement.”  How then does the corporation hire new, more informed/better educated talent?    Indeed, the IT skills gap is ever widening.

In order to compensate for these skill discrepencies, many firms have resorted to hire the ideal candidates by demanding they possess a christmas wish list of expertise in a variety of different IT disciplines.  It would not be uncommon that such individuals have a strong programming background and are brilliant DBA's.  What about training?  That is certainly a way to diminish the skills gap.

The future looks just as bright for information technology as it did ten years ago when this career field started growing in huge numbers due to major internet technological advances and the popularity of mobile devices such as the smartphone and eReaders like Amazon’s Kindle.  In classrooms and libraries across the nation, information technology has become instrumental in the way students learn and the way teachers give lessons, and thanks to online education more adults have access to a better education without incurring a lot of debt. Needles to say, the need for qualified workers in information technology will continue in times to come. Some of the technological careers that are rapidly growing in popularity in the last decade are a direct reflection of current trends.

Information Technology Managers

The information technology manager is responsible for handling all computer activities for a business and performs upgrades on computer software and hardware, installs new security features on computers, creates budgets and goals for the IT department, supervises other IT employees and troubleshoots computers when needed. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 332,700 information technology management jobs filled in 2012 and a majority of these positions were in the computer systems sector. Most information technology managers hold a bachelor's degree in computer science or information technology, and a growing number of employers prefer a graduate degree. The job growth is expected to grow at 15% between now and 2022.

Mobile Application Developers

This job will grow by leaps and bounds as millions of people continue to purchase mobile devices and download apps for business and entertainment purposes. It creates expanded opportunities for those who want to become mobile application developers. A mobile application developer often works with other developers to create mobile-friendly apps or mobile-friendly versions of business websites for consumers. The developer may have his own firm or he may be employed with a larger company, and he will need to understand the basics of web design and different kinds of codes to succeed in this career. The Bureau of Labor Statistics states that the job growth is expected to be at 28% by 2020.

Health Information Technology

Another fast growing sector within information technology is health information technology and there are various jobs to choose from. You can work with health insurance providers and your duties would include processing patients' insurance claims and managing patients' insurance information using a computer database. Another option is to work as a medical biller in a doctor's office preparing patient’s invoices. The good thing about these jobs is that you do not need a four-year degree to get the training; you can obtain a two-year associates degree or a certificate in health information technology.

Search Engine Optimization Consultant

This is an important information technology career because most businesses have websites and if these websites are going to receive high traffic from visitors and earn profit, proper search engine optimization is necessary. The SEO consultant's job is to ensure that a business website gets high rankings on the major search engines and plenty of traffic from visitors. A good SEO consultant at a minimum will know how to research keywords effectively and implement these into the website's content based on the website's theme and he would utilize web analytics as part of the job. An SEO consultant may work on a freelance basis or be employed with an advertising company as an example.

Best Cities for Technology Careers

If you're thinking about relocating for your career, here are some of the best cities currently for information technology jobs listed in Forbes. 

A whole new world was thrown wide open with the advent of the concept of open source. The biggest advantage of open source projects is the easy availability of the source code and also the rights to tweak it or modify the code as we deem fit.

Listed below are some top open source projects that are making waves with their innovative ideas at this moment.

ProjectLibre

Project Libre is the open source replacement of Microsoft Project. It was one among the top 10 open source projects of 2013. With over 6 million downloads; it has most certainly captured the imagination of people around the world. Details of project Libre could be found at http://www.projectlibre.org/ . Project Libre has separate release for mainframes. It also has a web based version which further increases its overall appeal. One of the main advantages is that it has a list of tasks that can be tracked to closure. It can also be used in conjunction with LibreOffice to provide a great set of tools to the team leaders.

Diaspora

Python programming language is general purpose open source programming language. One of its main features is flexibility and ease of use. Python has a variety of useful set of utilities and libraries for data processing and analytical tasks. Currently due to the rise in demand of big data processing python has grown in popularity because its features are easy to use which are core to the processing of huge chunks of information.

Guido Van Rossum, the pioneer of python, introduced python in the year 1980 and then implemented it in 1989. The intention behind the development of python was to make it open source language that can also be used for commercial projects. The fundamental principle of python is to write the code that is easy to use, highly readable and embrace writing fewer lines of code for achieving a particular task. One of the most popular standard libraries which have ready to use tools for performing a various work is Python Package Index. It was introduced in January 2016 and contains more than 72,000 packages for third-party software usage.

Python plays a critical role in linking data to customers. Recently python has found few entry barriers and many people have had access to have experienced the power of python in the past. So, what makes python the best language for big data analytics?

One of the reasons to choose python is that python ecosystem is very vibrant, the ratings at Redmonk are a proof of the strength python community. The Redmonk ranking is based on StackOverflow discussions and contribution made in Github to determine the popularity of programming language on the method used by users to ask questions about Python and the number of the open source projects contributions.