If you feel that your thinking is based on causality and you easily solve problems structurally then you will probably like learning IT and you will acquire new IT skills with ease.
But if you think like an artist or you are strongly into philosophy or just simply excel in human subjects, IT could be very hard for you. The simple reason behind this is that your brain works in a more creative way- thinking outside the box.
Creative way of thinking goes hand in hand with thinking unframed, differently while being open to new ideas and concepts. In information technology this approach can ruin problem-solving processes easily, because creativity is diametrically opposed to structural thinking. In real life, students with creative mindset easily lose their motivation during learning IT.
While acquirement of deep technical competence (like C++ programming) needs a rule-based approach, learning soft IT craftsmanship (like Political Awareness in IT Management) goes with less analytical thinking. It requires some structural thinking, but not even close to what a developer needs.
You should also know that learning IT is not equal to programming, but more in this topic later.
Is Information Technology Good to Study?
If your mindset is aligned with all the above mentioned it’s absolutely great! You can forget most of the human subjects your high school teacher annoyed you! IT is a fancy profession these days, and of course the salary ranges show this too. But you should know that the entry threshold is usually higher than in other professions, and higher ranges in salaries require higher commitment, dedication and constant learning without a break. Being enthusiastic and committed will allow you to create huge value while enjoying the road while getting the nitty-gritty of IT.
Which is Harder: IT or Computer Science?
Make the decision by yourself! IT and Computer Science have so many similarities, so the line between them is often blurry. Defining them shortly, computer science usually means dealing with software systems, including theory, design, development, and application development. While information technology is more into creating, processing, storing and exchanging electronic data between computers or software. [1] [3]
Good news! If you have strong interests in any of these fields, you can learn almost everything for free using the internet.
Does Information Technology Require Math?
Learning IT requires math, but the level depends on the orientation. To put it simple, the ability to use logic or mathematical thinking is much more important than solving a quadratic equation.
After learning the basics of math, you will need a solid understanding of algebra, boolean logic and discrete mathematics; probability theory and statistics are generally useful. Trigonometry and calculus could be necessary sometimes in a few special areas.
What Do You Study in Information Technology?
It depends on what kind of orientation you have: technical or business. Learning about IT business topics or IT management, you should be familiar with general economics, business theory, marketing, management, entrepreneurship, business law, human resources, leadership, negotiation, finance and accounting.
If you are geek enough and want to gain a deeper understanding of computing and Information Technology then you are supposed to learn system development, probability, design and analysis of algorithms and data structures, linear algebra, programming in multiple languages, advanced mathematics, theory of computation, networks, IT security, machine learning and so on.
You can easily admit that in most of the non-IT orientation you will also encounter some IT relevant topics. Just imagine the case that you are a doctor, but you cannot handle the X-ray machine. Almost every one of us is forced to have some IT skills to cultivate in ourselves – no matter who you are, a taxi driver or a baker.
IT is not equal to programming
Some of us are prone to think that learning IT means learning programming. The truth is that there are so many orientations and career trajectory to go forward. Let’s see the most well-known roles in IT:
- Help Desk Technician
- Systems Analyst
- IT Security Professional
- Network Administrator
- Database administrator
- IT Consultant
- IT Project manager
- Quality Assurance Professional
- Cloud Architect
- Solution Architect
- Artificial Intelligence specialist
- Machine Learning specialist
- Programmer / Developer/ Software engineer [2]
Sometimes, working in IT as a project manager or consultant needs no deep insight into IT related problems. However, they have to own the ability to communicate with IT specialists in a proper way. For example, there is no need to understand firewalls at a very technical level, but one should contextualize problems (for example of a blocked port) with a wide range of knowledge in Networks to convey the requirements (for example, to open that port with all the IT security aspect that entails).
The field of IT is full of buzzwords and trends from time to time: sometimes it is Business Intelligence (BI), Machine Learning (ML), Internet of Things (IOT) or Cloud but the underlying concepts are built on the same foundations.
Learn to adapt quickly and efficiently and you will have what it takes to succeed in IT.
[1] https://www.coursera.org/articles/computer-science-vs-information-technology
[2] https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/what-is-information-technology/
[3] https://www.techtarget.com/searchdatacenter/definition/IT