Brainstorm Your IT Career Choices

If you've heard that IT is a hot industry despite the economic turmoil and you're ready to switch careers, brainstorm before you jump in. Careers in information technology have many paths and differentIT training requirements. If you randomly start taking classes, you may choose a path that doesn't make the most sense for you. On the other hand, if you brainstorm first, you will be more likely to find a good fit, perhaps even transferring your current skills into a new career.

Brainstorm Tip #1

Don't prejudge. Whenever you brainstorm, it's best to write down your ideas without prejudgment. For example, if you immediately dismiss computer forensics as a possibility based on the mistaken idea that forensics has to do with dead bodies, you are shutting the door to an investigative career that may have been perfect for you without giving it a chance.

Brainstorm Tip #2

Let your ideas spawn other ideas. Write down crazy ideas as well as logical ideas and then let keep expanding. A crazy idea may be infeasible but it could lead to an idea that leads you down a rewarding IT career path. For example, if you've always loved playing practical jokes with your computer, you may already have a core set of hacking skills required to become an ethical hacker. During your brainstorm session, you might have written down "become jokeware writer" - a crazy idea. But if you take that idea and expand on it you may find that becoming an ethical hacker or antispyware developer might be a viable career option.

Brainstorm Tip #3

Let your ideas simmer. When you brainstorm, you are generating creative ideas. The brainstorm process is a creative process that needs time to simmer. Write down your ideas, play around with them, and think about the possibilities before switching gears. Go on a walk or jog, take your kids to the library, go camping, work on complex work assignments, or anything else that will get your mind of off your new ideas. While you are busy working on other projects, your subconscious is silently working in the background, brewing your brainstorm session ideas.

Brainstorm Tip #4

Wait for the light bulb to go off in your head. Cartoons often use an image of a light bulb to represent an idea sparking. This image is an accurate depiction of the moment when your subconscious mind alerts you to a seemingly out-of-nowhere idea. You may or may not have an illuminating idea, but if you do be ready for it and write it down without judgment - even if the idea comes to you in the middle of the night. You may very well find that this light bulb moment leads you down the perfect career path.

As you brainstorm, think about your current skills, education, and experience and how they might be leveraged into an IT career path. For example, if you have a background in law enforcement, computer security and forensics might be a logical extension. You may even be able to work within your own agency to receive computer training and transfer to the agency's IT department once you become qualified. Likewise, if you have a background in photography, you may want to focus your career on Web design or desktop publishing. The possibilities are endless once you begin to brainstorm!