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What qualifications are important in IT?

By Monster Contributor

Despite common perception, a degree is not necessarily a pre-requisite to start your IT career. However, you need to be prepared to put in some work to develop new skills, knowledge and understanding of the processes involved in order to succeed.

If you take the university route, there are plenty of degree courses across the UK that meet both broad and niche areas of interest, such as:

  • Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
  • Computer Games Development
  • Forensic Computing
  • Business Information Technology
  • Computing and Psychology

If you have chosen not to go for an IT specific course, most will have an element of IT built into their content and you can always opt to take additional IT-specific modules as part of your undergraduate course. Science, economics, statistics, mathematics and business related courses will naturally improve your job opportunities due to their emphasis on numeracy and problem solving – key attributes for all IT professionals.

Foundation degrees (FdSc) are vocational qualifications designed to provide a basic overview of what it is like to work within an industry. It's on a par with the more familiar Higher National Certificate (HNC), but below a fully fledged Bachelor degree.

Both Foundation degrees and Higher National Diplomas (HND) enable you to work around your existing commitments and will provide you with the skills and knowledge you will need to break into the IT industry.

Once you are up and running in your new career, you will need to take ownership of your continuing professional development in order to progress. Many choose one of the professional qualifications offered by the Information Systems Examinations Board (ISEB).

These range from an ISEB Foundation Qualification right through to Chartered IT Professional (CITP) status, the hallmark of a true IT professional demonstrating that you practise the highest professional IT standards.

If you have never worked within the sector before you need to explore the various avenues open to you to help you gain the invaluable experience that will boost your chances of securing the job that you want.

You should approach some local firms to ask if they offer work experience placements or ask your current employer if you can spend time shadowing one of their analysts or programmers. This will help you to appreciate how the IT function works within a company that you already know.

Wondering what to do now? Check out our expert career advice, find out more about the IT industry or search for the latest IT jobs.