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There are over 70 different types of jobs in the Computer and IT sector. Helen Boddy, explores the various options.

One million people are estimated to work in IT in the UK. Seventy-eight different types of IT jobs have been defined in the government-backed Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA). These are divided into six categories: strategy and planning, development, business change, service provision, procurement and management support, and ancillary skills.

To complicate career choices further, IT professionals are found in almost all industries due to the all-pervasive nature of computers. They are used for tasks as diverse as positioning cargo on ships, measuring patients' heartbeats at hospitals, controlling lifts, and ordering stock in supermarkets. Examples of jobs include:-

Programming, also known as software development or software engineering, is a function required by most industries and many organisations. Programming includes very high-profile roles such as designing computer-generated characters for Hollywood films. Less glamorous (but also less competitive) jobs could be developing specialist trading software for investment banks or writing programs to control the running of a steel plant.

Development work is not restricted to programming; there are also opportunities to develop hardware, databases, networks, systems, and websites.

Website designers, a well known role, continue to be in demand as companies start to really embrace the use of websites and the internet to conduct their business.

Most large companies will have a helpdesk which staff can contact for help with computer problems and queries. Behind the scenes, other IT professionals are ensuring the organisation’s network is functioning correctly. Others could be administering a database, which could, for example, list all the company’s contacts, or collate market data needed by staff.

Finally, there are roles where IT plays a large part in what you do but is not the most important of your skills - the ancillary skills. These are roles in marketing, sales, technical documentation, education or training. If you wished to go in these directions, technical knowledge could be very useful, but you may also have to train in another skill, such as teaching.

For more information see www.bcs.org