How to choose a profession in IT? Step-by-step instructions and overview of popular professions

How to choose an IT profession: where to start?

Every year the number of people who want to work in IT grows. Because of this, dozens of candidates can apply for one position at the same time. But which IT speciality to choose to become successful? The good news is that newcomers can find a job in IT in Moldova even without analytical skills. Let's find out how to choose IT specialisations relevant to your abilities. 

Define the goal

The first question you should ask yourself is not "how to choose an IT profession?" but "what is it for?". Motivation can be very simple, ranging from opportunities for financial or career growth to the possibility of working remotely. Having a clear goal will push you to change activities much faster. Understanding why you want to do it and what you want to achieve will help you figure out which IT career to choose.

Analyse interests and skills

When choosing a future career, you should engage in introspection so that you can:

1. Understand your interests.
2. Evaluate skills.
3. Set professional goals. 

It will be much easier to explore your interests and abilities if you already have experience in another field. Just keep in mind the aspects of your current position that you like and dislike, and then identify which of your strengths you can utilise in the IT sector.

Test yourself

You can also additionally take various tests that will not only help you determine your skills, but will also encourage you to choose an IT profession. On the web you will find tests for logic, analytical thinking, creativity and so on. Most of the questionnaires are free and offer questions on the following IT areas:

• Programming. How close you are to algorithmic thinking and can work with symbolic data.
• Design. Whether you are interested in interface design.
• Working with data. Can you work with and analyse datasets.
• Marketing. Whether you have promotional or selling skills.

Study the offers on the market

If you are still facing the question of how to choose a profession in aiti, study the existing IT fields. You can open any thematic forum or talk directly to someone who works in this field. A person who knows IT from the inside will be able to tell you much more about the directions, real skills and knowledge and will tell you which IT field to choose and which one is better to ignore.

Carefully study the labour market, evaluate the professions in demand and make a well-considered decision. Keep in mind your preferences and capabilities. In addition, find out whether additional education is required if your speciality is specialised.

Start your training

Talk to representatives of IT professions. There are enough many communities⠀which organise thematic meetings where you can meet developers, testers, designers, product and project managers.

Feel free to meet new people and ask them your questions. Most will be happy to give you advice and may be able to help you find a job in the future.

Start your training

If you have already decided on your future profession, you can start learning. You can attend free webinars, online introductory courses, university programmes or study on your own. YouTube is full of useful video tutorials on almost all areas of IT. Combine video tutorials with reading books, useful articles, blogs to get quality results. 

Trends 2024: How to choose a direction in IT?

I.T. trends do not stand still and this is a problem for newcomers who do not know which speciality to choose. In addition to this, novice specialists face other challenges:

• a large pool of vacancies where qualified specialists are needed;
• the need to constantly learn;
• the emergence of new technologies.

But the key problem is how to choose an IT direction and become a sought-after specialist. We recommend paying attention to current technologies that will be in trend in the coming years. Today there is a special demand for artificial intelligence and related technologies. Let's consider which ones.

GenAI

AI-powered content generators (ChatGPT, DALL-E and Midjourney) are already being used in marketing and analytics. But by 2026 they will be used more actively, we should expect around 80% organisations to migrate to GenAI.

Al TRiSM

It is a frame that ensures the authenticity of the data provided by the AI. It provides accurate and fair solutions with minimal error. 

AI-based developments

In the future, development and test automation solutions will help you focus more on strategic tasks.

Smart applications

In the future, such apps will be more flexible, start providing personalised settings and become an integral part of everyday life.

Developing professional skills through AI

AI applications for employee motivation, skills development and team integration will help increase engagement and reduce turnover. By the end of 2027, approximately 25% directors will be using this strategy to increase productivity.

Automated clients (custobots)

These are services that allow you to automate the ordering of goods or services. For example, smart refrigerators that analyse content and automatically order goods. According to Gartner's forecast, by 2030 such solutions should become more widespread and generate trillions of dollars in revenue.

Sustainable development technologies

A new phase of clean and energy-efficient solutions is beginning. These solutions must address the energy consumption challenges of artificial intelligence, cloud solutions, the Internet of Things and the blockchain industry. It is time to change this field to ensure sustainability, cycling and productivity.

Cybersecurity

Due to the growing number of cyberattacks, new defence measures are needed. We should expect this year to be the year of cybersecurity development. 

Cloud platforms

By 2027, approximately 70% enterprises will have migrated to SaaS, PaaS and IaaS cloud platforms. These solutions will be designed for the specific goals and objectives of each organisation. 

These IT trends are already setting new trends and we should expect them to be in demand in the next few years. 

Current IT professions: what to choose?

If you type the query "how to choose a speciality in it" into google, the top search results remain unchanged for several years now. Below you can find out which specialists are needed by IT companies:

• Testers. QA take care of the quality of the programme and conduct tests to ensure that it works. The training period for this speciality is from 1 to 3 months. However, as a rule, there are more applicants than vacancies in Moldova. Therefore, the seemingly simple way of entering the IT sector does not seem so easy today.
• Developer. This category of professionals is always in demand, and it is the most obvious and versatile approach to start a career in IT. Popular programming languages include Python, JavaScript, PHP, Java, C#, C++ and Swift. Ideally, developers should be familiar with multiple programming languages, as not all of them are equally useful for different tasks. But it is enough for beginners to know one language and be able to work with frameworks. The training period is at least 1 year, depending on the chosen speciality.
• UI/UX Designer.The designer creates and optimises the visual component of user interfaces. The main goal is to create a user-friendly and understandable interface. The training period for this profession is about 2 to 6 months, although there are longer courses.
• Business Analyst. He defines product requirements, evaluates internal company processes to improve them and creates business models, strategies and plans. Training period - from 1 to 3 months depending on the chosen course. As a rule, in addition to specialised knowledge, beginners are required to have a conversational level of English.
• Product Manager. Today there is a shortage of specialists who control the entire product life cycle from concept to release, define the product strategy and co-operate with development, marketing and other departments. The number of vacancies for sales managers in Moldova is growing every quarter. Among the requirements is a minimum of 1 year of experience. Unfortunately, this is a profession that primarily requires commercial experience and taking courses is not enough (only if you are lucky enough to find a position for a junior specialist).
• Cloud-architect. Cloud technology is the future, so there is a high demand for people who design the infrastructure for optimal cloud utilisation. This profession, unfortunately, is not suitable for beginners. Rather, it is more of a benchmark towards which one can move.
• Cyber security specialist. Cybersecurity professionals build and deploy defences against threats, and there are very few competent professionals available. This profession is also unlikely to be a good fit for aspiring IT professionals. However, studying this field will be a great addition to your existing IT knowledge.
• Data science. This panel of experts examines data using statistics, machine learning and artificial intelligence. This is not to say that it is an easy way to enter into aiti. There are many courses available to acquire this profession and the training period is around 6-12 months or more.

If you still don't know how to choose an IT profession, study the skills that are relevant today. And remember, when choosing your future speciality, weigh up all its pros and cons. But whatever profession you choose, you can start your career in one of the most promising fields.