IT Software – Career Planet

Software Retail Representative

eadmin — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 19:43:13 +0000

Software retail representatives sell software. They research the needs of companies to be able to provide the company with the software that meets the companies’ specifications. Due the vast array of software products available on the market, it is possible for software retail representatives to specialise in specific software environments, such as asset control, financial information systems, point-of-sale, stock control, etc.

They may sometimes act as consultants to provide information relating to the needs of corporate environments and relaying such information to software developers, who can then adapt the software and customise it for reselling. They are also responsible for after-sales product support and must be able to provide solutions for the market place.

Where to study:

Universities: UZulu, Unisa, NMMU, SUN

Universities of Technology: CUT, CPUT, WSU

Companies to work for:

Software development companies

Entry-level Programmer

eadmin — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 19:41:25 +0000

They will write special programs that control and instruct teller machines, debit card machines, special effects for movies microwave ovens, VCR’s, DVD’s, telephone answering machines, computer processors for cars, refrigerators, and many more products that depend on computer processors.

Network and Computer Systems Administrators

eadmin — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 19:41:25 +0000

Network and Computer Systems Administrators maintain the network hardware and software. They monitor the network to ensure the availability to all system users and perform necessary maintenance to support network availability.

It may become necessary to supervise other network support and client server specialists and plan, coordinate, and implement network security measures.

Other areas of involvement are:

Diagnose hardware and software problems, and replace defective components.
Perform data backups and disaster recovery operations.
Maintain and administer computer networks and related computing environments including computer hardware, systems software, applications software, and all configurations.
Plan, coordinate, and implement network security measures to protect data, software, and hardware.
Operate master consoles to monitor the performance of computer systems and networks, and to coordinate computer network access and use.
Perform routine network startup and shutdown procedures, and maintain control records.
Design, configure, and test computer hardware, networking software and operating system software.
Recommend changes to improve systems and network configurations, and determine hardware or software requirements related to such changes.
Confer with network users about how to solve existing system problems.
Monitor network performance to determine whether adjustments need to be made, and to determine where changes will need to be made in the future.

Community / Web Strategist

eadmin — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 19:40:40 +0000

Do you enjoy working with Computers and see yourself pursuing a career in IT. Community Strategists work with the internet sites managing all aspects of the site.

Community Strategists build strong web communities on Internet e-commerce sites, manage all aspects of the site and create a sense of community on-line.

As a Community Strategist responsibilities would include generating reports from feedback received from on-line message boards, e-mail or monthly meetings with communities and to senior management in relevant departments.

Other duties include:

giving feedback on new features and products to marketing departments and product development departments
They ensure that the site is kept up-to-date with relevant information and products.
They ensure that communities have opportunities to voice their opinions on relevant issues.
They also develop chat topics where the community can discuss various issues which the company then uses to improve services or develop new features on the site.
They are responsible for focusing on retaining customers and growing their customer base.

The market is becoming more and more competitive in e-commerce and it is important to establish a solid client base offering an outstanding, cost effective and efficient service.

Network Engineer

eadmin — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 19:40:40 +0000

Network engineers design networks. These could be situated in one building only, which is known as a local area network (LAN), or can entail a network that expands over the whole of a country, which is known as a wide area network (WAN).

The duties include:

setting up of plans and drawings of the network
suggesting the location of the server rooms in a building
allocating backup power supplies where needed
consulting companies for pricing on the implementation of the design
working closely with telecommunication consultants to incorporate digital telephone lines such as ISDN or Diginet for a wide area network

They also integrate networks with installed systems, investigate Internet and e-mail connectivity, firewall design, and remote access solutions. They then take this information to management and submit the solutions they come up with approval. Their presentations include final drawings, pricing and future expansion possibilities of their plans.

Companies to work for:

A small, medium and large corporate environments that use a network for connectivity, as well as IT consulting companies that seek contract workers for the provision of complete network solutions.

Network Technician

eadmin — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 19:40:40 +0000

Network technicians are responsible for the installations and maintenance of a network layout, and for trouble-shooting (finding defects and fixing them).

As soon as the network engineer has designed a network, the plans are given to the network technician for the installation of the necessary cables, switches and network points. The network technician then physically installs all the peripherals needed for the network. This entails:

the installation of the network points in offices to connect to the computers,
installation of the switches in a server room to connect to the servers, and
pulling the cables through the ceilings of the building to connect to the network points

After the complete installation of a network, the network technician is responsible for maintenance and expanding the network as the need arises. Should something go wrong with the physical network, the network technician will be responsible for finding the defect and rectifying it.

Companies to work for:

Companies that offer a network installation service for a fee; any medium to large company that has a local area network and/ or wide area network, IT companies

Software Support Technician

eadmin — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 19:38:01 +0000

Software support technicians provide support on an ad-hoc basis to people requesting it.

As part of an IT department, they are required to provide software support on all the software used within the specific company – not only general software applications such as Windows and Office packages, but also all applications associated with the company.

· For example, the finance department may use product specific software for their requirements, the data capturers another database for all their client details and any other software developed in –house, customised or bought.

If software support technicians are self-employed, they may specialise in specific software such as firewalls, anti-virus software, database design software or other market related software.

External support technicians usually have a service agreement with companies to provide on-site help in a certain time period and to provide support on these applications when the various software versions are upgraded

Where to study:

University: UJ, NMMU, SUN, UZulu, Unisa, MGI

University of Technology: VUT, CUT, WSU, CPUT

FET College: Nlink

Companies to work for:

Self- employment, any company that needs a dedicated support person as well as software support companies that outsource people

Communications Developer

eadmin — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 19:38:01 +0000

Communications developers are trained computer programmers whom are responsible for developing programmes that enable the world to communicate on an advanced level. Telecommunications are becoming a more integral part of our daily lives, therefore this career will soar.

They are responsible for the programming of communications via the communications ports on a computer, attached to the motherboard. Such communications could also be through cabling or infra-red and develop when an object talks to, or forms part of, another object to create a link. It is necessary for communications developers to obtain the requirements of a project by doing a requirement analysis to identify possible problems, a protocol analysis for the actual linking of the communicator, and a system analysis where one identifies the architecture and object that have to be represented in the required system.

Where to study:

Universities: UP, UFS, NMMU, SUN, NWU, UZulu, Unisa, MGI

Companies to work for:

Software development firms that specialise in communications

Multimedia Developer

eadmin — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 19:38:01 +0000

Multimedia developers design and develop programs for multimedia products by combining sound, images and text (eg. Websites on the Internet that have images moving across the page co-ordinated with music or sound). They work with image technicians, writers, art directors, multimedia producers and sound producers and will create the software for the multimedia presentation. They need to have strong programming and designing skills and will create products such as encyclopaedias, reference, educational or commercial presentations. They use HTML coding, combined with search engines and utility function so the presentations can be viewed on the Web. Depending on the product they are designing, they will also write custom programs to meet the client’s requirements.

Where to study:

Universities: UJ, NMMU, UFS, SUN, UZulu, Unisa

Universities of Technology: CPUT, VUT, TUT

FET Colleges: Nlink

Other: CTI, MGI

Companies to work for:

Advertising agencies, multimedia companies, computer companies, large corporations, government departments

Artificial Intelligence Programmer

eadmin — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 19:38:00 +0000

Their systems need to make decision, recognise patterns and operate robotic systems. Artificial intelligence is a field involving many disciplines such as computer science, philosophy, linguistics as well as psychology. Practical application work is usually done to test new tchnologies and to create new products. Artificial intelligence programmers research and then create systems to demonstrate their theories and solve practical problems.