Over the course of my Introduction to Information Technology class, I was given an assignment to research three careers. One career was of my choice and could be in any field. The other two careers were required to be in Information technology. It was also required that one of the technology careers dealt with IT security. The careers I researched were Diagnostic Medical Sonographer, Database Administrator, and Ethical Hacker. The career of my own personal choice was a Diagnostic medical sonographer. I chose this career because sonography is what I would like to major in. A Database Administrator was my technology career and an Ethical Hacker was my choice for an IT security profession.
I chose these two occupations because I had very little knowledge of what their job entailed. This paper will discuss the roles and responsibilities of each career. The career research project was composed of four phases leading up to this paper. In each phase, I was able to expand my knowledge of the technology used in each profession, emerging technologies, and also on what ethical issues may be faced by those who hold these professions. In the completion of my career research project, I examined three careers. The first career was a Diagnostic Medical Sonographer. I chose this profession because it is the career I would like to obtain in the future. The other two careers I chose were a database administrator and an ethical hacker. I chose these two careers because it was required that I research an IT and IT security career.
Diagnostic Medical Sonographers are medical professionals that create sonograms and ultrasounds. They use specialized technology that utilizes sound waves to produce images of the body. Their job responsibilities include assisting physicians in making diagnosis’s based off of the images they take. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, sonographers may work in hospitals, physicians’ offices or diagnostics laboratories. The usual education level to enter this profession is an Associate’s degree. This career is expected to have a 17% employment growth rate in coming years. The median yearly salary of a sonographer is $70,000.
The second career I selected is a database administrator. A database administrator is an IT professional who works on databases to ensure the security of an organizations data, creates administer databases, adjusts client databases, and secures data from unauthorized access. The education required for this career is usually a bachelor’s degree in a computer-related subject. However, some organizations that need supervision over large databases may want applicants with a master’s degree in a computer-related field. According to National Center for O*NET Development, those who pursue the career should be skilled in mathematics, telecommunications and how to efficiently use computers. The yearly salary of a database administrator is $81,710 and the projected growth for the coming years is between 10% to 14%.
Thirdly, I chose to explore the career of an ethical hacker. Ethical hackers, also known as white hats, are those who hack the systems of organizations but without malicious intent. Their goal is to test the strength of an organizations security, encrypt data transmissions, safeguard computer files, and review violations of security procedures. These responsibilities play a big role in the safety and security of an organization’s electronic data and computer system. The education required of an ethical hacker is a bachelor’s degree in a computer-related field. The yearly salary is $104,000 and the job outlook is expected to grow 28%. From the Bureau of Labor Statistics, I found that ethical hackers can work in consulting firms, financial companies, and computer companies.
For phase three of my project, the career that resulted in the highest weighted score was Diagnostic Medical Sonographer. For each career, however, salary received lower ratings, while passion, flexibility, and education all received the highest ratings. I believe this was the result because when deciding on a job, I take into consideration whether or not I would be happy with a particular career. I think it is important to pursue a career that is enjoyable to you and that you have an interest in. Even though it is important that a career provides what a person needs financially, when scoring my three careers, salary was not of top importance. In conclusion, the phase that I learned the most from was phase. Prior to this project, I had no knowledge of the job and responsibilities of ethical hackers and database administrators.
Within this phase, I learned that ethical hackers hack organizations, not with malicious intent, but instead to help the organization strengthen its security. I also gained knowledge of the job of a database administrator, including the fact that they manage the databases that play a vital role in the functionality of our everyday lives. This can apply to the billions of credit card transactions that occur every day or the organization of customer shipping information for large businesses. The most challenging phase was also phase. The annotated bibliography was challenging because it was difficult to find multiple credible resources to draw my information from. It was also difficult to form my annotations for each source because I found that I would reuse the same words for each one. In completing the matrix for phase 3, I was not surprised that diagnostic medical sonographer had the highest score. Since I would like to major in Sonography, I had expected that that profession would receive the highest score.