Workers in information technology hold responsibility for the management of network hardware and computer systems. The purpose of an IT department is to make sure that the company or organization they work for is prepared to solve large-scale logistical problems that could come about as part of its daily business. It’s common for students and career-changers to explore this career because they know it is well-compensated. Another attraction is that IT work offers several types of entry-level roles. The job can also be an exciting one because IT professionals encounter many different challenges in the course of their day. Many workers find these problems uniquely stimulating to tackle and resolve. They will likely also gain satisfaction in their careers because they can serve a larger organizational purpose in that they help a business’s technological operations run smoothly, therefore making it possible for the organization to accomplish its mission.
The context in which you’re probably most familiar with the term is when it refers to the department in a workplace or school that is responsible for resolving issues with computing equipment. And indeed, information technology departments generally take responsibility for investigating and fixing issues with hardware and software. It is also true that they maintain a company’s networks and networked devices. However, information technology as a field means much more than this. Three main areas exist that IT professionals may be responsible for taking care of. Therefore, if one intends to get a job in an IT department, one must acquire the competency to work on any one of these areas. Fortunately, taking a course to study IT in the Phoenix area can help you acquire such competencies.
IT operations is the aspect of the IT field. that you are almost certainly familiar with. As described above, this term refers to doing technical support and network maintenance. Other aspects of this realm within IT work are working with communication protocols, security testing, and device management.
Though the field of IT operations is well-known, far less so is the subfield referred to as IT governance. Few people outside the profession of information technology are acquainted with it.
An organization’s IT governance means the policies and processes it implements to ensure the optimization of the functions of its IT systems. This helps them optimize their practices to better serve the specific technical needs that come with the work of that organization. So, in other words, IT workers should not operate in a vacuum or solely tinker with technology. Rather than thinking of theirs as a solo task, they must instead be mindful of the mission of their company or organization. And they have to keep an eye on the ever-evolving question of how they can support those goals through the daily work they do to steward the company’s technological resources.
The third area that an IT professional may be responsible for is the hardware and software infrastructure of an organization. If a worker is responsible for hardware infrastructure, this entails setting up and maintaining crucial devices for the business. These devices don’t just include the individual computers you see in your office, but the servers, routers, and phone systems that underlie its daily functions as well. Software infrastructure workers’ daily activities consist of installing and maintaining the critical programs that drive the success of their organization. In doing this, their work supports the organization’s technological and computing needs.
It’s critical for IT professionals to acquire broad competency with different types of software infrastructure before they enter the workforce. This learning is important because the specific softwares that are essential to a company’s operations may change a lot depending on the organization and its purpose. In addition, the software used even by a single organization may include programs that serve quite varied functions. For example, a large tech company could use its software infrastructure for everything from data storage to UX design to coding support and beyond.
Best IT Classes & Schools in Phoenix
#1: ONLC Training Centers—CompTIA IT Fundamentals + Certification Training
ONLC Training Centers’s CompTIA IT Fundamentals + Certification Training course prepares students for the entry-level tier of the widely recognized CompTIA+ suite of certifications. The course includes instruction in computing basics, IT infrastructure, database use, and software development. Students also learn how to install software and establish connectivity on a network. They discover how to identify and address the basic security risks that an IT professional might run into. As required for the certification, they explore the theory of troubleshooting. And they also learn about doing preventative maintenance on a range of computing devices. After completing this course and taking the exam to receive their certification, students may wish to move on to more advanced CompTIA+ certifications. If so, ONLC Training Centers offers a range of other certification training classes at their Phoenix location.
Key Information
This four-day course is full-time. No prerequisite knowledge or coursework is expected for this beginner class. The tuition charge is $2495.
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Graduates of ONLC Training Centers say they “would definitely recommend” its “excellent” courses. ONLC instructors are “clear,” “knowledgeable,” and “good at communicating” with students coming in at a range of levels.
#2: Noble Desktop—Software Engineering Certificate
Students seeking a more in-depth education might consider pursuing Noble Desktop’s certificate in Software Engineering. It will make a student with no previous knowledge of the field into a thoroughly qualified software engineer. The course’s first section covers front end development, starting with HTML and CSS. Students learn about the use of Git for version control. They also discover the fundamentals of JavaScript. They explore, too, how Flexbox and Grid can help them in designing appealing and intuitive user interfaces.
The course moves on to focus intensively on software development with JavaScript. Students absorb the language’s fundamental coding concepts. These include datatypes, loops, and variables. Next, they come to see how a number of powerful tools—such as React, Node.js, Express.js, and MongoDB—can help them do more with their code in a JavaScript development environment.
Python is another essential language for software engineers, especially if they focus on data. This is the focus of the course’s third unit. Students first explore the lexical syntax of this language, which is necessary as fundamental knowledge for developing in Python. Next, they learn about the central features of the language. Aspects covered include custom functions, dictionaries, and sorting algorithms. Delving into the data manipulation capacities that Python provides for them, students employ SQL for querying databases. They create APIs to mine data from the public side of the internet. In this portion of the course, students next learn how the Django web framework can help them with task automation and the creation of querying models.
Noble closes the course with a unit on career preparation and job searching. The central product of this section is a job market portfolio, which allows students to demonstrate their skills by showing off projects they have created in the course of their studies. In addition, Noble offers resume feedback and LinkedIn reviews, as well as interview prep and overall job search guidance.
Key Information
This 20-week course is held full-time. No prerequisites are needed for this beginner course. The fee is $10,995. It is possible to set up a payment plan if needed.
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Upon their initial registration, each person studying at Noble gets a proprietary workbook designed by the school. Small class sizes are a major advantage of studying at Noble. A small number of students in a course makes it easier to individualize attention from its expert instructors. Graduates of Noble courses may retake their course for free within one year of completing it.
Students say that their studies at Noble were “a very worthwhile investment.” Because the “excellent” teachers “keep you engaged” in the classroom, they “learned tons” in this course.
#3: Certstaffix—Administering Microsoft SQL Server Databases
In the Certstaffix course on Administering Microsoft SQL Server Databases, students become well-versed in a Database Administrator’s primary responsibilities. They learn the skills required to perform the necessary tasks for that role. They discover how to install SQL Server instances. They configure both databases and settings on an SQL Server. And they also become familiar with how to monitor an SQL Server’s performance. They build skills in database protection and maintenance. In this case, that involves learning how to control whether and to what extent users can access the data that is stored inside an SQL server. After they’ve completed this course, students will be able to show evidence that they are qualified to plan, deploy, administer, and maintain SQL Server databases.
Key Information
This five-day course sequence is full-time. There are no prerequisites. Tuition costs $2925.
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The “amazing” classes at Certstaffix are “easy to follow,” according to graduates of the program, because the instructors “do a wonderful job” of communicating information clearly and efficiently. They “definitely recommend” studying there.
#4: Careerist—Manual QA
Careerist’s Manual QA course, which is available live online, provides students with their introduction to quality assurance testing. The course covers the skills that they will need to perform QA tests successfully. First, students explore software QA’s fundamental concepts. They then learn about practice testing for mobile and web. Next, the course moves on to software testing environments. It covers the topics of test cases and bug reports. In addition, it delves into larger critical topics, such as how devices communicate with servers. The course’s final topic is more advanced testing practices. But before they complete the course, students also do a unit covering job market preparation.
Key Information
At six-eight hours per week, this part-time course takes 15 weeks. There are no expected prerequisites. Students may pay a $6100 tuition fee upfront, or they may arrange a payment plan that will add up to $6950 over time.
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Careerist attracts many students because it offers a 100% guarantee that it will give students their money back if they are not hired in a tech job within one year of completing the course. To help students get these jobs, the school gives them career support, including personalized career coaching, resume feedback, and mock interviewing.
According to its graduates, this course is “a life-changing experience” because it can provide even students with “zero technical background” with a “fast track into the tech field.” They recommend the “accessible” instruction presented in this “valuable” course.
Phoenix Industries That Use IT
The most important industries in Phoenix include professional services, aerospace, automotive, cybersecurity, financial services, healthcare, biomedical, hardware manufacturing, and tech.
A digital transformation is currently underway within the industry of professional services. Increasingly, these types of companies are relying on computing and networked technology to help them handle their workforce management, customer interactions, service delivery, and data storage within the cloud. For all of these different technological needs to be satisfied consistently and efficiently, professional services companies must hire large numbers of skilled IT professionals who are qualified to maintain the required software and hardware.
Workers in the aerospace industry employ technological methods and devices for many purposes. These can range from secure storage of confidential customer data–a function of great importance for an industry in which companies may be producing top-secret equipment–to modeling new vehicle designs in a CAD program. For these reasons, IT Security Specialists are especially in demand for hiring by these companies. So if you live in Phoenix and are looking to get into IT, you may want to invest in a security-focused program. However, other types of workers, including entry-level ones like Support Specialists and IT Technicians, are also essential to keep the aerospace industry’s technological needs fulfilled. You can see how salaries for these roles in Phoenix compare to one another in the section below.
The automotive industry uses technology to predict when vehicles will need maintenance, improve interactions between customers and vehicles, and provide networked support for new models. More recently, technological innovations in the industry have sped up markedly with the boom in electric vehicles and autonomous driving technology. To keep the latter working smoothly, the industry especially needs IT professionals who are current in the ever-evolving field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). One other way that the internet has transformed the automotive industry is in how we buy cars–today, you can order a car online without ever having to go through the dealership rigamarole. But to do that successfully, you need that system to function well, and for that, automotive dealers need great IT professionals on their teams.
Cybersecurity is a particularly important industry in Phoenix. While it’s not necessary to explain the relationship between technology and cybersecurity, it’s worth noting that when a particular area specializes in an IT subfield like this, courses within that subfield can be an especially wise investment. For example, if you choose to seek out a CompTia+ certification course through ONLC, you might consider taking the Security+ one after completing the IT Fundamentals+ course mentioned earlier in this article.
Speaking of the importance of maintaining IT security, financial services is another industry for which maintaining secure systems is an absolute must. Hackers or scammers regularly try to gain access to these companies’ customers’ financial data. If they succeed, the risks can be severe, for both the companies and the customers. If a company allows such an attack to succeed, it may never regain its previous level of customer trust. This means that banks and brokerages must invest in high-quality security systems to protect against these cyberattacks. That makes cybersecurity specialists indispensable to them, as these systems are of no use without a team to keep them running smoothly.
Healthcare, too, relies intensively on information technology to support its vital functions. IT workers are essential in healthcare because of the huge quantities of information about their patients that doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies must store in their networked systems. It’s essential that this information gets preserved securely. The accuracy of this information is necessary for patients’ safety, and keeping it confidential is necessary to protect their privacy, which is also a legal requirement. In addition, now that telehealth has come to serve in place of in-person appointments for certain needs, the software and hardware required for these appointments have also become necessities for a functioning medical facility or practice. IT specialists who maintain these systems may find great career satisfaction in the knowledge that they provide life-saving services for their fellow human beings in need.
The manufacturing industry uses computers and networked devices for many critical functions. They use CAD programs to design new products, as well as to draft designs for new systems to assemble them. Another extremely important function of technology in this industry is to inform workers in a factory when something has gone wrong with the manufacturing process. If they are not swiftly detected, such problems can slow productivity or damage inventory, but more importantly, the malfunctioning equipment might even pose a danger to workers. This makes it absolutely essential for these companies to hire competent IT professionals who are amply qualified to maintain this vital monitoring equipment. In Phoenix, the manufacturing industry focuses particularly on tech components for which precise specifications are obligatory, such as semiconductors and wearable tech. Thus, manufacturers in the area also use software to make sure that their machines do exactly what they need to do on the scale of precision and accuracy that is required for successful component manufacturing.
The processing side of information technology is especially critical for the biomedical and life sciences industry. When working on biomedical research, scientists need the processing capacity of their devices to be reliable as they—for example—model DNA or design replacement organs for transplant patients. If not, those patients could be placed in grave danger by a faulty product. Good IT workers can help protect patients, and they can also help scientists avoid wasting precious research time dealing with bugs in the systems they rely on.
The relationship between the tech industry and information technology work is, in one sense, obvious: the tech industry’s function is producing the hardware and software that information technology specialists are then tasked to install, maintain, and fix. However, there’s also what may be a less obvious relationship here, in that even tech companies do need to have IT departments. For example, when the computer a developer uses for coding breaks down, they are going to need someone to call, especially if it’s a problem with the hardware that needs fixing before that professional can get back to work. Something to think about when considering which industry to choose for your IT career is that successful work in IT for a tech company is also a great way to get noticed if you are ultimately looking to break into software development or a similar field.
IT Jobs & Salaries in Phoenix
Phoenix-based IT professionals have many different available career specialties they might choose. Among the entry-level roles generally open in the area would be IT Technician, Support Specialist, and quality assurance (QA) tester. If the course of study you chose when switching to IT provided you with more specialized knowledge, there are some further roles that may be open to you. These more demanding roles include such careers as an IT Security Specialist, Systems Analyst, Network Engineer, or Cloud Systems Engineer. If you would rather take on the type of role that involves administrative responsibilities, you might want to look for work as a Database Administrator or Web Administrator.
An IT Technician is the term for that person at your company whom you call when your work computer breaks down. The job of this IT Technician is to analyze and diagnose computer issues. This particular role also includes maintaining hardware and installing software. The average salary for an IT Technician in Phoenix is $65,000 a year. Professional Support Specialists, on the other hand, are generally known to operate behind the scenes, at least compared with an IT Technician. The work that the Support Specialists do is to assess and solve larger software or hardware problems with the infrastructure owned by the business they serve. They may be directly employed at business, or they may work for an IT contracting firm. In Phoenix, Support Specialists make $55,000 a year on average. Another type of role in which entry-level IT workers are typically hired is quality assurance tester. These professionals are responsible for assessing different pieces of software to make sure that they are operating at an industry-standard level before an organization adopts it. Phoenix’s QA Testers make an average of $80,000 a year.
If the path you select is to do an intensive bootcamp, or even complete a full certificate in a particular topic, those accomplishments may qualify you for a more specialized role. One such career path is IT Security Specialist. This term refers to a professional whose role is protecting the customer data, intellectual property, and other digital assets that belong to the business they work for or are contracted out to by their firm. An IT Security Specialist in Phoenix can expect to make $130,000 in an average year. These workers are particularly important in Phoenix because cybersecurity is such a central industry in the area’s economy.
Another specialty that someone who did a more in-depth program might think about pursuing is systems analysis. This field involves the tasks of identifying infrastructure problems and solving those issues so that they can streamline a company’s technical operations. Phoenix-based Systems Analysts make about $75,000 a year on average. Another role to possibly consider is that of a Network Engineer. That means being the person responsible to maintain and improve a company’s computer network. These workers’ days are occupied with optimizing such networks so that the technology can efficiently serve the particular computing needs of a given business. The average annual salary of a Network Engineer in Phoenix is $95,000. Students who discover that they are especially interested in cloud computing might think about taking the opportunity to specialize in it by becoming a Cloud Systems Engineer. In this role, an IT professional will be responsible for maximizing the efficiency of their organization’s use of the cloud as it pertains to storing and processing data. A Phoenix-based Cloud Systems Engineer will make about $100,000 annually.
Some graduates of IT programs may also be thinking of taking on the unique responsibilities that come with an administrative role. One career option they might think about would be database administration. Database administrators are important because they are experts who are able to solve the complex IT issues that could affect an organization’s data, including its storage and security in particular. A Database Administrator working in Phoenix makes about $90,000 a year. Another potentially rewarding administrative career is Web Administrator. These IT professionals are tasked to deal with a company’s networked systems, and particularly with maintaining the infrastructure that supports them. In Phoenix, this career provides an average annual salary of $70,000.