Information Technology is a wide term broadly covering the areas of computer science, electronics and telecommunications. Over the last few decades there has been a tremendous growth in IT, which has almost revolutionized the very outlook of the world. The economy of any country is no longer measured by strength of traditional industries, but by its technological advancement. It is estimated that knowledge based businesses would contribute two third of the growth in global GDP in the next ten years.

In a developing country such as ours IT makes it possible to leapfrog many of the physical barriers and deliver basic needs like education to people in areas that either do not have facilities or are inaccessible. With the decreasing cost of instruments and services like personal computers, cell phones and internet, direct benefit of IT sooner than later would be reaped even by the illiterate and disadvantaged.

Unlike the traditional industries the IT sector is people intensive and creates vast employment opportunities. It is estimated that total size of IT industry in India will cross US $ 1000 billion by 2008 and become single largest contributor to the GDP. There are presently about 300,000 computer professionals working in the country, and as per a NASSCOM study this number is expected to grow and reach 22 lacs i.e. almost a quarter million, by the year 2008. This would however include professionals for the hard-core IT sector as well as for the IT enabled services,

The ‘Web’ component of the IT sector is going to be perhaps the most dominant. We are already witnessing that even the traditional business functions like trading a transactions have gone online. A recent survey has showed that there are already more than 3.75 million ‘netizens’ in the world. This increasing popularity of net-culture has created new kind of careers. In India this especially holds true since by 2004 we are going to be second only to China in usage of Internet. The various types of job functions available in a typical net-based environment would be content development, graphic designing, e-commerce, strategic planning, business development and so on.

Educational Qualification:
The best option for entering the world of computers is a degree course in engineering or computer science. Software jobs including that of System Analyst require an engineering degree with postgraduate diploma in computer applications or postgraduate degree in computer applications (MCA). However a good graduate degree in any field is an essential basic requirement for undergoing training in programming for commercial/business and scientific/technical applications.

Most engineering colleges offer BE/B.Tech courses in computers. These are 4-year courses, which combine study of computer hardware and give adequate training in systems software. Since jobs opportunities are better in software development many computer-engineering graduates work in software development, as systems software engineers, system analysts and application software professionals. However there are other professional courses in the area of software as well.

MCA is a postgraduate course of 2 to 3 years open to graduates from any stream but those who have a good mathematical background have an advantage. B.Sc in Computer Science is an under graduate course which gives a theoretical base for a career in computers. However the course contains less of practical training. Diploma in Computer Applications is a one-year diploma course that covers the basics. It is not considered good enough in the job market.

To guide prospective software students the Department of Electronics Accreditation of Computer Courses (DOEACC) scheme was initiated by Government of India in the early 1991 to introduce some sort of method into the computer training so as to bring quality standardization at all levels. There are four levels of courses under this scheme.

‘O’ Level is a foundation level course, which would certify a candidates’ competence as a programmer assistant or equivalent level. Minimum qualification required for doing the course is 10+2.

‘A’ Level is the advanced diploma level course and certifies a candidates’ skill as a programmer. Then comes the ‘B’ Level course, which is a graduate level course, and this course will give certification to the candidate for proficiency as a systems analyst or software engineer. The course duration at the approved institute should be equivalent to a three-year full time course.

‘C’ Level Course will recognize the candidates’ proficiency a systems manager. The course duration at the recognized institute should be equivalent to full time 18 months.

There are 1032 institutes in the country which offer IT courses with an intake of 66,214 students per annum. In addition, IITs, IIITs, IISc Bangalore have an intake of nearly 1200 students in their IT courses. All these institutions offer courses in electronics, microelectronics, and telecommunications. Whereas some of the students from these courses go for hardware jobs, it is estimated that more than 50% of them migrate to software services and more than 30% of the graduates from other disciplines as well migrate to software services. As per the Ministry of Information Technology estimates, for the IT enabled services non formal sector itself has capacity for training 5 lakh students per annum apart from the BCA, BIT courses offered through distance education programmers by the recognized open universities. It is estimated that as a result of special drive undertaken by the government to increase the intake in the existing courses as well as to introduce new courses in IT, nearly 16,000 seats are likely to be added during 2000-2001.

It is pertinent to note here that IT is not the domain of only the engineers, those with humanities and commerce backgrounds can as well pursue BCA/MCA and various other AICTE approved or certified courses and enter the sector as professionals. Therefore there are many ways to get into this sector. Obviously those with engineering backgrounds would corner the best jobs but there are equally attractive opportunities for others as well especially in the IT enabled services. Even professionals from other areas like accountancy, architecture and applied arts etc can learn computer skills, to enhance their career prospects and create a niche for themselves.