IT people can work almost anywhere but has disadvantages

As an IT professional, you can work in just about any sector. It does not always have to be a tech company because digitization is currently taking place almost everywhere.

Such a job in a typical company has both advantages and disadvantages for an IT specialist. Afrinik highlights what you need to know.

Healthcare

Much, if not all, the administration is already entirely digitized in the healthcare sector. But the challenges for the healthcare sector go beyond that. There are more and more technological developments whereby patients can (partly) do self-monitoring.

Standard hospitals are already experimenting with virtual consultations and pre-screening. And then we haven’t said anything about 3D bioprinting, or surgery robots, or how smartwatches can be used to get a better view of health.

eHealth (the application of information and communication technology at the service of healthcare) is only at the very beginning, so for IT professionals, healthcare promises to become an even more exciting sector.

Retail

Are there currently any stores in your country that – if they didn’t already have one – have not set up a webshop in recent months? Application developers, data analysts, and webshop builders undoubtedly knew what to do. Nowadays, the larger chains usually have a real IT department because technological progress in retail is far from standing still.

Education

IT specialists with experience in education are increasingly needed, especially now that schools are accelerating their efforts in distance learning. Within education, your task can be diverse: as a computer science teacher, you familiarize a new generation with computers, the Internet, and everything that comes with it, but you could also work as an IT coordinator of a school, for example. In the latter role, you will be more involved in matters such as website and network management, the rollout of digital school platforms such as Smart school or Canvas, digital training for educational staff, and/or acting as an IT helpdesk.

Port

Tens of thousands of people work in the ports. There are also a lot of IT people. You can work as an analyst developer, network manager, data manager, IT business and business analyst, cybersecurity expert, or integration and implementation expert.

Government

Municipalities, provinces, regions, and the federal level: the government is broadly based. IT people are needed at all these levels to keep things running. For example, you can work as an ICT project leader, functional analyst, business analyst, ICT architect, information security expert, and other profiles.

Working as an IT professional in a different sector

Benefits

• Wage: The average monthly gross salary in the IT sector is fair. You can earn slightly more on average at the government and in education.
• Added value: In sectors such as healthcare and education, you provide direct social added value. You can also contribute to a better world in the IT sector, but you will not see immediate results so quickly.
• Opportunities: Do you feel like something completely different after a while? In a company that is concerned with IT, there are also often many other growth opportunities.
• Job security: Sectors such as government and education offer more than average job security. In many cases, you also have a lot more vacation days.

Cons

• Wages: There are also sectors with lower wages than in IT. In healthcare, the average gross monthly salary is higher than in retail.
• Career opportunities as an IT professional: If you want to progress to another IT job, that is not so obvious in some sectors.
• Take a school: besides an IT coordinator or IT teacher, there are no masses of alternative IT jobs there.
• No company car: Of all sectors, the IT sector is the most generous with company cars: 63 percent of employees have one. The chance that an IT professional will receive a company car from a school or hospital is significantly smaller.