The decision between pursuing a career in IT or Computer Science as an aspiring student may seem daunting.
But knowing what sets them apart can lead you to choose an appropriate career option for yourself.
As Katharine Whitehorn, British journalist and columnist, once said, “Find out what you like doing best and get someone to pay you for doing it.”
Yet, sadly, more than 80 percent of students face a lot of trouble deciding about their careers and often decide to walk the wrong path (Source: The Economic Times, 2018).
In order to help you to cope with this, this blog will assist you in linking your interests with suitable career options be it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_science or Information Technology, thus making your decision easier and giving you more confidence in your choices.
What Is Information Technology?
What exactly is Information Technology (IT)?
Well, this term or profession is all focused on using tech solutions to support and manage business operations.
These specialists are responsible for designing, implementing, as well as maintaining various hardware and software solutions.
Companies utilize these tools to store, retrieve and, of course, communicate information.
Their goal is, naturally, to ensure that all the networks and systems are functioning efficiently, reliably, and securely.
Now, this is a broad definition, and it is clear that IT is, therefore, a sort of an umbrella term that encompasses a wide range of activities.
That includes network administration, system support, database management, as well as IT security.
In short, Information Technology aims to apply existing technologies in order to resolve business and operational challenges, and it is focused on practical implementation, as opposed to theoretical principles.
Do You Know? According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 377,500 job openings are projected each year on average in IT.
As above we’ve covered the first option, so let us now discuss the second choice ie. Computer Science, so what exactly does it involve?
Basically, computer science is a more theoretical and more scientific field, as opposed to Information Technology.
It involves the study of programming languages, data structures, algorithms, as well as computation.
If you’ve ever wondered how a computer actually works, this is the field that can explain it to you.
It also focuses on designing new algorithms, and thus building efficient, as well as scalable software systems.
So, in short, this field is focused on innovation, and on the research and development of new technologies, IT is all about using the existing ones to their full capacity.
This field called Computer science explores various areas, including programming and software development, theoretical computation, operating systems, algorithms, and data structures, as well as AI and machine learning.
Thus, it is all about using computational methods to solve problems and advancing the actual field through research and development.
Take a look at the image below to see what degree levels computer scientists typically hold.
What Are the Key Differences?
Now that we have clearly defined these two different fields, chances are that you can already guess what some of the differences are.
Nevertheless, let us now outline those key differences here, aiming at making things perfectly clear.
This should help you even better understand what IT is, as talked about here, and what computer science is, and possibly lead you towards figuring out which career path to choose.
The first and most obvious difference is the focus area, which means when IT focuses on applying the technologies that already exist, computer science aims at developing new ones.
Clearly, thus, the former is a bit more practical and hands-on, and the latter is more theoretical.
Of course, the people working in these fields have quite different skill sets.
IT pros need to have a good understanding of how specific tech solutions fit into specific business contexts, and they need extensive knowledge of cybersecurity, cloud computing, databases, and network management in general.
On the other hand, computer scientists need programming language and similar knowledge, and they also have to be proficient in software development methodologies.
Which Career Path to Take?
Deciding which of these two career paths to take is certainly not easy as both come with their own advantages, and both are very well-paid.
It all comes down to what you prefer and what kinds of skill sets you have, or are ready to acquire.
In short, go for Information Technology if you prefer a more practical approach, designing, implementing, as well as maintaining various hardware and software solutions.
And go for computer science if you’re more interested in innovation and research, love programming, and software development, as well as some theoretical challenges.
