Ten Great Careers For Computer “Geeks.”

The universal acceptance of computers into our daily lives, both at work and at home, has decreased the image of computer users as being “geeks.” The word geek itself has evolved a bit - going from meaning a socially inept person who gets along better with computers than people, to someone who is an expert with computers, a guru even. In fact, many computer service companies utilize the name geek in their nomenclature because of this new meaning.


Not everyone who is proficient in using a computer is a geek, but there are people out there who are so interested in computers and so well versed in them, they wear the title geek with pride. Many of these people may not have had formal training. They’ve been playing with computer hardware, or software since they were ten years old. So what should you do if you have this kind of computer knowledge? A few years ago, it was very easy to get a well paying computer job, without any post secondary education. Advances in technology, the dot-com implosion and wider acceptance of technology doesn’t make it so easy any more. The good news is, you don’t need a four year degree to secure a well paying job in the computer field. Even if you’re not a self professed computer geek, if you have an interest in a computer career, here are some good fields to study.

Computer Networking

Computer networking jobs entail designing, repairing and maintaining PC networks, usually in a business setting. There is no industry standard for software, but Microsoft dominates, with Novell taking a distant second place. Cisco dominates the category in hardware routers. Courses of study available include A+ (basic computer hardware), MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer), MCSA (Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator), Novell Netware and Cisco Certification.

Career positions in this category include network design, network administration and network security. Depending on the employer, a computer networking professional may do all, or some of these duties.

Computer Security

Computer security is another growing field. Many businesses have created networks, websites and become reliant on computer technology, without employing safeguards to protect their data. There are many malevolent computer geeks out there who attack systems, or software for fun, curiosity or profit. Data extortion is now a common organized crime method for the Russian mafia!

Security violations have created new careers in network security and software development. Courses of study are mainly in Microsoft products and software development languages like Visual Basic, C++, .net, compiler and assembly languages.

Career positions in this category include network security, software programming, web design, web development and website administration (server side).

Databases

The acceptance of computers into business has created a great demand for databases. Almost every industry has a need for databases for marketing, client retention and daily operations. Industries such as banking, insurance, hospitals and utilities absolutely rely on them. Terrorism threats have created new laws, like the Patriot Act, that require a database of all foreign nationals who enter the country.

Creation of these databases relies on software, mainly developed by Oracle for large scale databases, Microsoft SQL for web based applications and Microsoft Access for smaller scale and custom applications.

Jobs in the database category include data architects, database administrators and information systems managers.

The information age has created a wealth of career opportunities for computer geeks, elevating their status as knowledgeable professionals and compensating them well financially. If you’re a computer geek, or would like to become one, a career in any of these professions can be obtained in less than two years of study.

www.top-colleges.com

Author: Max Stein, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
http://www.degreesource.com/articles
Max Stein is a freelance writer who writes about business, education and marketing.
For daily updates, read our blog at http://degreesource.blogspot.com

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iPhone Tips and Tricks: How to Get the Most Out Of Your iPhone Experience

All of us folks who are lucky enough to already have an iPhone know how much fun they can be just to play around with. Playing with my iPhone a lot myself, I have discovered some cool tips and tricks that you may find useful.


1. If you tap once at the very top of the screen when you are on the internet, it will take you back to the top of the window rather than having to scroll all the way back up. A nice time saving feature.

2. If you set the font to the smallest size, you can read more in the internet window. An advantage of this is that when you want to click a link, you can pinch (expand) that area and the link will come up very large, making it much easier to click.

3. Rather than posting the full address of internet sites in bookmarks, you can post the equivalent RSS address instead into Apple's RSS reader and save that as your bookmark. This way you can quickly see if there's anything interesting on your favorite site rather than downloading the whole homepage.

4. If you are writing something and the iPhone flags a word as misspelled that you know is not misspelled, cancel the correction 3 times and the word will be put into the dictionary. If you write a lot, this feature is quite useful!

5. The magnifying glass is a nice iPhone tool when you are typing an email or any other text. If you tap once and hold, a magnifying glass will pop up showing you a zoomed in view of your words and cursor. You can now easily place the cursor wherever you want. This makes editing your writing very easy.

6. You can move icons around, but not on the home screen. You have to go to the ipod section. Go to iPod > More > Edit. Now you can drag your icons all around. This can also be done in the phone section.

7. To reset your iphone, hold down the right button and the "home" front button for about 6 seconds. To power it back on, push the top button. This is different than a regular shutdown, which can be done easily by holding the sleep/wake button for 6 seconds.

8. If you get a lot of spam e-mail or other unwanted e-mail, pay attention to this time saving feature. Add a link to Yahoo mail in Safari bookmarks. From there you can check 'delete all' to remove all unwanted e-mails. This is much easier than deleting hundreds of spam e-mails one at a time.

I hope you found these iphone tips helpful. If you have an iPhone and have been wondering how best to fill it up with music and movies, check out Top iPhone Downloads for the latest reviews of iPhone download sites.

Author: CJ Prato

I hope you found this information useful. If you are wondering how to best fill up your iPhone with the latest music and movies, check out http://www.topiphonedownloads.com for the latest iPhone download reviews.

This article may be reprinted or used as part of a news letter as long as it stays intact, including the author's signature.

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