The future is here, and it’s come in the form of a computer. The current era may not look exactly as we predicted it in films like Back To The Future or Blade Runner, but technological advancements have changed our day to day lives in dramatic ways.
New and tech-savvy workers can take advantage of the thriving tech sector by obtaining a job (and a large salary!) at a reputable tech company. There’s a huge variety of different positions open at such companies.
Though tech has increased the convenience of our individual lives, it still takes an army to make these products work, and to keep them updated with the changing times.
What are some information technology jobs that you should be aware of? Read on, and we’ll walk you through a few huge paying ones you should know about.
Information Security Engineer
There are a number of positions in the information technology field where great money can be made. If you’re looking for a six-figure salary, you can definitely find it by working in tech. But in what position should you work? What would your role in a company be?
You might want to look into becoming an information security engineer. These engineers are responsible for the entire security of an organization’s networks and computer systems. As you can guess, this is a very important job.
Cyber attacks and hacking attempts against big companies are only increasing in frequency. Well-publicized attacks against everyone ranging from Facebook to the US government makes it clear that cybersecurity should be of the highest priority for any serious company.
The information security engineer will ensure that a company’s data is safe. They develop and test new security procedures for a company and are at the head of any investigations into potential security breaches.
This can be a stressful position, but there’s a lot of money on the other side of that stress: the average salary for this position hovers around $130k.
Data Warehouse Architect
Today, there’s little more valuable to companies than consumer data. Data is viewed as a potentially limitless resource that many companies are willing to pay millions for in order to get. The more a company knows about the details of their consumer base, the more they can successfully market to that base.
In the near future, all advertising might be focused on an individual level, based on specific data and preferences. Sponsored Ads on social media are already an early reflection of this.
Who’s in charge of all of that data? At most companies, that responsibility falls to the data warehouse architect. These employees receive, on average, a huge salary of over $150k a year.
In return for all that money, they work hard to create the digital infrastructure (referred to as a ‘warehouse’) for all of a company’s collected data to be stored. The amount of data that needs to be on hand is incredibly large, so this in and of itself can be a difficult task.
But more difficult still? Being able to pull needed data from the warehouse at the click of a button. Data warehouse architects design systems of organization that allow data to be easily accessed. They are also in charge of creating tools that help companies to analyze and utilize the data that they’ve collected.
With these tools, companies can see trends across their user base, company history, or a variety of other data-points with ease. This is a vital role in any tech company, and easily one of the highest paid computer careers out there.
DevOps Engineer
Things are moving fast in the tech industry. The public’s eyes and ears are open to development from the tech sector, meaning competition between big companies is at an all-time high. Everyone wants to have the next big thing now.
The DevOps engineer is in charge of this kind of work. These individuals work alongside a trained team of developers and oversee the release of new software to the general public. Making sure a product release goes smoothly is essential to the product in question and the company’s reputation as a whole.
Any sort of snag, glitch, or bug in a release needs to be fixed as quickly and efficiently as possible. A DevOps engineer will make sure that this is the case. They are in charge of keeping an ear out for any sort of feedback or complaints following a release.
They will then work tirelessly to ensure that such feedback is incorporated into fixes or new versions of the product. DevOps Engineers are paid a solid six-figure salary for their work, making it one of the best-paid positions in tech!
Tech Project Manager
Creating new software and technology is an expansive and complicated task. It involves many, many different people working in sync towards a common goal, usually on a tight deadline. In this sort of situation, someone needs to be the captain of the ship, and in this case, it’s the tech project manager.
The tech project manager is in charge of all aspects of a project from beginning to end. They are present at the initiation of the project and work hard to keep it on track each and every day. They are usually the ones responsible for establishing schedules for individual workers on a project, and they are also in charge of ensuring that these deadlines are then set.
They also usually are the main point of contact between the project and the outside world. That means they might be reporting directly to the CEO of a company, be talking to the press, or working with outside vendors if resources are needed.
The tech project manager has their job on the line if things don’t go according to plan with a certain project. But with a salary of nearly $150k on average, it can be well worth taking on that responsibility.
Systems Software Developer
Any computer device you’ve ever used requires software to make it function for you. Creating that software is the job of many well-paid developers at companies all across the tech industry.
Software developers create everything from specific programs that we use to the overall operating systems our computer, phones, and other mobile devices run off of. Each operating system or program that we use needs to be coded and built carefully from the ground up.
This is detailed, highly skill-based work, which is why the role pays so great for so many different software developers. Many also find the work they do quite rewarding, even if timelines can be tight and stressful.
In addition to our phone and computer, software developers also often help to design the computer programs that function inside our automobiles and televisions. Essentially, anything electronic that you interact with and use was probably first designed and perfected by a software developer.
Developers work long hours in front of a computer, writing and perfecting code. Their salaries also depend greatly on the specifics of the job at hand, but the average rate for a software developer hovers somewhere around $125k.
Chief Technology Officer
If you want to talk top of the food chain, there’s really no higher you can go up the company ladder in IT than the Chief Technology Officer. The CTO is a top-level executive at a company that oversees big picture goals related to the world of IT.
They are so big picture that they usually aren’t actually involved with the day-to-day workings of the IT department. They work more like one of the faces of the company, making the big calls on overall technology strategy and ensuring these goals mesh with the business goals of the company.
The CTO is essentially the boss or head honcho to every other IT worker at a company. Everyone reports up to the ladder to the CTO, who is responsible for their work and success at an executive level. How much a CTO makes can vary widely depending on the size of the company they are employed by.
More often than not, their salary is somewhere at $160k or above.
Pursue the Highest Paid Information Technology Jobs
Working in the tech world can be quite lucrative. The above positions are some of the highest paid information technology jobs in the field. If you’re still deciding what to study or pursue, the above positions might be worth working towards.
Need more career inspiration? Explore our blog for much more.
