Computers are the backbone of modern businesses. There are some outfits that can function without smartphones, tablets, laptops, and traditional computers, but these groups are few and far between — they're probably also pretty far behind, too.

What Is IT, Anyway?

Using computers together in aligned networks to better solve organizational or commercial problems is information technology, or IT for short. Most businesses that aren't small-scale one-man-shows employ one or more IT professionals to set up computer networks to make information sharing, storing, and security easy. In most cases, information technology professionals ally with other employees, typically those from all other departments, to help conquer their technical back-end issues.

Breaking Down Information Technology Work Even Further

To work in information technology isn't just to act as a general-purpose mechanic or ground-level troubleshooter, helping people throughout a workplace get through their day without tech issues. Don't forget — there are dozens of major, widely-recognized jobs in information technology, not to mention the hundreds of different titles maintained by niche or one-of-a-kind workers.

Computer support usually refers to providing services to all of a workplace's employees as mentioned above. This often includes finding basic mix-ups, goofs, and gaffes committed by workers all the time like computer crashing, unplugged cables, or restarting devices. This is good for someone who doesn't want to get too carried away by high-level problems that take hours, if not days, to solve.

Other Broad Areas of Work Within the Realm of Information Technology

Computer systems analyst is another popular job title assigned by the average modern IT staffing agency. These service providers usually work behind closed doors, or somewhere out of sight, and pair together applications, widgets, frameworks, programs, and other proprietary tools to help businesses make better decisions and function on a higher level.

Network systems administrators are essentially computer systems analysts, though they take a more back-end approach, more or less. The fourth and final broad job title in IT is the information security analyst. These IT pros are capable of "hacking," although they only engage in white hat, or ethical, hacking that consists of things such as pen-testing, setting up and carrying out cybersecurity attack defense situations, and beefing up system networks with the latest updates to stay ahead of cybersleuths.

Common Traits Among Solid IT Candidates

Many of the best information technology pros say that they enjoy having autonomy over their workplace functions, fixing problems without much help, and ruling out other diagnoses without having to reference instruction manuals or documents.

You may not get rich working in the world of IT, but you can definitely make a solid living for yourself, not to mention tons of utility from your job.