Graduating with an associate degree in information technology will provide you with the knowledge and needed skills to work in many different workplace settings. The curriculum should provide you with a foundation in programming; give you a background in technology applications as well as guidelines for legal and ethical issues.
The IT field is global and needs people to fill programming positions, provide network support, design software, do web designs, provide network security, and new positions that do not exist today. This is a wide open field that can change on a dime with the next innovation. Being a part of this every changing environment can be an exciting career.
Getting the education you need to jump into this field can be done in a traditional educational setting. If you are not in a situation that is conducive to attending school is the traditional way does not mean you have to give up your dream of working in the information technology field. It is because of the advancements made with technology that you can now get an online education. There may even be financing available for you if you need it.
In most cases you will be working in an office setting if you are working in information technology. This does not always mean you will be sitting in one place. If you work for a company of any size there is a good chance you could be running around from computer to computer within the office to solve problems.
As a society our dependency on our computers just keeps growing. Getting an education that will train you to understand computer processes and how to maintain a computer system so that is stays up and running in the most efficient way. Information technology covers such a vast array of the computer industry it is likely you will choose one portion of it to concentrate your education. When you first begin your education you will likely get a general knowledge of computer interfaces, different web design techniques, and different information systems, the business applications of computers, the different operating systems, and some basic programming languages.
After you have been exposed to the different areas of information technology you will have a feel for those area you have a propensity. From there you can decide which you want to pursue and which may be better left to other students. It is good to have an understanding of all parts of information technology, but there is just too much for one person to be proficient at all of it. That is why IT departments have several different employees.
The overall industry wants people who can create and maintain the technologies needed while making it all user friendly. The user friendly part may be the most challenging. Once you start working in an office you will quickly learn that the computer skills of the general office staff are not consistent. There will be those who are computer savvy and those that just want to know what buttons to push.