Sarah Holland
Northern News Services

NNSL (Feb 22/99) - So, you want a career in the computer industry, but you're not quite sure just what you would be doing.

With the help of Gary Kamitomo of MicroAge, some of the most common computer-oriented careers will now make sense.

Gary, who is an owner and general business manager at MicroAge, outlines five common job profiles.

"We have programmers, service technicians, network engineers and corporate salespeople. Another common career is a systems analyst, and they deal mostly with the public sector and governments."

Programmers develop programs to run on computers. They mostly work outside of commercial programs, doing custom programming.

They can build databases and then build interfaces to those databases. For example, MicroAge worked on last year's Arctic Winter Games. They helped build a results database to keep track of all the athletes and results, and they wrote an interface so people could view the results over the Internet. Programming can be time-intensive, with constant adjusting and updating.

Network engineers have to have a good hardware background and a thorough understanding of how the systems work. They design, implement and maintain all sorts of networks. They can work with local area networks, such as a single building with connected computers, and they can work with wide area networks, spanning entire towns and cities.

Service technicians are the fix-it people. All service techs must be certified (through IBM, Apple, etc) in order to have the authorization to repair the equipment. If you want to be a service tech, be prepared to do a lot of specific training.

Systems analysts are not always so easily defined. Their positions can be subjective, depending on who they work for. Systems analysts take care of networks, and are often employed by governments.

Corporate salespeople sell systems and networks to clients. They must understand the industry and spend time learning the computer systems and how they relate to each industry.

As for the future job market in the North, there is hope. With a DCN (digital communications network) now in the implementation stage, people may be needed to do high-tech jobs in Northern communities.

If you want more information on specific job profiles, contact one of the computer/learning centres in the North, such as MicroAge, Tamarack, SSI, the Academy of Learning, or Aurora or Arctic College.