EXPLORE

Excellent IT career information, websites, scholarships, and professional associations to join!

Career Exploration is an important part of setting career goals!

Before selecting an IT career, it’s important to take time to explore and research different types of IT careers to see if they match your interests, values, education, skills, experiences and other needs such as location, employment outlook, and income potential. This is important career information that you need to explore.

There are many resources available on the internet related to career exploration. We recommend that all college students and IT professionals who are exploring IT careers utilize reliable resources with current information that you can use to research and evaluate IT careers.

Check out these excellent resources for career exploration:

Do more of what makes you happy. What do you like to do the most?

There are several assessments available to Minnesota IT college students and IT professionals who are considering changing careers.  Use the resources on the link below to assess your skills, abilities, and interests and help you determine which IT careers would be a good fit for you.

Remember, people change careers several times during their lifetime so this is just one career choice at this time.  You might have several interests, so consider this one of your choices and know that you might want to take your career goals in a different direction in the future.  Careers don’t go down a straight path.  People hold several different jobs over their lifetime and sometimes several careers. Everyone has a different journey and there are several ways of getting there.  Find the path that works for you by going through some of the assessments in the link below.

Connections that launch careers

Join a community of IT pros to forge connections, share your passion, gain insider knowledge, and perhaps meet your next employer!

Participating in professional organizations puts you in the company of IT pros who can enhance your career.

The experience you gain by joining a professional association goes well beyond the classroom. Discover what issues, ideas, and concerns are being discussed within various IT fields.  Build relationships with professionals who have networks in organizations you’re interested in working.

Click on the professional organizations below to learn more about them.  Select one professional association to join now and more to join in the future. Make your list and take action by joining your top professional association which will help build your future career!

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Information Systems Security Association (ISSA)

National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT)

Information Systems Audit and Control Association, Inc., Minnesota Chapter (ISACA-MN)

American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS) Minnesota

Cloud Security Alliance

InfraGard Minnesota

(ISC)2 Twin Cities Minnesota Chapter

Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP)

Minnesota Security Professionals (SECMN)

Northwest Chapter – Minnesota – Association of Information Technology Professionals

Association of Information Technology Professionals

Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) – Minnesota Chapter

Mini’app’les

Minnesota MySQL User Group

Minnesota SharePoint User Group

QUSER, IBM Midrange Systems

Ruby Users of Minnesota

Twin Cities BizTalk User Group

Twin Cities Cognos Users Group

Twin Cities Cold Fusion User Group

Twin Cities Linux Users Group

Twin Cities Oracle User Group

Twin Cities PC User Group

Twin Cities PHP User Group

Twin Cities Quality Assurance Association

Twin City Area SAS Users Group

Twin-SPIN

Unix Users Of Minnesota

Twin Cities Zope/Python Users Group