Career Research Paper
Career research refers to the act of examining the various potential career opportunities to identify the best fit. This discipline is essential, especially when individuals have multiple careers to settle on while leading their lives. Undertaking a career research project is necessary because it provides vast knowledge and prepares one for potential career opportunities. This research paper will provide a variety of ways to evaluate possible options at hand. For instance, the avenues for people using online media to acquire preliminary information related to various job titles and then connect with professionals where they can ask questions and access realities that can be interesting to them. The three broad careers to be considered include cyber-security analyst, System Analyst, and Software engineer. We offer help in career research assignments.
While conducting this career research project, I settled on these three majors that would influence my career path. One of the career paths that I decided on is Cyber Security analysis. I was compelled to undertake cybersecurity analysis as my career path because it secures my future. In the current labor market, companies, individuals, and industries require constant protection from internet criminals, guaranteeing my employment in this dynamic market (Furnell, 2021). A recent study released by the Center for Risk and Reliability and the Institute for Systems Research has indicated that about two cyber-attacks are reported every minute. The study entailed monitoring several computers connected to the internet, and it was concluded that computers received attacks that tallied 2,240 times in a single day (Furnell, 2021). Forbes also supported this finding by indicating that employees were responsible for 73% of these attacks, and the cost of mitigating them was established to exceed $6 trillion by the end of 2022 (Furnell, 2021).
The other reason that influenced me to settle on the Cyber Security Analyst role is the guarantee for future job growth. I decided on this career path because I was convinced I would keep the job for the longest time possible. Unlike other roles where jobs may be scarce, there are enormous opportunities for individuals working as a Cyber Security Analyst because I would be required to evaluate new products and run updates to existing products before being executed into the production IT systems (Dawson & Thomson, 2018). After their approval, I would be required to be fully involved in the production installation of software to ensure that proper configuration and integration have been executed within the existing infrastructure. Besides these roles, I was also interested in the System analyst role. This role is relevant because I would run an organization’s day-to-day routines. For instance, I would be obligated to review the current IT systems and establish whether errors must be rectified, collaborate with employees to confirm system requirements, and develop cost-benefit analysis reports (Dawson & Thomson, 2018).
The last role for consideration in this paper is the software engineer, which encompasses software systems’ creation, design, testing, and upkeep. This discipline relates to applying engineering ideas and practices in undertaking software development measures to ensure efficiency and scalability. The software engineering role also appealed to me because I am a highly creative person with problem-solving skills. Working in an environment with numerous challenges is very appealing. It keeps me on track, thinking critically about what should be done to ensure that software programs and systems work efficiently and effectively (Meade et al., 2019). The three criteria that I used in examining these three types of career paths were very vital. For instance, the cost of education was essential, especially concerning acquiring tertiary education. While community colleges have proven to be less expensive than private universities, the cost of attending a state university may vary depending on whether one is an in-state or out-of-state student (Ouhbi & Pombo, 2020). Some parameters that may dictate the cost of education include but are not limited to tuition, fees, textbooks, and other necessary materials (Meade et al., 2019). Irrespective of the cost, undertaking any of these three career paths is the only way to acquire valuable skills that could lead to higher-paying job opportunities and career advancement.
The other criterion I used in evaluating these three career paths that would dictate my future life is salary. A significant population of students from various high schools are settling on careers that provide them with adequate compensation and benefits. This criterion was vital because I had to search for the salary ranges and benefit packages for these three disciplines before making an informed decision on my career choice. I settled on cyber-security analysis as my future career path after thoroughly considering long-term earning potential and benefits, including but not limited to retirement plans, health insurance, and payments for sick or maternal leave (Fluckiger et al., 2015).
Besides these two criteria, the scope of the work also dictated the type of career I would settle on. After conducting my research, I established that the system analyst and software engineer roles had limited scope from what I anticipated. For instance, the role of a system analyst is to guide the development of computer networks and systems. On the other hand, the software engineer’s role lies in designing and optimizing software for speed and scalability (Fluckiger et al. 2015). However, I settled on the security role because I possessed the right personality to undertake this course. My personality and character was the fundamental factor that influenced my selection of this career path. In this regard, my personality included my outward presentation and perception of this course. As a highly creative and innovative person, I found the cyber security analyst role best suited for me as it required these skills for proper execution. Also, my problem-solving skills have been timely in this role as it requires me to develop impromptu solutions for the day-to-day running of the organization (Fluckiger et al. 2015). As such, personality traits have been identified to aid in deciding on a promising career because it is easy to hone the skills possessed by one.
I weighted these three criteria based on the significance level concerning the various disciplines. Salary had a higher weight at 40% since everyone decided on compensation and benefits before settling on a career path. This was followed at close range, with the scope of work at 35%. The third and last criterion based on my weighting was the cost of education at 25%. I weighed these criteria based on how they influenced the selection process for various disciplines. I gave a high rating to the salary criteria related to the cyber security analyst role and the scope of work related to the system analyst role. These ratings were high because they were significant factors that influenced the selection of these career paths. The only low rating was related to the cost of education in relation to the software engineer position. This was because of the cost of education needed to inform the decision to undertake software engineering as a career path. I discovered that the security analyst role had the highest total weighting, 59. In contrast, the software engineer and system analyst roles had 53.5 and 47.5 as the total for their weighted scores, respectively.
Evaluation Matrix (Screenshot)
Conclusion
The career research project is a course that has been very instrumental to me. Through this course, I have identified the various roles and responsibilities of people working in diverse disciplines, such as software engineers or system analysts. Furthermore, I have also learned the requirements one should meet to qualify for various roles within the IT field. It was indeed exciting reading through the required skills for one to take up posts in either of these three disciplines. I learned that the IT field is comprehensive and that many professionals are dispensing their knowledge in it. Even though their roles may interchange from time to time, they are unique in their own way because these professionals work as a team to ensure that confidential information of the organization has been preserved. They also come together to shun any mischievous plans of third parties from succeeding, hence making the systems of the organization safe and secure.
References
Dawson, J., & Thomson, R. (2018). The future cyber-security workforce: Going beyond technical skills for successful cyber-performance. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 744.
Fluckiger, B., Lovett, S., Dempster, N., & Brown, S. (2015). Middle leaders: Career pathways and professional learning needs. Leading and Managing, 21(2), 60-74.
Furnell, S. (2021). The cyber security workforce and skills. Computers & Security, 100, 102080.
Meade, E., O’Keeffe, E., Lyons, N., Lynch, D., Yilmaz, M., Gulec, U. … & Clarke, P. M. (2019). The changing role of the software engineer. In Systems, Software and Services Process Improvement: 26th European Conference, EuroSPI 2019, Edinburgh, UK, September 18–20, 2019, Proceedings 26 (pp. 682-694). Springer International Publishing.
Ouhbi, S., & Pombo, N. (2020, April). Software engineering education: Challenges and perspectives. In 2020 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON) (pp. 202-209). IEEE.
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Question 
Career Research Paper
Overview:
This project will involve gathering information that evaluates and compares three careers. You will learn how to use an Evaluation Matrix to compare and make a better decision about which career to choose. At least one career must be in your program of study. The other two careers could be Information Technology (IT) careers. Of course, if IT is your major then all 3 will be in IT.
Step 1: Pick Careers: Decide on the 3 careers you will investigate. You can pick an Information Technology (IT) career. A good place to locate career information is the Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov Links to an external site..
Step 2: Pick Criteria: Criteria are the standard for comparing and judging something. You need to determine at least 3 criteria to evaluate your 3 chosen careers. For Example: Salary, Cost of Education and Scope of work, Benefits, etc. You will need to describe how each of these criteria is working out for your chosen careers in your description of your paper.
Step 3: You are required to use your sources as evidence in this research project. Your research should give you the facts on each of your criteria for each of your careers.
Step 4: Create a Works Cited page/bibliography/references. References are citations used within the text to acknowledge specific sources, while a bibliography is a comprehensive list of all sources consulted during the research process. Reference page should be included at the end of your research paper.
Go to www.GCFlearnfree.orgLinks to an external site. and learn how to evaluate Internet website sources and create your reference page or bibliography.
Step 5: Evaluation Matrix Spreadsheet (Module 8 Assignment)