IT specialist is a broad definition of people whose jobs involve information technology (IT). They are not only the people who write code, set up computers, and help figure out when a program gives an error and doesn’t respond to the Esc button. They are also the specialists who are involved in all the stages of developing the same program and promoting it.
For example, a company wants to develop a food delivery app. To do this, it will need a team of IT specialists:

● analysts, product managers, project managers – for market research, managing project timelines and budgets, defining product functionality;

Developers, designers, testers, UX-editors – for creating, filling and testing the product, as well as bug fixing.

This is a simplified composition of the IT product team. There are many professions in IT that need both humanitarians and technicians. That said, IT does not exist in a vacuum. IT professionals can work in a variety of fields – medicine, banking, transportation security, technology, education, and so on.

Pros and cons of working in IT
Pros
● Interesting and in-demand work.
● High salary.
Different work formats – you can choose between office or remote work, company employment or freelance work.
Opportunities to start their own business and render IT-services on outsourcing.
● Low entry threshold into some IT professions and the opportunity to move into related areas within the field.

Minuses
● Irregular working hours, especially when working remotely – chats with colleagues are always at hand, so people work almost all the time.
High mental stress and sedentary lifestyle of IT-specialists.
● Long entrance into the profession for technical fields.
● It is difficult to immediately understand who IT specialists are and what this profession is all about,

What qualities should an IT specialist have?
The list of “soft” skills, or softskills, is the same for all IT specialists, regardless of the technology they work with:

● Communication skills. Finding common ground with colleagues or clients, resolving conflicts, and getting through interviews.
● Teamwork. This skill is broader than communication skills. It combines empathy, the ability to give and receive feedback, and compromise.
● Flexibility. This skill will help IT specialists to adapt quickly to new conditions and not to stupor if they have to close a project unexpectedly or return to the initial stage.
● Creativity. The ability to see actual problems and find different variants of their solutions will come in handy when creating and revising products.
Proactivity. Willingness to take responsibility and act as an author of ideas.
Time management. You will need this skill for organizing your work, work-life balance, and project management.
● Critical and logical thinking. The ability to question, find, question, and verify information will allow you to make well-considered decisions and cut out unnecessary information.