COMPUTER CAREER OPPORTUINITIES

COMPUTER PROFESSIONALS
Computer professional refer to those people who have undergone training in
Colleges, Universities and Computer Training Institutes; or is someone who
acquired formal training in the field of computer. Computer professional can also
be refers to someone who has vast knowledge in the area of computer.
Types of Computer Professional:
The following are types of Computer Professional:
 Computer Manager: These are people that have the overall responsibility
for the computer department in organization. They plan, manage,
coordinate and control the activities of the staff in the department.
 Computer Programmer: These are people who develop software packages
(i.e program)
 System Analysts: These are people who look after the details of existing
systems and also implement and review new systems.
 Computer Operators: They are the people that operate the computer
system, communicating with the operating system (just like typist does with
the typewriter)
 Computer Educators: These are people who teach computer at various
levels ranging from elementary school level to tertiary level.
 Computer Engineers and Technicians: These are people who install,
maintain and repairs computers.
 Computer Policy Maker: These are people who make laws concerning the
manufacturing and use of computers.
QUALITIES OF GOOD A COMPUTER PROFESSIONALS
There are numbers of qualities that good computer professionals must
possess. These include:
 Mathematically inclined: Many tend to be mathematically inclined although
increasingly people from various backgrounds are entering computer
professions and performing very well.
 A good Computer professional must have undergone appropriate training
either through formal school system or through appropriate professional
certificate training programmes.
 Good communication skill
 They must be people who pay attention to details.
 A good computer professional must be trustworthy because he/she will
handle sensitive information about the organization.
 He/she must be knowledgeable and always ready to learn new things.
 A good computer professional should be able to work with other people
because computer – based projects often require teamwork.
 A good computer professional must be flexible and dynamic.
 Technical writing skills
 A good computer professional must be versatile
COMPUTER PROFESSIONAL BODIES IN NIGERIA
There are a number of professional bodies that a computer professional in
Nigeria can join. These include:-
 Nigeria Computer Society (NCS): The Nigeria Computer Society is the
umbrella body for all professional computer associations in Nigeria. This
means that other computer bodies in the country are also members of NCS.
Aims of NCS:
a) Promote training of computer scientists, Engineers and other
professionals
b) Encourage research in the advancement of computer science and
technology in Nigeria.
c) Develop the competence and encourage integrity in individuals
engaged in the practice of the computing profession
d) Co-operate with similar professional organizations throughout the
world.
 Computer Professional Registration Council of Nigeria (CPRCN): - Was
established in 1995. The major function of the CPRCN is to set the
standards of knowledge and skills that people or organizations seeking to
become members of the computing profession in Nigeria should possess.
 Information Technology (Industry) Association of Nigeria (ITAN):- It was
established in 1991. The members are mainly companies and institutions
engaged in the practice, application and teaching of Information
Technology in Nigeria.
 Nigeria Internet Group (NIG): This is a non-governmental agency dedicated
towards the promotion and efficient use of the internet in Nigeria.
 Institute of Software Professionals of Nigeria (ISPON): This institute was set
up in 1999 to organize software professionals in Nigeria. Its membership
includes professionals and companies (local and international) who
engaged in the development of software in Nigeria.
  Internet Service Providers Association of Nigeria (ISPAN): This is an
association of companies involved in the provision of internet services in
Nigeria.
CONCEPT OF DIGITAL DIVIDE
Digital divide refers to the gap or imbalance that exists between those who have
access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and those who do
not. It also refers to the imbalance between ICT related resources like telephone,
television, or the internet.
The digital divide is often seen to exist along the following lines:
a. between rich and the poor countries
b. between those in cities and those in rural area
c. between males and females
d. between the rich and poor individual
e. between the physically challenged and those without any disability
f. between literate and illiterate, etc.
Over the course of the past decade, the gap has narrowed markedly, with
particularly rapid progress in the field of mobile phone and internet use.
OLD ECONOMY
Old economy is a term used for describing the economy in the early parts of the
21st century during the industrial revolution. The old economy relied on
agriculture and later industrialization as a source of economic growth. The old
economy made no use of ICT tool instead it was powered manual labour and
steam engines towards the later part of the 21st century.
NEW ECONOMY
By “New Economy” we mean a new kind of economy driven around the use of ICT
tools and applications and focused towards the delivery of service.
FEATURES OF NEW ECONOMY
The following are features of new economy:
1. Knowledge – driven:- Intellectual capital as a strategic factor; a set of
understanding used by the people to make decisions or take actions that
are important to the company
2. Change - driven:- Continuous, rapid and complex; generates uncertainty
and reduces predictability
3. Technology – driven:- The use of technology in different spheres of life. This
has led to globalization in research and development, production, trade,
finance, communication and information, which has resulted in opening of
economies, global hyper-competition and interdependency of business.
 4. Time, space, and distance are irrelevant to activities due to advent of
information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).
5. Digitalisation of technologies.
FEATURES OF OLD AND NEW ECONOMY
S/NO OLD IDUSTRIAL ECONOMY NEW KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY
1 Limited to national borders No limited to national borders
2 Driven by manual labour Driven by ICT usage
3 Uses analog devices Uses digital devices
4 Lots of unskilled labour More of skilled labour
5 Industries/Plant based Office/home based
LIMITATION OF OLD ECONOMY
1 Higher cost of producing goods and services
2 Dependencies on huge stores to store manufactured goods
3 12-hours work day which limits time for commercial transactions.
4 Limited flow of information between consumers and producers.
5 Business was focused usually towards satisfying local needs.
BENEFITS OF NEW ECONOMY
The following are benefits of new economy:
 Low capital to start business
 Focus is now on service provision
 Payment is now less cash based
 Give room for continuous self-development
 Opening up of economies
 COMPUTER VIRUS
Computer viruses are software programs that are designed to delete, change,
steal or block files or settings on computer.
Viruses tend to interfere with the smooth running of computer systems
Some types of viruses are simply annoying, while other types can be intrusive,
hostile, or even destructive. Viruses are mostly spread through internet but are
also widely spread through USB sticks and mobile devices.
What are viruses designed to do?
Through the course of using the internet and your computer, you may have come
in contact with computer viruses. A computer virus might corrupt or delete data
on your computer, use your email program to spread itself to other computers, or
even everything on your hard disk.
TYPES OF COMPUTER VIRUSES
There are several different categories of viruses and malware. Here is a
breakdown of the types of computer viruses around today.
1 Trojan Horse: Is a deceptive form of virus that disguises its true intention
until downloaded unto a computer drive.
2 Worms is a program that makes and facilitates the distribution of copies
of itself; for example, from one disk drive to another, or by copying itself
using email or another transport mechanism to cause damage on a
computer.
3 Boot sector Virus: This virus type that attaches itself to the first part of
the hard disk that is read by the computer upon boot – up. These are
normally spread by floppy disks.
4 Macro Virus: Macro viruses are viruses that use another application’s
macro programming language to distribute themselves. They infect
document such as MS Word or MS Excel and are typically spread to
other similar document.
5 Memory Resident Viruses: Memory Resident Viruses reside in a
computers’ volatile memory (RAM).
6 Rootkit Virus: Is an undetectable virus which attempts to allow someone
to gain control of a computer system.
7 Polymorphic Viruses: Is a virus that replicates itself by creating multiple
files of itself, but it also changes its digital signature every time it
replicates.
 8 Logic Bombs/Time Bombs: These are viruses which are programmed to
initiate at a specific date or when a specific event occurs. Some
examples are virus which deletes your photos.
EXAMPLES OF COMPUTER VIRUS
1 Melissa
2 MS Blast
3 My Doom
4 Code Red
5 Bad boy
6 Slammer
7 Conficker
8 Jerusalem etc.
SOURCES OF COMPUTER VIRUSES
Below are the two most common ways a computer can contract these infections
listed in the order we believe are most commonly done.
1 The Internet and the World Wide Web: The internet is the largest source
of viruses as virus creators generally tend to spread their creations
faster using the internet.
2 Flash Drives and Floppies: Always scan any flash drive and floppy
diskette you put into a port on your computer as these have become
easy access point for most viruses.
VIRUS WARNING SIGNS
The following are warning sign of virus:
a. Applications that don’t work properly.
b. Disks that can’t be accessed
c. Printers not working correctly
d. Pull-down menus are distorted
e. File size changes for no apparent reason.
f. Date last access does not match date of last use.
g. An Increase in the number of files on the system when nothing has been
added.
h. Unprotected disk drive activity.
i. Unusual error messages
j. System slow down, freezes or crashes
VIRUS DETECTION (ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE)
A virus could cause major damage to your computer. Viruses can delete files,
overwrite hard drive sectors, replace a computer’s coding, and alter memory and
more. It is also necessary to pay attention to some terms used in anti-virus
programs these days. These include:
a. False positive
b. On-demand scanning
c. On-the-fly scanning: all the objects that are processed in any way
(opened, closed, created, read from or written to etc) are being
constantly checked for viruses. To detect a virus you will need to use
anti-viruses software. These include:
i. Avira
ii. Avast
iii. Norton
iv. Kaspersky
v. AVG
vi. McAfee Virus scan
vii. Symantec
viii. Eset Nod32 antivirus
ix. Bit defender etc.
WAYS TO PREVENT COMPUTER VIRUSES
1. Install a reliable Anti-virus program
2. Avoid suspicious websites
3. Never open email attachment without scanning
4. Install anti-spyware and anti-malware programs
5. Set up automatic scans
6. Watch your downloads
7. Update your Anti-virus software
8. Know what to look for on internet.
9. Stay away from cracked software.
10. Install a firewall.
SEARCH ENGINE
A search engine is a website that helps users for different types of data
warehoused within computers on the World Wide Web. Different search engine
exist. These include: Google search, Yahoo search, Hotbot and Mamma Search,
Safira, Opera, UC browser etc.
FUNCTIONS OF SEARCH ENGINES
The following are major functions of search engines:
 Crawling: The crawler or web spider is a vital software component of the
search engine. Crawlers can scan brand new information on the internet or
 it can locate older data. Crawlers have the ability to search a wide range of
websites at the same time and collect large amounts data.
 Indexing: Once the search engine has crawled through contents of the
internet, it indexes the content based on the occurrence of keyword
phrases in each individual website. This allows a particular search query
and subject to be found easily.
 Storage: Storing web content within the database of the search engine is
essential for fast and easy searching. Larger search engine like Google and
Yahoo are able to store large amounts of data ranging in the terabytes.
 Results Generation: Results are the hyperlinks to websites that show up in
the search engine page when a certain keyword or phrase is queried. When
you type in a search term, the crawler runs through the index and matches
what you typed with other keywords.