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Subscribe at careercollegecentral.com 10 Exploring careers in the field of information technology Discover just some of your career options in the information technology field and what they would mean for your education, your salary potential, your job prospects, and your day-to-day experience: Computer Network Architects Will I need a degree? Yes, a bachelor's degree. How much money could I make? Computer network architects earned $112,690, on average, in 2019. Will it be hard to find a job as a computer network architect? It shouldn't be. e occupation is growing faster than average (5 percent projected growth) with a projected employment change of 8,000 jobs by 2029. Will I need to do on-the-job training? No. Most computer network architects work full-time designing and building communication networks including local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), and intranets. ey mostly work in offices, but may work in server rooms as well, so they can access the hardware that makes up an organization's network. ey usually work in-house for one specific company because they need to have "extensive knowledge of an organization's business plan to design a network that can help the organization achieve its goals," says the BLS. As a computer network architect, I might spend my days doing things like: • Creating plans and layouts for data communication networks • Presenting those plans to management and explaining why they are in the organization's best interest • Designing networks focused heavily on information security • Upgrading routers, adapters, network drivers, and more to support computer networks • Researching new networking technologies to make sure my networks are scalable for the future Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Computer Network Architects