<p>An IT major generally focuses on the application of IT for business. It’s very important to understand that. At most universities computer science departments will not focus on the business applications (I’m not talking software here) of technology. They’ll teach you about logic, how to program, and all these technicalities. The IT major is mostly conceptual. You’ll learn about how technologies work, you might discuss a few specific technologies (for example if you’re talking about Databases, maybe you’ll discuss MySQL specifically), but most classes aren’t too technical (as far as coding goes). You’ll find that a lot of the classes involve working in group projects as well. Keep ind mind this all varies at each university.</p>
<p>The big distinction is that you’ll start seeing the purpose that IT has for a business. I mean as an organization you’re not going to just introduce some new software just because it’s the latest and greatest thing out there. You have to test it out then roll it out and support it. There’s a lot of project management involved. You get to learn how to analyze and design systems for an organization. You need to be able to communicate with people what the technology does and how it helps the business. And so on.</p>
<p>No, IT is not just picking up the phone or sitting idly by. At the lowest level, maybe, but not as you start getting into management. Unless you plan on making a career of just being at the bottom of the organization, then there’s a lot you can do in IT.</p>
<p>I’d recommend to do the IT major and learn one or two programming languages (you can do this on your own) based on the area of IT that interests you. The reason you’ll learn the languages is that most IT jobs require some sort of technical background to make scripts, create quick programs, run queries, etc. It really depends on what side of IT you want to get into. You can get into IT Support, Operations, Networks, Databases, Web/Software Development, etc.</p>
<p>I’m an Information Systems major and I enjoy it because I personally hate programming. I can learn languages and code, but I don’t want to because it’s tedious and boring. On the other hand, I hate doing stuff that is strictly business. Throw a bunch of financial terms at me and you’re getting me ready to sleep. But I do love technology. And businesses need technology. More importantly, not too many people out there understand both business and technology. Those types of jobs are hard to outsource or even offshore because they are the middleman between the geeks who code and the suits who want results.</p>
<p>Even though, we live in a world where jobs are becoming more and more specialized, organizations still need people with general backgrounds.</p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>