Unit 4 Vocabulary — IT Careers

Noun (person)
Business analyst
a position responsible for the interpretation of business rules and delivering them to technical teams
A business analyst spends a lot of time gathering relevant business requirements in the initial stages of an IT project.
Noun (person)
CTO (chief technical officer)
an executive position responsible for all scientific and technological issues related to a company; normally has a strong technical and somewhat less strong management background
The CEO decided to fire the CTO after the company's IT department lost a year of financial records due to poor backup procedures.
Noun (person)
Data scientist
a professional who analyzes large amounts of historical information to help make better decisions
The data scientist analyzed customer data to predict which products will sell best next month.
Noun (person)
DBA (database administrator)
a person in charge of managing and maintaining relational databases and access rights
The requirements for the DBA job position were: advanced SQL, performance tuning, and disaster recovery for ORACLE systems.
Noun (person)
Database developer
a position responsible for programming and optimizing databases
The database developer spent three months refactoring the company database to obtain 3NF (third normal form).
Noun (person)
Enterprise architect
a high-level position responsible for understanding a business's overall needs and then designing an IT structure to support it
The firm hired an enterprise architect to oversee the development of the new software platform.
Noun (person)
Graphic designer
a position responsible for the creation of images, typography, mock-ups for an organizations's front end systems; normally works under a company Art Director
The graphic designer had an iMac with a 27" screen, a graphics tablet instead of a mouse, and the latest version of Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop software.
Noun (person)
Information architect
a position responsible for making complex data structures easy to understand and navigate
The information architect came prepared to the meeting with some wireframes and a glossary of target vocabulary for the project.
Noun (person)
IT manager
a job position acting as a bridge between upper management and IT; one who encourages personal development in IT staff; the boss of an IT worker
The IT manager said the new junior developer's attitude was unacceptable.
Noun (person)
IT security manager
a position responsible for setting best practices for securing wi-fi networks, servers, backups, laptops, and VPNs
The IT security manager ran a password cracker on his own network users to sniff out weak passwords.
Noun (person)
IT support engineer
a position responsible for on-demand support for end users including: fixing hardware, installing software, and troubleshooting minor network issues
An IT support engineer must be able to troubleshoot and fix almost any hardware, software, or network problem that can affect an end user's PC.
Noun (thing)
MLE (machine learning engineer)
someone who builds and trains AI models for use in software products
The finance company hired a reputable MLE expert to build a new fraud protection module for the payment system.
Noun (person)
Network administrator
a position responsible for maintenance of all aspects of a computer network; often a specialist in TCP/IP, Linux, and related routing technology such as Cisco
"The network is down" is a phrase a good network administrator never wants to hear.
Noun (person)
PM (project manager)
a position responsible for organizing and delivering a project on time and on budget; often acts as a bridge between developers and stakeholders
Software project managers are increasingly turning to Scrum and other Agile practices to get good results from their teams.
Noun (person)
QA manager (quality assurance manager)
a job title whose responsibilities include ensuring appropriate performance for a software project and organizing and instructing testers
The QA manager organized a massive usability test to try to squash bugs before the software's release date.
Noun (person)
Software developer
a position responsible for gathering information around a programming task and performing it
Software developers often specialize in a specific software framework or paradigm such as Java applications, Python, or CSS.
Noun (person)
Software tester
a job title whose responsibilities include ensuring that a software project meets established quality guidelines
The software tester spent all day documenting a nasty bug in the ERP software.
Noun (person)
Sysadmin (system administrator)
a job position that maintains a computer server network, including patches, upgrades, and security related duties
The system administrator harshly scolded a user who wrote their password on his monitor screen.
Noun (person)
Technical writer
a position responsible for the creation and maintenance of documentation relating to an IT project including online help, user guides, white papers, and design specifications
The technical writer wanted to write novels when she was young, but now she is documenting accounting software applications for IBM.