Information technology (IT) refers to everything that businesses use computers for. Information technology is building communications networks for a company, safeguarding data and information, creating and administering databases, helping employees troubleshoot problems with their computers or mobile devices, or doing a range of other work to ensure the efficiency and security of business information systems.

Demand for professionals in this field is high and growing, and people entering the field have a range of career paths to choose from.

IT is such a broad industry that you can break into it with virtually any background… including without a college degree. However, there are some positions that do require a specific background. For example, you’re going to be very unlikely to get a Data Science position without a strong background in mathematics – usually a formal education (Master’s degree or Ph.D.)

A server is a computer or system that provides resources, data, services, or programs to other computers, known as clients, over a network. In theory, whenever computers share resources with client machines they are considered servers. There are many types of servers, including web servers, mail servers, and virtual servers.

Some of the first servers were mainframe computers or minicomputers. Minicomputers were much smaller than mainframe computers, hence the name. However, as technology progressed, they ended up becoming much larger than desktop computers, which made the term microcomputer somewhat farcical.