If critical files on your computer were accidentally deleted, how would you recover them? Chances are you don’t know, and you would need someone who did know, fast -- someone like Choice Jennings, a computer systems engineer (CSE) who helps businesses keep their computer systems up and running. Choice sets up computer networks and servers, installs operating systems, and troubleshoots problems, large and small, for his clients. Businesses depend on computer systems engineers to keep their IT systems running, and even to create them from scratch: one of Choice’s clients wants to build a new building, and needs Choice's input on how 226 workstations should be wired, and where the server should be housed. As a CSE, Choice also helps people with common computer problems, such as frozen screens and missing files.

Choice wasn’t always into computers. Growing up, computers were too expensive for him to have one of his own. The first time he worked with computers was in high school, when he took a computer graphics course. Choice went on to community college and got his associate's degree in computer systems engineering. “When I came to the community college,” says Choice, “that’s when I learned that engineering was the field I wanted to take up… today computers are where everything is going.”

IT knowledge and skills can be a foundation for work in many fields. Typical IT jobs rely on engineering, technical, mechanical, and analytical skills, and IT technicians create, design, and solve problems through computer technology. Computer systems engineers have many career options in the IT field, including system administrator, IT director, computer manager, and designer.

A CSE education and career can bring real satisfaction. “The main thing I like about my job,” says Choice, “is seeing the smile on a person’s face when I’ve recovered their data.”

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