As recent weeks have shown, IT professionals are more important to our daily lives than ever.

They may have been the butt of jokes in the sitcom The IT Crowd, but computer wizards, digital innovators and software gurus are reshaping how we live in this modern age.

Given our increasing reliance on the internet of things, web developers and software engineers are joining forces to create super-slick systems and interactive sites that offer ease of access with built-in protection.

They’re also responsible for creating the all-important e-commerce systems that support online shopping. Now more than ever these need to be user-friendly, highly efficient and super-fast, as well as being able to protect our financial details and personal information.

The app sector is one of the fastest evolving in IT. To ensure new apps have the groundbreaking design that allows them to integrate into modern lifestyles, developers must be imaginative and pioneering in their approach.

Web design is also a sector that attracts lateral-thinking creatives who know how to imagine and build sites that look attractive, are user-friendly and can quickly become synonymous with a company brand and its products or services.

Once upon a time in the world of IT and computer science, sharing basic principles and acknowledged algorithms meant sticking to common gameplans.

All of this has changed. Today individuality is what makes the best pros stand out.

It is also what makes their creations so successful.

Take web development, for instance. A platform that works for an engineering or building company simply isn’t going to cut it for a high-end clothing retailer or social media site. What separates the web winners from the web wannabes is the talent and vision to build bespoke platforms that make clients shine.

The good news is the global move to internet shopping and online streaming of entertainment, in tandem with the vast uptake in digital working, means there are lots of new job opportunities always coming on-stream.

And half the fun is harnessing the power of [site_name] to find the role that’s right for you, whether you’re just starting out or you’re already an advanced coder.

The need for new apps and flawless e-commerce is more important than ever . . . and in a world where queuing has become a thing of the past, the only place you should be getting in line is in IT.