| Information Systems Technician | |
|---|---|
Rating insignia |
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| Issued by: United States Navy | |
| Type | Enlisted rating |
| Abbreviation | IT |
| Specialty | Technical |
Information System Technician (IT) is a rating for United States Navy and United States Coast Guard enlisted personnel, specializing in communications technology.
Information Systems Technician is a U.S. Navy and Coast Guard specific job, also known as an enlisted rating (often called MOS by other armed services). The other U.S. Armed Forces have similar positions, but with different titles utilized (information technology specialist in the U.S. Army, data network specialist in the U.S. Marine Corps, etc.)
Information Systems Technicians design, install, operate, and maintain state-of-the-art information systems. This technology includes local and wide area networks, mainframe, mini and microcomputer systems and associated peripheral devices. They also write programs to handle the collection, manipulation and distribution of data for a wide variety of applications and requirements. They perform the functions of a computer system analyst, operate telecommunications systems including automated networks and the full spectrum of data links and circuits.[1]
The IT rating is one of the most diverse ratings in the US Navy. The IT rating evolved from a combination of two previous Navy ratings - Radioman (RM) and Data Processing Technician (DP). A third rating, Cryptologic Technician Communications (CTO) merged with IT in October, 2005. In February 2010, the IT rating was incorporated into the Information Dominance Corps.
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IT candidates attend A school at Corry Station in Pensacola, Florida. Schooling is instructor led, using a computer based learning system. IT students share classes with members of all U.S. armed forces services, including Marine Radiomen and Army Computer Systems Operators.
The Radioman (RM) and Data Processing Technician (DP) ratings were merged in November 1998, keeping the Radioman name. In November 1999 the rating was redesignated Information Systems Technician. Both Radiomen and Data Processing Technicians in the Navy had to undergo general rate training and take a computer-based exam in order to be designated under the new IT rating (the Data Processing Technicians found themselves bound to a serious learning curve because they had to learn every single aspect from the Radioman rating) whereas to the Radiomen, most of them already had a general knowledge in basic computer fundamentals and maintenance. In 1996 the Submarine force merged Radioman with Electronics Technicians/ Electronic Warfare Specialist.
The Coast Guard rating was renamed Telecommunications Specialist (TC) in 1995, which split in 2003 to make up the Information System Technician (IT) and Operation Systems Specialist (OS) ratings.
While there is a community-specific Information Dominance Corps Warfare qualification for ITs, the IT rating is one of the few ratings that can qualify in all aspects of Naval Warfare, such as:
note: The subsurface IT program is still in the planning stages, currently FTs and ETs handle Subsurface IT work.
note: 98C (35N) Signal Intelligence Analyst (Linguist)