Career changes

  The hottest crop of newfangled jobs all require
  Internet expertise.

  By Rivka Tadjer
  Network World, 11/16/98

  Just a few years ago, job hunting meant scouring the
  newspaper for employment advertisements seeking
  network managers, IS professionals, NetWare experts
  or Cisco router engineers.

  Fast forward to the present. The job landscape
  suddenly looks like another planet, full of unknown
  craters and foreign languages. Thanks to the surging
  growth of the Internet, the hot positions these days are
  Internet architect, electronic commerce expert, security
  consultant and outsourcing manager.

  These jobs take the traditional responsibilities of
  network professionals and add a twist. It's all about
  handling new ways of managing and storing data. This
  requires proficiency in some areas never before
  associated with networking, such as programming and
  interactive database development. Although business
  and marketing savvy have always paid off, these skills
  can now make the difference between getting an IT job
  or not.

  While network architects were once responsible for
  determining how to exchange information within a
  corporation, Internet architects need to devise ways to
  share information with the whole world, including
  employees, business partners and consumers, says Rick
  Reed, a New Jersey branch manager for Computer
  People, a high-tech placement firm in Holliston, Mass.

  Veteran network professional Hien Nguyen had to
  update his skills to land an Internet architect job at
  AT&T's international division in Basking Ridge, N.J.
  "Since the Internet, electronic commerce and intranets
  are the focus now, I had to become proficient at not just
  software, but hardware, database development and
  Java," he says.

  The basics and beyond

  As Nguyen learned, the recent crop of Internet-related
  jobs requires workers to learn some new tricks. For
  example, electronic data interchange (EDI)
  professionals have become today's electronic
  commerce experts. To get the job, you need to know
  Web languages such as Java, Perl and the Common
  Object Request Broker Architecture, plus be familiar
  with object-oriented methodology, dynamic HTML and
  C++. You also need to be an analyst who understands
  which vendors will own the next standard technology.

  Not long after entering the IT lexicon, the Webmaster
  title is already fading into oblivion. The job has morphed
  into Web innovator, and it suddenly has everything to do
  with electronic commerce, marketing and interactive
  database development.

  Of all the new IT jobs, the security expert's
  responsibilities call for the most well-rounded batch of
  network skills, including expertise in TCP/IP, routers
  and firewalls. Security experts also need programming
  skills to implement point-to-point tunneling, database
  integration, network monitoring and intrusion detection.
  Programming knowledge also lets security experts
  show Web designers how to safely use Java applets
  and Common Gateway Interface scripts, which are
  notorious for leaving loopholes for hackers.

  Regardless of Internet-related job title, there are several
  key skills you really can't do without. You need to
  understand hardware, software, telecommunications,
  database development, languages and security systems
  before you can become competent in one particular
  area.

  Think of it in terms of being a doctor. Physicians need
  to fully understand the human anatomy to earn a
  medical degree, requiring knowledge of skin, organs,
  blood and the brain. Then doctors specialize in one
  particular area, becoming more and more proficient.

  Although acquiring a comprehensive arsenal of
  network- and Internet-related skills sounds daunting,
  this expertise could fetch you salaries of up to $250,000.
  And even if you only have a subset of these skills, you
  can make more money than ever before.

  A network architect may earn $70,000 per year, but
  database development knowledge will earn an Internet
  architect $90,000 immediately, Reed says.

  The Internet also created a great opportunity for those
  who were stuck in lower paying jobs. Take a Web
  innovator: A good graphic designer who knows a bit
  about developing interactive databases can command a
  salary of $100,000, while graphic designers earn about
  $40,000.

  Competing with the kids

  Recent college graduates who cut their teeth on Java
  and database development can pull in $90,000 to
  $100,000 for Internet-related positions, Reed says. If
  those paychecks sound attractive to you, flaunt your
  business skills to compete with these kids. Many recent
  graduates lack real-world business experience, and
  that's where you have an edge.

  "If you're an expert in any particular kind of business,
  there is a place for you," Reed says. He also urges
  seasoned IT professionals to stress their military,
  government and Fortune 1,000 experience. Employers
  are looking for candidates who have dealt with large,
  complex enterprises.

  Nguyen declined to reveal his salary, but he says it's
  more than he was earning at ERA Realtors as a
  network architect. Even so, he plans to keep broadening
  his IT knowledge. "I need to get up to speed on
  electronic commerce, particularly integrating the
  network with banking and credit card systems," he
  says.

  Nguyen went to a community college to learn Java,
  then used his job to become proficient in the language.
  Similarly, he wants to experiment with electronic
  commerce on the job at AT&T.

  If you want to boost your Internet skills and salary, try
  to get as much as you can out of your current job and
  take on as many challenging assignments as you can.