But don’t show too much ambition, which make some people feel uncomfortable.  You do not want to be perceived as arrogant.  Also, don’t try to be funny or demonstrate your assertiveness by saying “To be running this company.”

There are many acceptable goals you can demo:  move one or two levels up from your current position, jump from technical to management position, get a higher degree.  You should mention that your career advancement is based on hard work and achieving company goals.

Sample Answer:

“I would like to be in a project manager with Eclipse Consulting.  I would enjoy working as a manager in charge of a dedicated team of software development and manage multiple projects.  I have the potential to excel with additional challenges and responsibilities. I would like to take advantage of the company sponsored training program to get PMP certification.  I also plan to finish my master’s degree within two years.  I would follow advice from my boss on the best career path towards achieving this goal. I realize it’s somewhat ambitious, but I feel through hard work and dedication, I could obtain it within five years.”

The booster knowledge and skills will build you a defense base, from which you are able to move forward by attacking and exploring, or withdraw comfortably in the raining days. The booster knowledge and skills are:

1. Programming skills,
2. Modeling/Database skills, and
3. Network and Security skills.

Programming

Programming is the most stable, reliable and extendable skill every IT professional should has. You might not depend on this skill through your whole IT career; you may not even need to start your IT career with this skill, but if you are seriously considering job security, tap onto it.

When dealing with the world we are living in, the best way is to simplify the perspective at the beginning. With IT, computing is all based on logic, clearly defined logic. Any ambiguous input will halt computer and lead to the ending that nothing is accomplished. Programming is the only way to instruct computer to conduct its job; therefore it requires a logically thinking brain in front of the keyboard and monitor. The process of programming has a force-back-training effect, which constantly trains the programmer without his/her awareness. The training is focusing on logically going through a mix of existing conditions and finding a path to reach the goal or solve the problem. In short, it is the Problem Solving Ability. If observing your surrounding carefully, you will find out that such ability is the critical element, sometimes the only one, to differentiate the IT workers.

Everyone entered the IT world will shortly realize that it’s a fast changing environment. We could hear lot sayings that there are so many things to learn, to catch up and no ends in sight. If you are programming-trained, there should not be any more worries. Programming skill and the problem solving abilities acquired by programming allow you very easily adapt any new technologies. That’s because, underneath, any software works and is controlled by the same things, logics and sets of logically written instructions (programs).

Today’s IT world is so diversified that one terminology can mean many things. For one, programming here means that you actually use a true computer programming language (structured or object-oriented) to write a program. The language could be from Pascal, Basic, C/C++ to Java, even COBOL. There are many other activities are called programming, which most time involves using a third generation (3G) toolkit provided by specific vendors. In those cases, the tools confine the building blocks and what the programmer does is merely configuration with business rules applied. These tooling approaches, as said, “Is a good thing.” But it won’t contribute the programming skills we are here hungry for.

Even as important as it is, the programming skill itself won’t carry you anywhere too far, just like the knowledge learned in high school won’t land you a decent career, but you won’t have a career without those knowledge. It’s what the programming skill brings you matters.

To be more specific, the computer languages that you should claim to be proficient are C/C++ or Java. You don’t have to be doing it, but you should have done it. There are verities that you could easily extend to, such as Visual Basic for Application (VBA), Perl/Shell for scripting or the coming C#. But please don’t tell people the hot babe XML is another computer language you must know.

Modeling/Database

Remember data is the king in this business. What the data really means to the business, from which the data is generated in or collected, is buried in the relationship between the data elements. To fully understand, properly store, logically process, accurately retrieve and meaningfully present the data, modeling is the key. The modeling we are talking about here is beyond the techniques of it, which might include ER modeling, object-oriented analysis and modeling, the full UML arena and so on. Those techniques or skills are tied to certain roles played in IT world. Here the basic modeling skill is to be able to conceptually understand the essential of the relationship among data and apply the relationship into the logic of processing the data. This is equivalent to an example that, entering a big library, you are able to locate the book you are looking for and find the quote on one page. You are not asked to build the library and scientifically index and label all the books. The basic knowledge is to walk through all the bookshelves, knowing how the book is stored, and to find the book.

When dealing with data, rarely you will not touch database. In old days, when a company like IBM and IBM-like technologies dominated the IT industry, data storing and processing were in far backend of the business. There was dark cloud around it so that only a group of elites was able to reach and handle it. Today, new technologies such as client/server, PC or internet/intranet are pushing the data and database to the very frontier of the business battlefield. The knowledge of database and data retrieving become an essential part of requirements to carry on the basic IT tasks.

As for specific skills, you should be able to understand the data by reading data diagram such ER modeling diagram or Object-oriented data diagram. Based on the diagram, you should know how to map the business requirement to the data relationship and apply SQL to manipulate data. While processing data, you need the knowledge of data integrity and you should handle the data accordingly. By knowing the basic logic aspect of data stored in database, you should be able to integrate the knowledge of data relationship to standard database concept such as Primary Key, Foreign key or other database constraints. Moving further, you may be required to use standard mechanism, such as ER modeling with UML, to delineate the data.

Networking

There is hardly one business application without networking capabilities these days. The basic networking knowledge really gives you the insight of data flow existing in the today’s IT environments. This knowledge is the indispensable base to allow you to extend your knowledge to reach the coming technologies that form the e-commerce sports ground. It gives you the luxury and comfort to absorb, adapt, and conquer any acronym beasts, HTTP, SOAP or WSDL, to name a few. Once you grasp the basic concept of modern networking, you would feel that actually the ceiling is not that high and different faces do not make things that differently inside.

There are certain compressed ways to engage in networking knowledge. Given an example, Microsoft provides an exam named Network Essential. The coverage of the exam truly represents the basic networking knowledge. Similar exchangeable exam is also offered from network product vendor such as Sun Micro system.

Security

New technology such as Internet and the broadly availability of networked data exchange bring great attention to the security aspect of IT. Even still at early stage, the requirement of security knowledge is increasingly becoming a crucial ingredient of basic IT skill.

Security is a very unique area that it could saturate into any corner of IT computing environments, and in the mean time, it could be easily neglected. In general, IT security is consisting of Authorization, Accessibility, Confidentiality and Encryption. The knowledge is listed from policies on paper, basic access control, and utilization of specialized software/hardware to full implementation of PKI (Public Key Infrastructure). In the beginning, at least the continuing security awareness should be imposed into the basic IT skills.

• The nuts-and-bolts programming and easy-to-document support jobs will have all gone to third-party providers in the U.S. or abroad. -The company’s core IT team must not only have a technology background, but also know the business sector inside and out, can architect and carry out IT plans that will add business value, and can cultivate relationships both inside and outside the company.
• The skills required to land future technical roles will be honed outside of IT. Some of these skills will come from artistic talents, math excellence or even a knack for public speaking — producing a combination of skills not commonly seen in the IT realm.
• Expertise in areas such as financial engineering, technology and mathematics will come together to form the next round of imaginative tools and technologies.
• IT workers will be involved in information integration and systems integration, or customer service. They’ll be working with people from different types of channels. IT workers must be able to think about process design and management.
• Six out of 10 people affiliated with IT will assume business-facing roles, according to Gartner.
• The IT workforce will become smaller. Gartner predicts that by 2010, 10% to 15% of IT professionals will leave their IT occupations as a result of the automation of tasks or because of a lack of interest in the sector.

So, what IT jobs will be hot tomorrow? There is no secret; today’s high-end jobs are the hot ones tomorrow, — business enterprise architects, business technologists, systems analysts and project managers. Thus, if you are in IT now, try to get in one of these jobs in the next five years. Don’t be a pure technologist. Make a move to the business side.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that you don’t need technical skills in future IT jobs. But there’s much more of a need for the business skills, the more rounded skills. There will be much more emphasis on the business domain and on project management skills than on the technical skills. To survive and thrive, IT professionals must expand their knowledge base and stretch beyond their comfort zones.

It’s time build the right skills for tomorrow’s IT:

Business Domain

- Enterprise architecture
- Project leadership
- Business process re-engineering
- Project planning, budgeting and scheduling
- Third-party provider managers

Enterprise architects in the areas of technology, security and data are expected to play key roles in integrating both systems and cultures in corporate mergers and acquisitions.

Technology Infrastructure and Services

- Systems analysis
- Systems design
- Network design
- Systems auditing
- Routine coding
- Systems testing
- Support and help desk

In the future we expect steep decline in programming and operations jobs since these roles will go overseas or more likely be automated.

Wondering what else will be moved out, here’s the general rule: The more a task can get codified or changed into explicit instructions or documentation, the more likely it can get transferred. The more likely it can be transferred, the more likely someone will come along and will develop tools to reduce even further the number of people required to do the job. Based on this rule, nothing is safe. You think design and analysis tasks should be kept in house? Those tasks are frequently outsourced, although may not be offshore.

Server and Security

- IT security planning and management
- Continuity and recovery
- Storage administrator (with SAN specialization)

For those who are mot familiar with SAN, it stands for storage-area network. A storage-area network routes data to storage devices according to rules that administrators set up. It overcomes geographic limitations. When globalization heating up, SAN administration will be a huge issue going forward simply because of the amount of data we have to deal with.

Application and Internet Development

- Customer-facing application development
- Customer-facing Web application systems
- Legacy skills
- Artificial intelligence

Business Intelligence

- Analysis and reporting
- Data warehousing
- Data mining

Which area of IT do you expect will experience the most growth in jobs in the next five years? Here’s a list from computer World:

1. Web services
2. Wireless/mobile
3. Business intelligence
4. Service-oriented architecture
5. Identity management
6. Disaster recovery/continuity planning
7. Data management/business analytics
8. E-business
9. RFID
10. Antivirus protection

Last comment, if you want to work in IT, you want to work in Web application systems. But you’d better also really know the business and the customer. Future IT workers are expected to do more than simply build things; they must also communicate with co-workers who spend a lot of time with customers or connect with the customers themselves to quickly make changes to process.

2.  How long will it take you to realize each of the goals you have written in step 1?  A goal without a deadline is a daydream.  Deadlines are essential to create the drive necessary for success.

3.  Determine what short range or intermediate goals you may set and achieve that will keep you moving in the direction of the major goals you are pursuing.  Even the movement toward and accomplishment of small goals is motivational and exciting.  These make the continued pursuit of your major goals endurable and much more enjoyable.

4.  How much effort are you willing to put into the pursuit of your goals?  If there are limitations, you are after the wrong goal.  Any obstacle between you and what you want can be removed by having the short range goals directed toward that removal.  If it is what you want, no price is too high and no obstacle to high, wide or deep.

5.  Keep your goals – short, intermediate, and long range – in your mind’s eye, always.  Know what need to be done, always.  Consider a camera taking a picture.  If the camera is 10% out of focus, the picture will be at least 10% out of focus.  If your goal is out of your mind’s eye 10% of the time, you reduce your chance of reaching that goal by at least 10%.  Remember, “Anything you vividly imaging..”  Keep your goals in focus.

From The Alpha-Netics Rapid Reading Program by Owen d. Skousen

Probably one of the most frustrating experiences is not being able to break into the job market that you are always interested in, – the Information Technology (IT). There are several things you can do to gain some experience to break into IT.

The first thing to do is to get your hands dirty and set up your own IT lab at home. Most of IT skills can be learned by yourself with a computer and a few software applications from free download on the web. Setting up your home IT lab will force you learn the real thing and will increase your own self confidence.

To setup your home IT lab, you need to select, setup, and possibly upgrade the computer hardware, configure operating systems; install routers, cables, and connect to the internet, install printers and external drives; select, download, and install software tools and databases. Just play around with your lab, that’s already quite some experience.

After you’ve gained some experience with your home IT lab, you are ready to go out…

Contact friends that have small businesses or offices where you can provide services. If you have some experience in Windows, LAN network, web design, Microsoft Office, etc, volunteer to come in and help. If you establish your credibility as an expert, they might ask you to train the staff and administer their small network. A small group of these accounts can net you some good part-time experience fill some good stuff in your resume.

Try doing some volunteer work. Check with neighborhood grade schools and high schools to see whether they have any volunteer work for you. Churches and other nonprofit groups might be anxious to have your assistance and willing to write letters of recommendation for you.

An old adage says, “What you know is not as important as who you know.” To get to know people in IT, you must start to network next.

Attend Microsoft TechNet or other IT vendor sponsored seminars in your area and network with people you meet there. Pass out business cards, talk about your experience, and express your interest in obtaining an IT position.

Visit computer shows or computer swap meets and network with the people you meet there. Pass out more business cards.

Visit large computer stores in your area and hang out near the computer books and magazines. When you see someone looking at books in your area of expertise, strike up a conversation and give them a business card.

Computer stores have peak needs for PC assemblers and will consider part-timers or interns for this work. Personally visit all the stores in your area with more business cards.

Visit training centers in the area and volunteer to help them with their room setups for classes.

Locate the nearest user groups in your area and attend regularly. Hand out more business cards. Check the web for user groups that might interest you and put you in contact with other IT pros.

There are many openings in IT but some positions are never publicly advertised. Part of the key is getting your name out in as many places as possible. That’s why the business cards are a good idea. Even if you don’t have a full time IT job or out of the field, you may still print your business card giving yourself an IT job title such as PC Technician, Network Administrator, Software Developer, Database Analyst, IT Consultant, etc. Getting your name out there might be valuable not only to help you get some experience, but to help you land a well-paid full-time position in the future.

IT industry is huge and skills are many. Generally speaking, IT skills may be developed in the following areas:

• Programming skills
• Database skills
• System and network skills
• Architecture Design skills
• Integration and COTS skills

Programming Skills

Programming skills are essential to IT career success. Many of us stated IT career from programming jobs. Programming skills are about coding computer programs using a computer language. Some of widely used computer languages are Java, C/C++, Visual Basic (VB), C#, and Pascal (Delphi).  Newer languages like Ruby and Python are getting hotter nowadays.
Database Skills

Database skills are so important. No mater what’s your focus in IT career, you got to have some database skills in order to stand tall in IT industry. Database skills include data modeling, database design, database analysis, data warehousing, and database administration. Your database skills should be built on the leading database technologies – Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, IBM DB2, and Sybase.

System and Network Skills

System and network skills are about designing, installing, configuring, and managing operating systems in a networking environment. The network configurations could be LAN (local area network), WAN (wide area network), or wireless. The most common operating systems are UNIX, Windows, and Linux.  System and network security is a hot sub-area worth your investoment of time and effort.
Architecture Design Skills

Software system architecture designs are high level skills in IT career. While programming jobs are moving to offshore, system architecture design professionals will stay in America. To make your IT career secure, you should acquire more skills in system architecture design. Currently most software system architectures are designed on two leading platforms, – J2EE and .NET.

Integration and COTS skills

Integration and COTS skills are specialized and very valuable. These skills are about mastering one of COTS (commercial off the shelf) software packages that could be ERP, CRM, PLM, or enterprise asset management system. Systems from different vendors or running on different platforms are often needed to work together, that’s where system integration skills apply.

1. Stay on focus
There are so many things and aspects in IT.  It’s hard to succeed if you try to know everything.  Focus on a few key skills and technologies and become really good on them.  Successful IT professionals are most likely specialists rather than generalists.

2. Be a quick learner
New technologies and developments emerge everyday in IT industry.  Successful IT professionals are aware of the trends and changes, and keep themselves up to date.  Successful IT professionals learn new knowledge and skills quickly and effectively.

3. Have a long term career plan
It’s so important to plan your career to reach the full potential.  Decide which path you go – technical or management, which area  you stay – database, network, systems, ERP, J2EE, .NET, etc.  Make a plan and execute it.

4. See the big picture
In an IT project, one may only work on a isolated part, i.e., code a component.  Successful IT professionals are not satisfied by completing assignment, they always want to see the big picture – whole scope of the project, and find out what roles they play in the project, what they can do to make more contributions, and learn most from the project.

5. Acquire business knowledge
Successful IT professionals not only master technical skills such as programming, but also well understand the business that they serve.  They have deep knowledge of the industry and business logic.  They understand customer requirements from inside out.

6. Be a team player
Successful IT professionals know how to work with others to get job done.  They communicate with team members and management staff effectively.  They constantly improve their personal skills and leadership skills.

7. Keep an eye on new opportunities
IT professionals work in a dynamic and changing environment.  There are always new opportunities which offer greater potentials for career growth.  Keep an eye on them and be ready to jump onto it when you encounter one that meets your career growth needs.

Making a career roadmap can be beneficial at any stage of the game for IT professionals. No matter you’ve just broken into the IT world, re-entered workplace, or perhaps been hanging around in IT for decades, career roadmap can prove to be an powerful tool to success.

Career roadmap helps you stay on track and navigate through difficult situations such as changing jobs, switching fields, layoffs, outsource, re-organizations, mergers and acquisitions. It also helps you deal with the advent of new technology and its impact on your career.

To develop an effective IT career roadmap, you need to analyze your background, assess your intellectual assets, evaluate your experience with the industries and workplaces, identify your short term and long term goals, and document your plan and strategy to reach the goals. Your roadmap should contain the following aspects:

1. Set a Goal:
Decide want you want to accomplish in the future. One year, five years, whatever makes sense for you. Make a career goal in the aspect of financial objective, professional achievement, and self-satisfaction.

2. Select a Route:
Choose the best route to reach your goal. Find out if it is better for you to go through technical route, management route, or a kind of both. Consider both your ability and interest.

3. Find Your Spot:
Find a spot that you can fit in and focus on it. It is a special area, i.e., database, network, security, J2EE, ASP, web services, XML, where you could become a specialist. Choose the spot that is of your interest, meets your experience profile, and has growth potentials in IT industry.

4. Build Skill Inventory:
Check out what skills and experiences you have, what skills are required on your spot , and what you are missing. Identifying your strengths and weaknesses; Build skill inventory to maximize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses.

5. Clear the Path:
Remove any obstacle that blocks your way to success. If common issues such as time management and peer communication had negatively affected your career growth in the past, you need to improve yourself on them.

6. Identify Your Market:
Decide which industries you want to serve – banking, health care, manufacture, or no preference; Find out what type of companies you want to work with – small startup, Fortune 500, Non-profit, government agencies. Look for opportunities in your market.

7. Positioning and Selling:
Position yourself in the industry – Do you want to be a permanent employee, contractor, high-paid temp worker, or independent consultant? What kind of position is the most appealing for you? Market yourself accordingly and sell your strengths.

8. Make a Action Plan:
Do whatever necessary to reach the goal. Have a plan for actions – getting certified, self-training, studying tech books, learning from co-workers, enhancing skills, gaining experience from project, asking for more important role, switching spot, changing jobs, etc.

IT world is changing so rapidly that IT professionals who hope to do well are those who have an idea about where they are going and how they are going to get there. It is dangers for you to make career decisions without a real strategy behind them. Occasionally you’ll get lucky and hit the target. Most often you won’t. IT is a jungle where you get lost easily.

After you have developed your IT career roadmap, it is the most important to follow it and execute the plan. Along your career journey, you should often stop and take a look at where you are on your roadmap. You may need to re-adjust your plan according to changing conditions.

Telephone is an effective networking tool.  Call your friends and family not just when you need help, call them often to show your care and offer help also.  Email is a great way to stay in touch and tap people for information, favors and even jokes.  You should use email frequently to say hello, exchange information, and network with colleagues.

The Internet is a great media for career networking.  It links you to both job information and potential employers.  Using the Internet you can research companies, job opportunities and salaries.  You can join online forums on a special topic and meet people virtually.  Even if you’re not job hunting, go online to find out about the competition, like which companies are hiring and for what.

Professional Association is a great place to start networking. It will happen easily as you meet your peers at functions. You’ll also discover the added bonus of drawing people to you. This happens naturally as you participate, run for office, accept leadership roles, serve on committees or give presentations. Greater visibility not only makes networking comfortable but also draws people to you, adding to your career development and stature.  Similarly, religious affiliations work like professional groups and provide the advantage of working with people who share your values. Religious activities also provide opportunities for visibility, leadership and peer mentoring.

Taking courses in your field or special interests is a great way to meet peers and leaders in your discipline. Here’s another opportunity to expand your network. All it takes is a little time before or after class to chat with classmates and professors. Or stay in touch by email.

Lots of people fail to look at social events as opportunities to network. They’ll often turn down invitations to holiday parties, celebrations or fund-raising dinners, thinking they are wastes of time. Instead, these functions prove to be the best networking opportunities, because people are relaxed and in festive moods. They’ll often be more likely to respond to you in these types of situations. Next time, accept that invitation and nurture your relationships with people.

Nobody networks like politicians. When all else fails, remember who pays your representatives’ and senators’ salaries. You do. So why not tap their staffs for the information you need? Generally they’ll respond within 72 hours.

Career network cannot be built in one day.  It is a systemic project with long term plan.  Building career network is a continuing process and it is part of professional advancement.  Have you had a fairly large career network already?  You need to continue enhancing it, expanding it, and keeping it alive.  Don’t have one?  Start it now and it’s not too late.

All career network is about contact.  you contact people in regular bases so that they are able to help your career by giving you job leads, providing inside info, being your professional reference, helping you apply for a position, or even offering you a job.  The key of career network is getting in touch and keeping in touch.  While you build new contacts, you also need to keep old contacts alive.

The following tips are helpful for building your IT career network:

Invest time and energy in getting to know people and build connections.  Keep in touch with your contacts regularly.  E-mail makes it easy. Send out a quick note or pick up the phone and talk.

Develop good relationships at work with people in all levels.  Work relationships are precious assets in your career.  Don’t leave the relationships  behind you even if you leave the job.

Keep in touch with your formal co-workers and managers.  Drop an email and ask they are doing.  When you look for new jobs, you can use them as professional references.  Most employers ask for references if they consider hiring you.

If your job is IT consulting and services, you’ll meet a lot of clients and customers.  Build good relationship with them.  Beyond working relations, You may develop personal relationships with good people among your clients and customers.

Refresh connections with college classmates and alumni.  No matter what industries they work in, they can provide inside info about their IT department and projects.  They can help you apply for positions within their companies.

One great way in cultivating relationship is to volunteer in your community. Through relationships like this, you can gain access to valuable contacts which you may otherwise not have had access to. Be open to everyone you meet, you never know who may assist you in the future.

Networking through professional associations.  Associations cannot help much if you just join and pay the membership fee.  You should become an active participant.  Organize a local chapter, take the leadership role, form a group, and make presentations.

Get to know people in seminars and conferences.  A lot IT vendors, i.e., Cisco, Microsoft, etc.  often offer free seminars to introduce new products and technologies.  You’ll meet a lot of professionals with the same career interest there.

Pay attention to people and their needs.  Grasp every opportunity to offer help.  Do what ever you can to help others.  This is the most powerful network approach.