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.