By Paul McNamara
Network World, 07/23/01

You're suddenly getting more membership applications from AARP than those pesky credit card companies. This can mean only one thing: Your days as a network professional are numbered.

Which isn't to say your work is done. On the contrary, you've got a few good years left - maybe more than a few - and looming retirement can be a catalyst for accomplishments great and small.

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It's in this spirit that we offer our suggestions for 10 things to do before you retire.

1. Shouts of "You da man!" stopped being funny on the golf course long ago. However, being "da man" or "da woman" remains a burning preretirement ambition for network professionals, including many respondents to Network World's annual online You survey. CIO seems to be the title of choice, according to our informal survey. But a few are aiming even higher: CEO or, for those with an entrepreneurial bent, founder.

Careful what you wish for, lest retirement come sooner than you anticipated.

2.  How about a U-turn at the corner office? No survey participant owned up to harboring the notion, but here's betting at least one net executive out there would just love to spend his or her final work years away from the boardroom politics and back on the front lines.

Why not? ... It's only money.

3. Pro athletes are always talking about "giving back" to the fans. A few are even sincere about the idea.

You're a pro, too, and while you don't make millions, you'd still like to give something back to your community before that gold watch arrives.

So pick a favorite charity, school or political organization. Chances are, it would welcome your network expertise almost as much as a fat check. If you can bring your company's clout to bear, so much the better.

4. Here's a sanitized version of an old oil-country bumper sticker: "Please Lord, just give us one more boom and I promise not to toss this one away."

What network executive isn't hoping against hope to see one more boom - or at least a boomlet - where budget allocations, salary increases and stock options flow like springtime snowmelt in the Rockies.

Just ... one ... more.

This time you'll make hay while the sun is shining, and avoid all those greedy, foolish mistakes that have folks hip-deep in hot water today ... Right?

5. Not many of you submitted what you might call "fantasy entries" in our You survey. But who hasn't at least once dreamed of telling the big boss with the grand plan that he wouldn't recognize reality if it nipped him on the kneecap.

"Listen," you hear yourself telling him, "I could stand here and prattle on about how we'll have that project wrapped in under the six months you've decreed and for less than the $1 million you've given us. You'll believe me, too, 'cuz my kid knows more about this stuff than you do.

"But, I'm not going to do that song and dance. I'm going to tell you the truth - both because my mom didn't raise no liars, and somebody's got to keep this company out of the toilet."

Might want to make sure you're fully vested before trying this speech.

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6. The survey did produce at least one fantasy aspiration.

"Just once," this dreamer writes, "I'd like to have a project implemented on its technical merits, rather than slaughtered by the accountants."

That's not asking for too much.

7. Forget the cliché: You can indeed teach an old, network dog new tricks, according to our readers, even with retirement clearly on the horizon. Doesn't matter where you stand on the corporate ladder, either. A number of network executives even talk about a desire to earn specific certifications, such as their CCIE stripes. "Learn as much as possible," suggests one. "Money and titles don't really matter."

Hey, let's not get carried away.

8. Leave a legacy that goes beyond those stories about your exploits at the company Christmas party. Could be an e-commerce initiative, a security overhaul or a top-to-bottom reorganization, but make it a big one. As one survey respondent put it: "Be able to point to something and say, 'I did that.'"

9. Sure, you'll be able to travel all you want when life is a year-round holiday. But why wait until you've lost the corporate American Express card to get started?

Pick out a trade show in some exotic locale. Go on the company nickel.

Don't ask permission.

10. Finally, that '70s one-hit-wonder Dr. Hook may not have had the 21st century network executive in mind when he penned the band's lone hit "Cover of the Rolling Stone," but don't let that stop you from taking to heart the song's defining lyric:

"We keep getting richer, but we can't get our picture

On the cover of the Rolling Stone ..."

Since your best rock 'n' roll days are over, forget about Rolling Stone. You definitely should be shooting to get your mug on the cover of Network World. You'll want to buy five copies for your mother.

Related links

Tech Corps
An organization that helps you volunteer your time and expertise in schools in your community.
Tech Corps

Voluntech.org
See how pros in the New York area donate their time.
Voluntech.org

Nonprofits can offer you a whole different kind of wealth
Consider committing some quality unpaid time to nonprofit or humanitarian organizations.
Network World on Careers newsletter, 05/12/99

Volunteer for adventure
How IT workers are doing the right thing and putting their technical talent to use for good causes.
Network World, 6/8/98

NetSmart
Offers IT education and training, online learning, certification practice tests and more.
Network World, Inc.

The road to CCIE
IT professional Jeff Shapiro lets us tag along as he earns his Cisco certification.
Network World, 05/14/01

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