Career focus in IT or Freelance On-line

[101newbie]

I really need some practical advise, in the best IT field or college course to take, in order to be prepared for the most most popular, or demanding trends in the future!

I'm currently taking a college Business course, that seems dry and almost boring, even if it is needed. I would much prefer to invest my time and money in a course, that I enjoyed or could use in the future.

Any advise would be appreciated. Thank You!

 

[chiph]

What sort of company do you see yourself working for?

Or do you see yourself working for yourself, and not someone else?

Chip H.


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[101newbie]

Chip

Thanks for reply.

I see myself working for myself, eventially. I would like to use any education or skills to run a bussiness on-line or freelance!

Im retired and taking a college business course. Although, Im making good grades, I've got the feeling, that most companies are going to want a little more from a retired guy who needs to go freelance

 

[mmorancbt]

Chances are you already have knowledge/experience you can leverage with a new position. I have freelanced for more than 10 years and am currently writing a book for Cisco Press on the subject.

Really the book it is a bit broader than just freelancing. It deals with technology consulting from part-time, full-time independent, small-firm, and larger consulting firm work.

A few things to note:

I believe office automation is and will continue to be in demand for both large and small companies.

Of course, security is and will continue to be in demand. However, going this route, you should get some a strong understanding of networking in general, and systems design and integration.

Tools for network and system automation are great because they take you beyond the rank and file technologist. These would include: vbscript, wsh, adsi in the Windows world. Javascript, Perl, PHP, Python, in unix/linux world. Take tedious tasks away through automation - which allows you to focus on making technology a business value-add.

Okay, I've covered a lot of ideas and there are more but you need to find those areas that get you going - that you enjoy!

Matthew Moran
Read my career blog at:

http://www.cbtoolkit.com

Musings:

http://matthewmoran.blogspot.com

Todo esta bien.. Todo esta divertido (it's all good, it's all fun)

 

[chiph]

101newbie -
Go read some of Joel's blog entries, starting at:

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/navLinks/fog0000000247.html

He's the guy who put VBA into MS-Excel (and ultimately, all of Office). He left Microsoft several years ago and started his own firm in New York. It might be educational to read his early posts about how he started the business.

Chip H.


____________________________________________________________________
If you want to get the best response to a question, please read FAQ222-2244 first

 

[101newbie]

Matthew and Chip

Thank you both, for this advise! It is exactly what I need to know, and thanks for the URLs! I always seem to be searching the web for the books, ebooks or software on subjects that interest me.

Matthew, I bought your book, and I'll probably will need to impose on you with more questions throughout the book.

Chip, Joel's site seems to be another source, of good information. I couldn't help, but take the tour of the software, I found on his site:"City Desk", and found that it would be great for Site Blogs,Disscussions and content Management.

It seems, I have a lot of reading to do.

Thanks Again

 

[mmorancbt]

Thank you and good luck.

 

[chiph]

Glad you found Joel's site useful. Be careful about posting in the discussion groups -- they don't like "newbie" type questions. You should spend 90+% of your time reading before posting.

Chip H.


____________________________________________________________________
If you want to get the best response to a question, please read FAQ222-2244 first