Answering the Dreaded Salary Question

At some point in most employment applications, either paper or electronic, you will come to this question or one much like it: “What salary do you expect?” If you’re like me, your answer may be, “Ten million dollars a month, paid in gold.” Fine. Got a laugh. But seriously, folks, how should we answer that question?
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Do You Really Need a Smart Phone?

My phone is as stupid as a phone can be, but you can drop it or get it wet and it will still work. My cellular cost per month is about $4, on average. My wife’s LG phone is sort of half-bright, you might say. Her plan costs $25 per month (now $35 for new users) for unlimited data use and five hours (300 minutes) of talk time. Maybe one day we’ll need smarter phones, but for now these are fine.
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The Art of the Deal: Essential Knowledge for IT Consultants

The Art of the Deal is the title of a book by Donald Trump. I am not endorsing this book, which I haven’t read. I am, however, endorsing the concept embodied in its title, because for an IT consultant, which you may either be now or may someday become, deal-making is an essential skill.
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Dice.com Senior Editor Talks About the IT Job Market (video)

Mark Feffer totally has his finger on the pulse of the IT job market, and says security is the #1 job-finding buzzword today.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/nMcdSkXdunU" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Christmas is NOT the Time to Stop Job-Hunting

I’ve heard it and so have you: “Nobody hires at Christmas time, so I might as well hang up my job hunt until after January 1.” This is not necessarily so. Hiring may slow down around Christmas, but there are fewer people actively looking for jobs. Could it be that Christmas is a good time to look for work?
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Once Again, Foote Partners Says IT Is a Great Field To Be In

“In an analysis of Friday’s release of the November 2011 U.S. employment numbers by the Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics (DOL/BLS), Foote Partners reports a net gain of 9,600 jobs in two IT services job sectors — Management and Technical Consulting Services and Computer Systems Design and Related Services — representing the eighteenth consecutive month of positive job growth in these job segments.” All right! Once again, it’s better to work in IT than in almost any other field.
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Volunteer Your Skills and Time for a Political Cause

I’m not saying what kind of political cause is best or whether you should choose liberal, conservative, libertarian or socialist candidates to support. But I urge any American who knows anything at all about the Internet and how to make a website — or promote a Twitter or Facebook account — to become politically active.
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Keep Your Home Office Secure

Alan Young, CEO of a company called Armor Concepts, says up to 85% of all break-ins are “kick to enter” jobs. In other words, the intruder kicks in your door, grabs stuff that looks valuable, and runs.

Alan has some advice about how you can make a thief’s job harder.
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Which Certification Exams Should I Take?

My respected friend and colleauge Ed Tittel recently wrote a piece titled The Top 5 Information Security Certifications. But I have another way of deciding which industry certification exams are meaningful for you: do the certifying bodies help you find a (better) job?
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“Cloud” Is a Meaningless Computing Buzzword

Michael Bremmer of Telecomquotes.com, who claims more than 22 years in the IT service space, says, “Cloud computing isn’t new or even a fad, but a return to technology’s roots. (All things old are really new again!)” He’s right. “The 80′s,” he points out, “began the era of the ‘personal computer’ with removable storage (remember floppy drives?) and hard drives. Before this, it was all ‘cloud computing’ — dumb terminals hooked to a larger and not very smart computer over expensive leased lines.”
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