Advice appreciated-

I don't have too much experience myself (starting on 2000 MCSE), but I work with someone who just got his DBA and is getting into Cold Fusion. From what I hear (pro that I am , DBA's are hard to come by. So if you are willing to go for the DBA cert, GO FOR IT! Cold Fusion seems to be the wave of the future, at least where I work, and there is not a big pool of people that have this experience under their belt yet.

I don't think I could go for this myself, just because my interests lie more in designing networks and infrastructures, and even thinking of designing/managing Databases makes my head hurt. But it seems more and more, this is where the money is. - hmmm... possibly time for a change....

-AG

Assuming you feel you have talent in several areas, you may want to check out the various sites that have salary surveys and reports re: numbers of jobs (IT magazines often have them) and get a feel for the market. With that in mind, browse a bookstore and look at the cntent for the various options that interest you. You don't want to bother training for something that doesn't interest you, that you can't find a job in, or doesn't pay well enough to support you.

Any specific technology is going to have it's specific lifespan where it starts hot, matures then becomes legacy. Get your certs. but don't get locked into any specific product.

Databases are going to be around forever and will continue to grow importance as data mining matures. The technologies that make up those DBs will change constantly however as will the technologies that support them.

Also, don't get too caught up in just money. Pretty much any IT field will pay decent money and better money to those who are talented. To make "big" money you may have to make frequent career changes as the biggest money tends to follow whatever technology is "hot" at the moment.

Focus on what you're good at and enjoy and keep the rest of the lifestyle equation in focus as well. The biggest money isn't worth it if you don't have the time or you're too wiped out from work to enjoy it.

I do not want to sound like I am money driven- I just dont want to have to ever worry about money. If I choose an area that is generally higher in pay then I have leverage to be able to eventually work 4-3 days a week, for example, while being able to have what I NEED. Flexiblity.

What would YOU all do if you could start from scratch with the current and future technologies at hand? Perhaps that is the best question.

Great insight so far, thank you!

Blake

well most companies love a person who specializes in one area, but can easily move to another, right now I special in software development, but I have side tasks, such as managing the hardware, administering the network, so forth. But I think the folks above wernt saying you were money hungry, they just want to make sure you keep a balance, for example dont get into a job because of money, get into a job you enjoy, lucky for some of us, the IT industry pays enough for us to survive, and most of us enjoy it alot. But if I had to start from scratch, it really depends on where I'd want to go, then I could decide what technologies to look into.