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To become a lawyer, you must graduate from law school and pass the Bar Exam. But to become a computer expert,
there's no particular exam to pass, and no particular piece of paper that "proves" you're an expert or even competent.
You can get a job in the computer industry even if you've never had any training. Your job will be sweeping the floor.
To become a top computer expert, you must study hard, day and night. Read lots of computer manuals, textbooks,
guidebooks, magazines, newspapers, and newsletters. Practice using many kinds of computers, operating systems,
languages, word-processing programs, spreadsheets, database systems, graphics packages, and telecommunications
programs. Also explore the many educational programs for kids. Use many kinds of printers, disk drives, and modems.
Study the human problems of dealing with computers. No matter how much you already know, learn more!
When I surveyed computer experts, I found that the average expert still spends two hours per day reading about
computers, to fill holes in the expert's background and learn what happened in the computer industry that day!
In addition to those two hours, the expert spends many more hours practicing what was read and swapping ideas
by chatting with other computerists.
As a computer expert, you can choose your own hours, but they must be numerous: if your interest in computers
lasts just from 9 AM to 5 PM, you'll never become a computer expert.
To break into the computer field, you can use six tools: college, home consulting, home programming, salesmanship,
job expansion, and on-the-job training.
College
The most traditional way to get a computer job is to go to college and get a Ph.D. or M.A. in computer science.
Unfortunately, that takes a lot of time
Home Consulting
The fastest way to break into the field is to keep your current job but spend your weekends and evenings helping
your neighbors, friends, and colleagues learn about computers. Help them buy hardware and software. Then customize
the software to meet their own personal needs. Then train them in how to use it all.
At first, do it all for free. After you've become an experienced expert and developed a list of happy clients who
will vouch for your brilliance, start requesting money from new clients. Start cheaply, at about $10 per hour, then
gradually raise your rates over the next few years.
Home Programming
You can write computer programs at home to sell to friends and software publishers, but make sure your programs serve
a real need and don't duplicate what's already on the market. Be creative.
Salesmanship
For a quicker career path, learn enough about microcomputers to get a job selling them in a store. As a salesperson,
you'll be helping people decide which hardware and software to buy; you'll be acting as a consultant.
The store will probably give you permission to take hardware, software, and literature home with you, so you can
study and practice new computer techniques every evening and become brilliant. If you wish, you can even moonlight
by helping your customers use the software they bought and designing your own customized programs for them.
After working in the store several months, you'll have the knowledge, experience, contacts, and reputation to establish
yourself as an independent consultant. You can call your former customers and become their advisor, trainer, and programmer -
or even set up your own store.
Job expansion
Another way to break into the field is to take a non-computer job and gradually enlarge its responsibilities, so that it
involves computers.
For example, if you're a typist, urge your boss to let you use a word processor. If you're a clerk, ask permission to use
spreadsheet and data-management programs to manage your work more efficiently. If you're a math teacher, ask the principal
to let you teach a computer course or help run the school's computer club.
On-the-job training
The final way to break into the field is to get a job in a computer company, as a janitor or clerk, and gradually move up
by using the company's policy of free training for employees.
Set your rates
If somebody's interested in hiring you to be a programmer or consultant, you must decide what rate to charge.
If this is your first such job, be humble and charge very little because your first job's main goal should not be money.
Instead, your goal should be to gain experience, enhance your reputation, and find somebody you can use as a reference and
who'll give you a good recommendation. Convince your first employer that you're the best bargain he ever got, so that he'll
be wildly enthusiastic about you and give you a totally glowing recommendation when you go seek your second job.
Asking for a raise
After several months on the job, when you've thoroughly proved that you're much more than you're being paid, and your
employer is thoroughly thrilled with your performance, gently ask your employer for a slight raise. If he declines,
continue working at that job, but also keep your eyes open for a better alternative.
Negotiating a contract
The fundamental rule of contract negotiation is: never make a large commitment.
For example, suppose somebody offers to pay you $10,000 if you write a fancy program. Don't accept the offer; the commitment
is too large. Instead, request $1,000 for writing a stripped-down version of the program.
After writing the stripped-down version, wait and see whether you get the $1,000; if you get it without any hassles, then
agree to make the version slightly fancier, for a few thousand dollars more. That way, if you have an argument you’re your
employer (which is common), you've lost only $1,000 of effort instead of $10,000.
About the Article:
This material is excerpted from the 25th edition of The Secret Guide to Computers, copyright 1998 by Russ Walter and
reprinted with permission at the http://www.internetmarketinglearningcenter.com. Get FREE LITERATURE about the complete
Guide by phoning Russ at 603-666-6644, 24 hours (he's almost always in); or send a postcard to him at 196 Tiffany Lane,
Manchester NH 03104-4782.
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