Hey GeekDyke! Can I be a Geek, Too?

Now, that's a lovely refreshing question. Maybe you had a prerequisite computer class back in your college days and you think it's time for a career change (or hey, maybe it's time for a career for you baby dykes out there). Everyone is talking about the IT people shortage. So you want to jump on the information bandwagon and start making the big bucks, right?

In the perfect world, this would be an easy task. Headhunters would be banging down your door and have your phone jumping off the hook. Fortune 500 companies would be outbidding each other for your time with lucrative offers, really cute womyn would beg for your expertise and the money would be rolling in. Unfortunately, this isn't a perfect world and it'll take a little more than that.

The good news is that, even with a little knowledge and some dedication and hard work, you can enter the world of Information Technology on a professional basis. First and foremost, play. Experiment. Have fun with your computer. Try installing and uninstalling software. Work with different applications. Many have free trial demos that you can download. Instead of taking your machine to a "professional" to upgrade it, do it yourself. Along the same lines of playing, you need to read. Read everything you possibly can about computers. Check these web sites out on a daily basis. Keep pushing yourself to learn more.

Once you get a general overall feel, it would be a good time to decide your area of focus. Many employers want someone who is an expert in one thing, a specific programming language or architecture, but some want someone who can do it all, include leap small buildings. You need to find what you're good at in IT and concentrate on that, but don't forget about secondary skills that are essential to survival in the circuit board jungle.

Let's just say you're dying to be a Linux administrator. You go and buy or download the latest Red Hat distribution. You destroy your clunky Windoze machine and build this sleek, built-for-networking monster. No longer do you contemplate the BSD (Blue Screen of Death, for you newbies. If you're not sure what I mean, email me). Now you have a computer capable of near-perfect proportions. But you also have a cursor just blinking at you. So you get a lovely Linux Admin Book from Amazon.com and now you're back in business.

After many perils (core dumps are not cool!), you feel confident to conquer the corporate world running Linux. All of a sudden, you're adding users, hooking up printers, etc. Then you realize you can automate this stuff with a simple perl or shell script, but you don't know how to program. Maybe you can find someone to write a short one for you, but chances are you will need to learn this yourself. Back to Amazon.com.

Call it whatever you want (I call it job security!), but this field is changing every day. Be prepared to change with the times. A language you learned last month could be obsolete this month. Don't get too frustrated. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Learn from them and try not to repeat them. As with many ventures in life, there's a learning curve. It's tough at first, but hang in there. Soon you'll be coasting downhill and, grrl, what a wonderful ride.

Sincerely, Your friendly neighborhood GeekDyke