What it takes to get ahead in IT and beyond

Good economy or not, people often ask: What can I do to get ahead in business? How can I stand out above the noise to enhance my career? How can I be a better network engineer, information security administrator, IT manager, speaker, writer and so on...?

Whether you work for yourself or for someone else the answer is the same. You simply seek out the people who are at the top of their fields and do what they do. That's it. You don't have to ask these experts directly, you don't have to pay to take some advanced training classes. Instead you simply see what experts in your line of business are doing how they think and model yourself after them.

Twitter, blogs and other social media provide a great way to follow what these people are doing, how they think, how they’re positioning themselves and the niche they create. It's amazing stuff that has worked for me and it can work for you.

So, seek out the people you respect which will likely be the people writing, presenting and evangelizing in the subject areas that you have an interest and go from there.

For additional reading, here are some links to articles I've written on the subject of enhancing your career in IT and beyond as well as my audio programs on IT and information security careers.