The following article shatters the misconception that one needs a four
year degree to earn big bucks as an information technology professional.
The opportunities and now the training are out there for those interested.

                                      kelly

   A QUICK STUDY
   By Diana Kunde
   The Dallas Morning News
   April 25, 1999

   Talk to Ann Cook, 40, who was a stay-at-home mom for 14 years until
   she enrolled in an intensive five-month course in Microsoft systems
   engineering at Southern Methodist University. A year after finishing,
   she's director of technical marketing and support for SystemIP, a
   fast-growing Dallas information systems consulting firm.

   "Right now, I feel like I'm living someone else's life," she said.

   Or talk to Jim Walgren, 33, who earns in the mid-$60,000s as a systems
   engineer in Dallas taking care of e-mail and messaging systems for an
   international division of Bank of America.

   Walgren, who is a quadriplegic, was laid off from a $10-an-hour
   customer service job when his employer moved its operations. He, too,
   completed SMU's five-month course and became certified as a Microsoft
   computer professional.

   "In about a year's time, I tripled what I was making when I was laid
   off. It's been a phenomenal ride," said Walgren, who finished his
   coursework in May 1997.

   Not everyone who takes technical courses has such a success story to
   tell. And many information technology jobs require years of study in
   such fields as electrical engineering or computer science.

   But there are also good jobs standing open for folks who can be
   trained relatively quickly in specific skills. For instance, the rapid
   spread of information technology has spawned the need for an army of
   systems engineers and network administrators -- people who set up
   personal computer networks, service them, troubleshoot or do disaster
   recovery when things go wrong.

   "The kinds of labor shortages the industry is suffering span the whole
   spectrum," said Frank Giebutowski, general manager/south central
   district for Microsoft Corp.

   SMU's school of engineering launched its first advanced computer
   education center, which primarily teaches Microsoft certification
   skills, in Richardson, Texas, in 1995. Since then, the school has
   added three more Texas centers in Plano, Houston and San Antonio. The
   centers offer training for certification in other operating systems
   and programming languages, but Microsoft Windows training is in the
   most demand because the technology is so widely used, officials said.

   About half of the SMU students are technically proficient and want to
   add a new skill. But the other half are changing careers, said David
   VonZurmuehlen, director of marketing at SMU's computer education
   center.

   In Illinois, Microsoft offers classes in cooperation with community
   colleges in the Chicago area as well as in Champaign and Peoria. In
   addition, the software giant is helping fund a joint project with the
   U.S. Department of Labor and Green Thumb Inc., a Virginia-based
   nonprofit organization, to train people age 55 and over.

   Older workers who graduate from a six-week Austin, Texas, pilot
   project are landing entry-level jobs on computer help desks, said
   Diane Cowan, regional director for Green Thumb. Most start at $10 to
   $11 an hour but can progress to higher pay as they learn more. The
   program is expanding into other cities.

   Despite the number of achievers, it isn't easy to switch gears.

   Several of the 25 students who started the systems engineering course
   at SMU with Mark Richter in the fall of 1997 dropped out. According to
   the group's Web site, six have completed the battery of tests that
   certify them as Microsoft systems engineers. Another five have a
   Microsoft-certified professional designation, which requires passing
   fewer tests.

   Richter, 38, a theology major in college, was facilities supervisor in
   prepress operations for TV Guide in Dallas before spotting an ad for
   SMU's program.

   "It's rigorous. You have to lock yourself up in a room and study," he
   said. Richter got his certification last June but had already begun
   work for Dalfort Aerospace in Dallas. He's now manager of information
   systems and is thinking about starting on an MBA.

   Juanita Rodriguez, a 29-year-old single mother and office manager for
   SystemIP, went more slowly, even repeating some classes because she
   couldn't take time off from work or motherhood to cram. "With little
   or no background, I strongly feel it's overwhelming," said Rodriguez,
   who nevertheless has passed two certification tests.

   Her employer is an example of the field's possibilities. B.W.
   Lightsey, SystemIP's president, was a mechanical engineer for 15 years
   before quitting a manufacturing job in 1997 to retool himself. He and
   Cook, the firm's director of technical marketing, were in the same SMU
   class.


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