8 Tips for Landing a Job in 2008

1. Come prepared for the interview. This sounds like a no-brainer, but hiring managers are increasingly looking for candidates who can do more than a "tech interview."

They may ask you to explain your past experiences or how you would handle certain situations on the job, says Jill Herrin, CEO of JDResources, Inc., a Memphis-based recruiter. These and other inquiries help employers to determine your communications skills as well as your technical knowledge.

2. Talk business. Prospective employers also want to know whether you understand how systems and applications affect various business divisions, Herrin says. "Technical interviews are still an important component to an interview process, but rarely are they the only determining factor anymore," he explains.

"We want somebody with technical acumen but I would like to know that these people know the basis for making money," says Frank Hood, CIO at Quiznos in Denver.

3. Work your relationships. Employers and job candidates alike are jumping on the use of social networks such as LinkedIn and Facebook to connect with college alumni, former business associates and mentors "to get better access to the inside jobs," says Dan Reynolds, CEO of Princeton, N.J.-based staffing firm The Brokers Group LLC.

You should too.

And if you're an entry-level candidate, social networks are a great way for you to get a foot in the door, says Michael Nieset, managing partner for Heidrick & Struggles' technology practice in Cleveland. You can identify and connect with potential employers through entry-level job listings on social networks.

4. Dot your "i"s. Make sure your resume and project accomplishments are clearly documented using proper English and correct spelling.

"You won't even make it past the first gate" if your resume' is sloppy, says Robert Rosen, immediate past president of SHARE and CIO at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases in Bethesda, Md.

5. Strut your stuff. Effective resumes are direct and succinct. Hiring managers want to see what you've achieved. "Employers want to see 'I managed this, I coordinated that'," says Reynolds. "They don't want to see 'assisted with this' or 'supported that.'" I

f you weren't the project leader on a particular effort, underscore what you did contribute. If you're a systems administrator, point out the importance of your role in a critical project and whether the effort was delivered under budget or ahead of schedule, says Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director at Robert Half Technology in Menlo Park, Calif.

6. Keep learning. Employers want IT workers who have a demonstrated thirst for knowledge and a willingness to learn new things. Pick up certifications in hot technologies or take an evening course at a local community college to improve your business acumen.

Then flaunt it. "Education is absolutely vital to further your career in IT," says Neill Hopkins, vice president of skills development at the Computing Technology Industry Association Inc. in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.

7. Do what it takes to appear employable. If you're currently unemployed and seeking a full-time position, find a temporary position or work as a contractor, says Joel Reiter, an application analyst at U.S. Bancorp in St. Paul, Minn. It's "a good way of erasing a period of time where you didn't have a job." he says.

It's also important to demonstrate determination and flexibility, says Joe Trentacosta, CIO at the Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative in Hughesville. "Programmers need to be willing to step out of their comfort zone and learn new technologies, to work nights and weekends if necessary," he says. "It shows that they're willing to be aggressive and to learn new technologies."

8. Get a foot in the door. Don't hesitate to take a temporary position, a contract or a temp-to-hire job. As demand for IT workers has ticked up, rates for contractors are also on the rise, having jumped 3% to 5% over the past five months for IT contractors in general and by 10% to 15% for people with highly sought skills such as J2ee and open source programming abilities, says Reynolds.

"Once you come in as a temp or a contractor, no one is really looking at your resume. They're looking at whether you can or can't do a particular job," says Reiter.

IBM dishes five predictions for the future

IBM's last installment of its annual 'Next Five in Five' list looks forward to intelligent traffic systems and energy grids, more organic food, and better technology for doctors

Drained by your commute? Blood-sucking utility bills got you down? Wondering if that tomato in your dinner salad was really organic?

The cures to those ills and more may arrive within five years, according to IBM.

The company recently released its second annual set of "Next Five in Five" predictions, visions that sketch out a future where driving is a relative pleasure, eco-friendly devices save you money, and super doctors use advanced technology to probe your body's innermost depths in search of disease.

IBM's contention that driving will become safer and less aggravating may be particularly tantalizing for many.

The company said that during the next five years, a "wave of connectivity" between vehicles and roadways will help keep traffic flowing smoothly, drive down pollution, and get you to your destination easier, "without the stress."

This will be accomplished through "intelligent" traffic systems that automatically adjust light patterns and shift traffic to alternative routes, as well as cars that exhibit "reflexes" thanks to communication with other vehicles and roadside sensors, according to IBM.

The company's crystal ball also revealed that the long-simmering trend toward "smart energy" devices will proliferate wildly. "Dishwashers, air conditioners, house lights, and more will be connected directly to a 'smart' electric grid, making it possible to turn them on and off using your cell phone or any Web browser," a company statement asserts.

Even the act of eating will take on new meaning, in IBM's view: "You will know everything from the climate and soil the food was grown in, to the pesticides and pollution it was exposed to, to the energy consumed to create the product, to the temperature and air quality of the shipping containers it traveled through on the way to your dinner table."

The report also suggests that doctors' ability to heal us will become even more astounding. Due to advances in X-ray and audio technologies, doctors will gain "superpowers," according to IBM. Computers will also be able to compare your health data to an ocean's worth of other patient records, helping with diagnosis and treatment, the company said.

In addition, the company said cell phones will continue to grow in power and functionality. For example, phones will enable users to snap a photo of an article of clothing, pull in results from the Web about the brand and where to buy it, and then render the garment on top of a 3-D image of the user, IBM said.

IBM's list received a measured nod from Edward Cornish, editor of The Futurist magazine and past president of the World Future Society, an organization based in Bethesda, Maryland.

"Basically, the five forecasts seem to me to be quite reasonable," Cornish said. "They're based on technologies that have been around for a number of years and are simply extrapolations."

The Futurist has released its own list of predictions for 2008 and beyond.

The organization contends, among other things, that the world will have a billion millionaires by 2025; the earth is on the verge of a "significant extinction event;" and "nonhuman entities," such as robots fueled by artificial intelligence, will make more decisions.

8 Ways to Boost Your Career in '08

December 21, 2007 (Computerworld) Today's IT professionals are an evolving breed. The job keeps morphing as companies demand not just technical know-how, but more business acumen, analytical skills and industry knowledge as well.

Kudos if you've pulled that all together, but don't rest just yet. The evolution isn't over, as the upcoming year promises more changes. If you want to stay in the driver's seat of your own career, put these items on your to-do list:

1. Incorporate security into your responsibilities. Security and related disciplines, such as business continuity and disaster-recovery planning, are permeating all levels of the organization. That means all IT workers, and not just the security folks, will have to contribute by understanding how business processes, technical requirements and security intersect.

"Everyone has to understand security to a certain degree and apply it to their responsibilities," says Sam Helmich, vice president of technology at ADM Investor Services Inc. in Chicago. The learning requirements vary by IT positions, but Helmich recommends that you seek out security classes and certification. Finding mentors from the security team is another good way to prepare

2. Re-engineer processes. IT has always been responsible for keeping everything running and developing new systems, says Michael Cummins, CIO at the Georgia Institute of Technology's College of Management and a clinical professor of management, but now he sees a new responsibility emerging: re-engineering business processes and workflow.

"We've seen movement to business processes and workflow analysis as you try to show how systems can help re-engineer how you do the work and make it more efficient," Cummins says. "That's where we see all these big productivity gains."

To deliver this, you must understand how your business-side colleagues actually do their jobs, he says. You can start by signing up as a project lead, finding a business-side mentor or working as a systems analyst.

3. Use analytics to guide business decisions. "We're seeing more and more companies that are stellar examples of using data analysis to run their business," Cummins says. Casinos, for example, collect and analyze detailed data on individual players and then tailor their marketing based on those findings. Other industries are following suit, which means you'll have to set up the systems and understand what data to mine and analyze.

To brush up on analytics get onto projects that expose you to the needs and goals driving non-IT departments, study vendor information on how business intelligence applications can provide data to drive decisions, and get training in Six Sigma, a data-driven methodology for eliminating defects.

4. Be more versatile. There will always be a need for deep technical skills , but you'll be obsolete if all you can offer is one particular expertise, says Pamela Taylor, a solutions architect at a subsidiary of a Fortune 50 company and vice president of SHARE, an IBM user group.

"Keep yourself open to new approaches," Taylor says. "While there is some need for specialization and to demonstrate an expertise for the particular role you're in now, you must keep yourself aware of and consistently educated in new things that are emerging."

5. Work on multifunctional programs and multidisciplinary teams. Companies are putting together more teams of workers from diverse departments to deliver technology-related projects, says Diane Morello, an analyst at Gartner Inc. in Stamford, Conn. Getting assigned to those teams is a key to getting broad business knowledge and becoming known outside IT.

"Individuals are going to work much more consistently around multidisciplinary teams, and that means their competencies need to be understood and known by people outside their skill sets," Morello says.

In short, you must be skilled in teamwork, effective communication and change management. Try to work for managers who operate across business units. Or, if you can, get assigned to a boundary-spanning role, and seek some relief from daily operational duties so you can focus on the big picture.

6. Beef up your business skills. The need to do this has been building for a while, but 2008 will put an even greater emphasis on business acumen, says Kate M. Kaiser, an associate professor of IT at Marquette University and coordinator of the Society for Information Management study "The Information Technology Workforce: Trends and Implications 2005-2008."

The need for business knowledge is moving farther down the IT workforce chain, she says. Even newly minted IT workers will have to have business smarts. Moreover, companies are looking for IT workers who have expertise in functional areas, such as marketing or finance, says David Foote, CEO and chief research officer of research firm Foote Partners LLC in New Canaan, Conn.

Getting a degree in business management -- an MBA if you have a tech-related bachelor's degree, or a bachelor's in business if you have an associate's degree in technology -- can help prepare you for this new reality, Kaiser says. But so can on-the-job management experience, such as leading projects.

7. Be more accountable. The folks in finance, marketing, HR and other corporate departments already use data to evaluate performance. IT workers will increasingly have to do the same, Cummins says. Granted, evaluating an IT shop can be hard, because of the lack of productivity measures and because of the difficulty of measuring certain, sometimes intangible, gains. But be prepared to show your value.

Learn Six Sigma-type tools and benchmarking, and learn from business managers who have reputations for running efficient departments.

8. Manage your own career. You can't rely on your manager, company or vendors to determine a path for you, because those predetermined paths might be too narrow or even obsolete, Foote says. You yourself must prepare for tomorrow by evaluating your skills and filling in what's missing through certification, education and on-the job experience.

"This is the year you can no longer sleepwalk through your career," Morello adds. "Each person has to take ownership of his or her career path."

Fiber Distributed- Data Interface (FDDI)

FDDI (Fiber-Distributed Data Interface) is a standard for data transmission on fiber optic lines in that can extend in range up to 200 km (124 miles). The FDDI protocol is based on the token ring protocol. In addition to being large geographically, an FDDI local area network can support thousands of users.

An FDDI network contains two token rings, one for possible backup in case the primary ring fails. The primary ring offers up to 100 Mbps capacity. If the secondary ring is not needed for backup, it can also carry data, extending capacity to 200 Mbps. The single ring can extend the maximum distance; a dual ring can extend 100 km (62 miles).

FDDI is a product of American National Standards Committee X3-T9 and conforms to the open system interconnect (OSI) model of functional layering. It can be used to interconnect LANs using other protocols. FDDI-II is a version of FDDI that adds the capability to add circuit-switched service to the network so that voice signals can also be handled. Work is underway to connect FDDI networks to the developing Synchronous Optical Network.

Function of FDDI

Background

The Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) specifies a 100-Mbps token-passing, dual-ring LAN using fiber-optic cable. FDDI is frequently used as high-speed backbone technology because of its support for high bandwidth and greater distances than copper. It should be noted that relatively recently, a related copper specification, called Copper Distributed Data Interface (CDDI) has emerged to provide 100-Mbps service over copper. CDDI is the implementation of FDDI protocols over twisted-pair copper wire. This chapter focuses mainly on FDDI specifications and operations, but it also provides a high-level overview of CDDI.

FDDI uses a dual-ring architecture with traffic on each ring flowing in opposite directions (called counter-rotating). The dual-rings consist of a primary and a secondary ring. During normal operation, the primary ring is used for data transmission, and the secondary ring remains idle. The primary purpose of the dual rings, as will be discussed in detail later in this chapter, is to provide superior reliability and robustness. Figure 1 shows the counter-rotating primary and secondary FDDI rings.

Figure 1: FDDI uses counter-rotating primary and secondary rings.

FDDI Specifications

FDDI specifies the physical and media-access portions of the OSI reference model. FDDI is not actually a single specification, but it is a collection of four separate specifications each with a specific function. Combined, these specifications have the capability to provide high-speed connectivity between upper-layer protocols such as TCP/IP and IPX, and media such as fiber-optic cabling.

FDDI's four specifications are the Media Access Control (MAC), Physical Layer Protocol (PHY), Physical-Medium Dependent (PMD), and Station Management (SMT). The MAC specification defines how the medium is accessed, including frame format, token handling, addressing, algorithms for calculating cyclic redundancy check (CRC) value, and error-recovery mechanisms. The PHY specification defines data encoding/decoding procedures, clocking requirements, and framing, among other functions. The PMD specification defines the characteristics of the transmission medium, including fiber-optic links, power levels, bit-error rates, optical components, and connectors. The SMT specification defines FDDI station configuration, ring configuration, and ring control features, including station insertion and removal, initialization, fault isolation and recovery, scheduling, and statistics collection.

FDDI is similar to IEEE 802.3 Ethernet and IEEE 802.5 Token Ring in its relationship with the OSI model. Its primary purpose is to provide connectivity between upper OSI layers of common protocols and the media used to connect network devices. Figure 3 illustrates the four FDDI specifications and their relationship to each other and to the IEEE-defined Logical-Link Control (LLC) sublayer. The LLC sublayer is a component of Layer 2, the MAC layer, of the OSI reference model.

Figure 2: FDDI specifications map to the OSI hierarchical model.

FDDI Station-Attachment Types

One of the unique characteristics of FDDI is that multiple ways actually exist by which to connect FDDI devices. FDDI defines three types of devices: single-attachment station (SAS), dual-attachment station (DAS), and a concentrator.

An SAS attaches to only one ring (the primary) through a concentrator. One of the primary advantages of connecting devices with SAS attachments is that the devices will not have any effect on the FDDI ring if they are disconnected or powered off. Concentrators will be discussed in more detail in the following discussion.

Each FDDI DAS has two ports, designated A and B. These ports connect the DAS to the dual FDDI ring. Therefore, each port provides a connection for both the primary and the secondary ring. As you will see in the next section, devices using DAS connections will affect the ring if they are disconnected or powered off. Figure 3 shows FDDI DAS A and B ports with attachments to the primary and secondary rings.

Figure 3: FDDI DAS ports attach to the primary and secondary rings.

An FDDI concentrator (also called a dual-attachment concentrator [DAC]) is the building block of an FDDI network. It attaches directly to both the primary and secondary rings and ensures that the failure or power-down of any SAS does not bring down the ring. This is particularly useful when PCs, or similar devices that are frequently powered on and off, connect to the ring. Figure 4 shows the ring attachments of an FDDI SAS, DAS, and concentrator.

Figure 4: A concentrator attaches to both the primary and secondary rings.

FDDI Fault Tolerance

FDDI provides a number of fault-tolerant features. In particular, FDDI's dual-ring environment, the implementation of the optical bypass switch, and dual-homing support make FDDI a resilient media technology.

Dual Ring

FDDI's primary fault-tolerant feature is the dual ring. If a station on the dual ring fails or is powered down, or if the cable is damaged, the dual ring is automatically wrapped (doubled back onto itself) into a single ring. When the ring is wrapped, the dual-ring topology becomes a single-ring topology. Data continues to be transmitted on the FDDI ring without performance impact during the wrap condition. Figure 5 and Figure 6 illustrate the effect of a ring wrapping in FDDI.

Figure 5: A ring recovers from a station failure by wrapping.

Figure 6: A ring also wraps to withstand a cable failure.

When a single station fails, as shown in Figure 5, devices on either side of the failed (or powered down) station wrap, forming a single ring. Network operation continues for the remaining stations on the ring. When a cable failure occurs, as shown in Figure 6, devices on either side of the cable fault wrap. Network operation continues for all stations.

It should be noted that FDDI truly provides fault-tolerance against a single failure only. When two or more failures occur, the FDDI ring segments into two or more independent rings that are unable to communicate with each other.

Optical Bypass Switch

An optical bypass switch provides continuous dual-ring operation if a device on the dual ring fails. This is used both to prevent ring segmentation and to eliminate failed stations from the ring. The optical bypass switch performs this function through the use of optical mirrors that pass light from the ring directly to the DAS device during normal operation. In the event of a failure of the DAS device, such as a power-off, the optical bypass switch will pass the light through itself by using internal mirrors and thereby maintain the ring's integrity. The benefit of this capability is that the ring will not enter a wrapped condition in the event of a device failure. Figure 7 shows the functionality of an optical bypass switch in an FDDI network.

Figure 7: The optical bypass switch uses internal mirrors to maintain a network.

Dual Homing

Critical devices, such as routers or mainframe hosts, can use a fault-tolerant technique called dual homing to provide additional redundancy and to help guarantee operation. In dual-homing situations, the critical device is attached to two concentrators. Figure 8 shows a dual-homed configuration for devices such as file servers and routers.

Figure 8: A dual-homed configuration guarantees operation.

One pair of concentrator links is declared the active link; the other pair is declared passive. The passive link stays in back-up mode until the primary link (or the concentrator to which it is attached) is determined to have failed. When this occurs, the passive link automatically activates.

FDDI Frame Format

The FDDI frame format is similar to the format of a Token Ring frame. This is one of the areas where FDDI borrows heavily from earlier LAN technologies, such as Token Ring. FDDI frames can be as large as 4,500 bytes. Figure 9 shows the frame format of an FDDI data frame and token.

Figure 9: The FDDI frame is similar to that of a Token Ring frame.

FDDI Frame Fields

The following descriptions summarize the FDDI data frame and token fields illustrated in Figure 9.

Preamble---A unique sequence that prepares each station for an upcoming frame.

Start Delimiter--- Indicates the beginning of a frame by employing a signaling pattern that differentiates it from the rest of the frame.

Frame Control---Indicates the size of the address fields and whether the frame contains asynchronous or synchronous data, among other control information.

Destination Address---Contains a unicast (singular), multicast (group), or broadcast (every station) address. As with Ethernet and Token Ring addresses, FDDI destination addresses are 6 bytes long.

Source Address---Identifie s the single station that sent the frame. As with Ethernet and Token Ring addresses, FDDI source addresses are 6 bytes long.

Data---Contains either information destined for an upper-layer protocol or control information.

Frame Check Sequence (FCS)---Filed by the source station with a calculated cyclic redundancy check value dependent on frame contents (as with Token Ring and Ethernet). The destination address recalculates the value to determine whether the frame was damaged in transit. If so, the frame is discarded.

End Delimiter--- Contains unique symbols, which cannot be data symbols, that indicate the end of the frame.

Frame Status---Allows the source station to determine whether an error occurred and whether the frame was recognized and copied by a receiving station.

FDDI Frame Format

FDDI Frame

Frame Control (FC): 8 bits

has bit format CLFFZZZZ

C indicates synchronous or asynchronous frame

L indicates use of 16 or 48 bit addresses

FF indicates whether it is a LLC, MAC control or reserved frame

in a control frame ZZZZ indicates the type of control

Destination Address (DA): 16 or 48 bits

specifies station for which the frame is intended

Source Address (SA): 16 or 48 bits

specifies station that sent the frame

Here is what the FDDI frame format looks like:

FDDI Frame Format

PA - Preamble 16 symbols

SD - Start Delimiter 2 symbols

FC - Frame Control 2 symbols

DA - Destination Address 4 or 12 symbols

SA - Source Address 4 or 12 symbols

FCS - Frame Check Sequence 8 symbols, covers the FC, DA, SA and Information

ED - End Delimiter 1 or 2 symbols

FS - Frame Status 3 symbols

Token is just the PA, SD, FC and ED

Preamble
The Token owner as a minimum of transmits the preamble 16 symbols of Idle. Physical Layers of the subsequent repeating stations can change the length of the Idle pattern according to the Physical Layer requirements. Therefore, each repeating station may see a variable length preamble from the original preamble. Tokens will be recognized as long as its preamble length is greater than zero. If a valid token is received and cannot be processed (repeated), due to expiration of ring timing or latency constraints the station will issue a new token to be put on the ring. A given MAC implementation is not required to be capable of copying frames received with less than 12 symbols of preamble; Nevertheless, with such frames, it cannot be correctly repeated.
Since the preamble cannot be repeated, the rest of the frame will not be repeated as well.

Starting Delimiter

This field of the frame denodes the start of the frame. It can only have symbols 'J' and 'K'. These symbols will not be used anywhere else but in the starting delimiter of a token or a frame.

Frame Control

Frame Control field descibes what type of data it is carrying in the INFO field. Here are the most common values that are allowed in the FC field:

40: Void Frame.

41,4F: Station Management (SMT) Frame.

C2,C3: MAC Frame.

50,51: LLC Frame.

60: Implementor Frame.

70: Reserved Frame.

Please note that the list here are only the most common values that can be formed by a 48 bit addressedynchronous data frames.

Destination Address

Destination Address field contains 12 symbols that identifies the station that is receiving this particular frame. When FDDI is first setup, each station is given a unique address that identifies themselves from the others. When a frame passed by the station, the station will compare its address against the DA field of the frame. If it is a match, station then copies the frame into its buffer area waiting to be processed. There is not restriction on the number of stations that a frame can reach at a time. If the first bit of the DA field is set to '1', then the address is called a group or global address. If the first bit is '0', then the address is called individual address. As the name suggests, a frame with a global address setting can be sent to multiple stations on the network. If the frame is intended for everyone on the network, the address bits will be set to all 1's. Therefore, a global address contains all 'F' symbols. There are also two different ways of administer these addresses. One's called local and the other's called universal. The second bit of the address field determine whether or not the address is locally or universally administered. If the second bit is '1' then it is locally administered address. If the second bit is a '0', then it is universally administered adress.A locally administer address are addresses that have been assigned by the network administrator and a universally administered addresses are pre-assigned by the manufacturer' s OUI.

Source Address

A Source Address identifies the station that created the frame. This field is used for remove frames from the ring. Each time a frame is sent, it travels around the ring, visiting each station, and eventually (hopefully) comes back to the station that originally sent that frame. If the address of a station matches the SA field in the frame, the station will strip the frame off the ring. Each station is responsible for removing its own frame from the ring.

Information Field

INFO field is the heart and soul of the frame. Every components of the frame is designed around this field; Who to send it to, where's this coming from, how it is received and so on.The type of information in the INFO field can be found by looking in the FC field of the frame. For example: '50'(hex) denodes a LLC frame. So, the INFO field will have a LLC header followed by other upper layer headers. For example SNAP, ARP, IP, TCP, SNMP, etc. '41'(hex or '4F'(hex) denode s SMT (Station Management) frame. Therefore, a SMT header will appear in the INFO field.

Frame Check Sequence

Frame Check Sequence field is used to check or verify the traversing frame for any bit errors. FCS information is generated by the station that sends the frame, using the bits in FC, DA, SA, INFO, and FCS fields. To verify if there are any bit errors in the frame, FDDI uses 8 symbols (32 bits) CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) to ensure the transmission of a frame on the ring.

End Delimiter

As the name suggests, the end delimiter denodes the end of the frame. The ending delimiter consist of a 'T' symbol. This 'T' symbols indicates that the frame is complete or ended. Any data sequence that does not end with this 'T' symbol is not considered to be a frame.

Frame Status

Frame Status (FS) contains 3 indicators that dictates the condition of the frame. Each indicator can have two values: Set ('S') or Reset ('R'). The indicators could possibly be corrupted. In this case, the indicators is neither 'S' nor 'R'. All frame are initially set to 'R'. Three types of indicators are as follows: Error (E):This indicator is set if a station determines an error for that frame. Might be a CRC failiure or other causes. If a frame has its E indicator set, then, that frame is discarded by the first station that encounters the frame. Acknowledge( A): Sometime this indicator is called 'address recognized'. This indicator is set whenever a frame in properly received; meaning the frame has reached its destination address. Copy (C): This indicator is set whenever a station is able to copy the received frame into its buffer section. Thus, Copy and Acknowledge indicators are usually set at the same time. But, sometimes when a station is receiving too many frames and cannot copy all the incoming frames. If this happens, it would re-transmit the frame with indicator 'A' set indicator 'C' left on reset.

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