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First, there's the trade press. That may seem a little self-serving, but it's good advice. The danger is that in this world of free, controlled-circulation publications, you can become so inundated with magazines that you give up entirely. I tell people to read one weekly publication that includes broad coverage of the industry. I also recommend a weekly network publication. And finally, read something more beefy that provides in-depth analysis, product and technology reviews. Read a mix of news stories, columns, case studies and reviews, and force yourself to read outside your area of expertise.

Next, in addition to trade publications, I recommend specialized books, industry white papers and technical manuals. Yes, I know that there's no time during the day to do this, so you'll just have to bring it home and read after hours. That's the price for success.

Get Out There and Do It Reading gives you a solid understanding of technical issues and perspective about how technology fits into the big picture. But there's no substitute for hands-on experience. Unfortunately, many people are locked into a set of job responsibilities that make it difficult to broaden their technical skills. How do you broaden your technical repertoire when your employer wants you to spend all your time keeping the old time-sharing system running?

One option is professional training, which can provide you with hands-on experience. But be forewarned that it is notoriously difficult to provide quality hands-on experience at a reasonable cost. More often what you get is fairly disappointing--just enough to justify the "hands-on" that was highlighted in the course brochure. And getting your employer to pay for this training can be a challenge.

My advice is to build yourself a home network lab. Chances are you have a PC at home. Invest another $3,000 and you can equip your lab with enough software and hardware to attain some genuine multiplatform systems integration experience. Employers are begging for people with these skills.

You'll need three or four PCs, some network hardware and appropriate software. You may get by with last-generation hardware--new or used--available at deeply discounted prices. It's relatively easy to set up a home network consisting of Windows95, NT, NetWare and Unix systems. Granted, this model doesn't work too well if you aspire to manage an ATM LAN/WAN infrastructure, but even network engineers can increase their value by gaining more advanced systems experience.

The easy part is getting the software and hardware. The tough part is developing the discipline to put in a reasonable amount of lab time. The hard-earned dollars you've invested in hardware and software should provide some motivation, but most people will need to develop a training schedule. For example, set aside Tuesday and Thursday nights from 8:00 to 11:00 p.m. and Saturday morning from 8:00 until noon for training. You may be able to negotiate some release time from your job, particularly if you trade it off for expensive formal training. Your boss, and maybe your potential employer, will be suitably impressed by your approach.

Communicate, Dummy! You're two-thirds of the way toward knowing what it takes to get a better job. You've got the foundation of knowledge that comes from reading voraciously. You've got the hands-on systems-integration experience. Now you need to dedicate yourself to becoming a more effective communicator. This is one of the most important job skills, and one that is notoriously absent among many IT professionals.

The skills that make for an effective communicator need to be developed first through understanding, then through practice. Many books have been written about communication, and there is nothing particularly revolutionary left to be told. Most of it's just plain common sense: Expand your network of personal contacts; learn to be a more active listener; speak assertively, not aggressively; look for win-win solutions to conflict situations; learn to write clearly and concisely; perception is reality.

Unfortunately, the world is full of IT professionals who understand these principles but fail to put them into practice. If you're good at managing an ATM network and not so good at communicating with people, on which task are you likely to spend more of your time? Most people spend their time doing that which results in the greatest satisfaction. Unfortunately, if you choose not to improve your communication skills, you do a disservice to your employer and yourself. Your credibility with management will be compromised and your solutions to problems may be narrowed. Time and again throughout my career, I've been frustrated by technical staff who are simply unwilling to get on the phone and talk to someone at another site about how they are dealing with a particular problem. Don't let yourself fall into that "not invented here" trap.

Put these three steps into practice and you, too, can catch more fish.

Dave Molta is director of network and system services at Syracuse University. He can be reached at dmolta@nwc.com.