But check them out carefully before you buy - the quality of the learning experience varies widely. Companies may be hurting for people, but they all want the best. On this topic Newsletters Managing the IT Professional. One way to convince them that you're the best is to become certified in your field. SANS GIAC offers a certification program for computer security professionals.
People like to see lots of initials.
And those initials often translate into higher salaries and more job opportunities. Once you decide to get a certification, you'll need to decide what to get certified in. There are so many certifications out there, you're likely to find something that matches your field, whether it's security, network administration, help desk, or anything else. Besides general certifications, there are plenty of application-specific certifications available to certify individuals who use or want to use a specific application or piece of hardware. Besides the most obvious, which are the Microsoft, Cisco, and Novell certifications, many vendors of specialized equipment have or support certification programs of their own.