Remember your latest job interview?

If you're living in Eastern Europe, China, or India I guess they primarily wanted to know everything about your technical skills: did you ever code a hardware driver? Are you experienced in Windows DDK? Do you have some assembler knowledge?

If you're living in the Western world chances are high that these basic skills are getting less important. Soft skills are the not so new kid on the block and this time they get better paid than your DirectX experience. A recent report by Foote Partners shows that employers pay higher premiums for 'noncertified tech skills' that have a more conceptual nature. So the overall number of IT jobs in the U.S. is rising but the jobs are changing. Software engineers, computer scientists, system analysts, and IS managers show the largest job growth, while the number of programmers and support specialists declines. (Source)

What does that mean to the computer enthusiast next door? Try to separate your desire to do something creative (i.e. programming) from making money. You'll get frustrated seeing 'e-commerce experts' getting higher bonuses than you who had written the code of the system. Don't waste your time and money hunting for expensive certificates (unless your exmployer pays for them) - they'll get outdated, soon. Instead, become a 'software engineer' or even an 'e-commerce expert' or a 'manager' and strengthen your programming skills in something useful, perhaps an Open Source project. Just my 2 cents.

BTW: you guys from Eastern Europe, China, and India: same will happen to you, soon. See you again in five to ten years.