Once you have become an IT professional your life becomes consumed with IT. Long hours of programming, support or planning and irate spouses become your life.

There seems to be no way out of the IT circuit and the rule is diversify or die. What was popular today is gone tomorrow and to keep employed you are always having to surf the crest of the IT wave with the latest advances in technology, languages and software. Diversification does not mean you have to rely solely upon IT courses and books, there are other pursuits that can complement your IT career whilst providing an escape route in times of fatigue or facing vocational redundancy. Here are some ideas:

Instead of learning the latest computer language try learning a new human language. A new language such as Spanish, French, Chinese or German will give you the skills to program applications that cater for people who speak those languages. Your new human language will allow you to export your skills to other countries providing you with the ability to travel and should your skills become redundant in one country they more than likely could be utilised in another country. You could end up providing translation services for documentation or applications or even just working as a translator.

Writing articles about your job gives you skills in writing and publishing. Perhaps IT journalism is your next step, writing for an IT magazine or writing a book on a system you know well.

Courses in speaking or training could lead to a job in training IT professionals where you would probably get free training yourself in the latest products.

I have a friend who started growing lettuces on the side, I was amazed at how much he had done when he showed me tables of hydroponic lettuces growing on his 6 acre property. His philosophy was "in the future people will most likely not need Oracle but they will need food". A radical departure, but he is beginning to pull a living from his venture and there is no need to expensively upgrade a lettuce to the latest version.

Duane Hennessy

In 2004 I started my own company Bandicoot Software to provide high-quality useful software for program development and personal applications.

My day job I am a Senior Systems Adimistrator specialising in MS Office integrated solutions, System Architect and VBScripts providing imaginative solutions to complex business problems.

OTHER FACTS ABOUT ME

- Creator and Moderator of ?AccessDevelopers? web group, an international forum for Access Developers around the world to seek solutions to problems, swap ideas and demonstrative code and discuss theory and practices of Access Database Development.

- Director of my own company Bandicoot Software, Australia.

- I am an author for ezinearticles. I am currently working with some friends in Mexico and Argentina to convert my articles to espa?olas mejecanos and espa?olas argentinas.

- Currently learning Spanish to create software in Spanish. I plan to learn Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and French in this order over the next five years.