Internet related jobs: Careers that can click for you; Has web surfing become vital to your well-being? Then find out if the internet is your superhighway to career success - Focus

What would you do if someone offered you a job that paid $45,000 a year with $70,000 worth of stock options? Colvin Pitts, a computer science major at Stanford University, received that offer and accepted it. He dropped out of college and became a programmer.

A year later, Media3k, the dot-corn company Colvin worked for, failed. Unemployment became a grim reality. This past fall Colvin returned to school and plans to graduate in June.

It was a wise decision, according to Joanna Pineda, the founder and managing partner of Matrix, an Internet consulting company and a career expert in the industry. Pineda says anyone interested in an Internet-related career needs both a college degree and good experience to land that all-important first job.

Working with a Net

Since the Internet started taking off in the 1980s, a whole new vocabulary has been born. You hear words like E-mail and chat groups, and you hear job titles such as technical trainer, network engineer, database administrator, and user interface designer. Consider the position of information designer (sometimes called Web content developer). This person analyzes what the client needs, defines the site map, and comes up with the informational structure of the site. Then there's graphic designer, Web administrator, copywriter, search engine analyst, site publicist, advertising account manager, and so on, depending on the size of the organization. Large companies may need Web translators and consultants; smaller Web sites may hire people skilled in several areas-for example, animation, illustration, and audio.

All Internet companies and jobs have their own unique set of pros and cons. While employees get quick feedback from their Web skills, they also may have to put up with long hours in an unstructured environment But this is balanced by the advantage of flexibility. Take John Lerma. While studying at the Art Institute of Chicago in Illinois, he was able to keep his Internet job in Austin, Texas. "I telecommute," says Lerma. "I [can] work on Web pages from anywhere in the world...."

Whatmustlknow.com?

Working in a high-tech field may sound new and exciting, but it's really the same old thing: preparation. Before 2000 (the year that Internet start-ups started to crash), workers did not necessarily have technical expertise. Managers hired marketing experts, advertising professionals, public relations specialists, and even legal affairs experts. Nowadays, however, technically skilled people are receiving more job offers than those with just liberal arts, arts, or financial skills. Kim Hall, 28, graduated from the Atlanta College of Art and worked for four years at an ad agency doing graphic design. But then she got caught up in the dot-corn fever, and went to a small Web-design firm. She lost her job when it went out of business. "No one's calling me back" she says about her job-searching efforts. "I'm about to throw my computer out the window."

On the other hand, workers with two or more skills are in demand. Andy Warner was the director of an Atlanta, Georgia-based Internet consulting firm. Andy had experience shopping around for Internet access on behalf of many dot-comes. When his firm began running into financial problems, Warner quit but was quickly snapped up by another company. What made the difference? Warner's computer science degree and Internet experience impressed his new employer.

Dot-common Sense

At least 642 Internet companies have closed since January 2000, according to Webmergers.com, a clearinghouse for technology companies. Many dot-coms have folded or merged with other struggling dotcoms. Others have survived on a shoestring budget.

The bottom line? The era of "get-rich-fast" Internet jobs is probably over. Dot-corn employees will have to cope with less job security and smaller salaries than their counterparts at established companies. And as the industry itself shrinks and consolidates, fewer jobs will be available, especially for entry-level applicants. But, say experts, there is a silver lining to this dark cloud. More reasonable Internet salaries will make it easier for biotech and bioinfonetics startups to hire programmers, network engineers, and Web developers--people with strong hardware and software skills. "The main layoffs in the IT [information technology] sector were... mostly in marketing, advertising, and strategy," says Scott Shamp, director of the University of Georgia's New Media Institute. "Programmers skilled in ASP, ColdFusion, CGI Scripting, or Java servlets/Java server pages are still in demand."

Education is key to connecting with employers. And some colleges are helping out by adding Internet-specific courses to their curriculums. For instance, the University of California, Santa Cruz, offers Internet and World Wide Web courses, and Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the New Jersey Institute of Technology offer Webmaster certificates. Some colleges and universities also offer graduate courses in E-commerce with their MBA programs.

But what do you do if your college or university doesn't offer an Internet-related curriculum? No matter, writes Jill Hughes. You can do plenty to educate yourself. When Jill was at Ithaca College in New York, she wanted to become a Web designer.

She took classes in computer science and communications, and learned HTML and other Web programming languages and graphic design skills. But she also went a step further. Here's what she recommends:

* Take advantage of your college's art department, computer labs, and free seminars to widen your skills.

* Start a club that designs Web sites for other people, such as campus clubs and nonprofit organizations. You'll gain experience that looks great on a resume or in a portfolio. You may even earn college credit.

* Get internships. Network Join organizations like Webgirls, Women of the Web, and the Association of Internet Professionals (AIP). Check the Internet or your phone book for local chapters.

On-line and Bottom Line

Besides dot-coms, which do business only on the Web, many well-known companies, such as Ford Motorola, and Barnes & Noble, also offer on-line employment opportunities. These traditional businesses, known as brick-and-mortar companies, account for more than half of the top 100 Internet advertisers, according to Nielsen/NetRating Not surprisingly, traditional businesses attract lots of potential buyers to their Web sites.

Although these Fortune 500 companies are cautiously slowing their Internet spending due to the current uncertain economy, most experts believe that investing in E-business will continue as a corporate trend.

What does this mean for job candidates? If you have several valuable skills, you can approach older, established companies. That's what Nathan did. As an on-line art director for Gap, Inc., Nathan works with a team of Web designers, copywriters, producers, photo editors, and tech designers. "We put a lot of work into making our sites simple, attractive, and user friendly...," says Nathan.

David Holland's employer, Dark Horse Comics, also maneuvers between the two worlds of on-line retailing and conventional sales. As Web application developer, David creates and maintains internal browser-based applications that support the company's six sites and its on-line marketing and customer-service operations.

Although Holland says he acquired most of his skills (such as learning HTML and Perl--both programming languages) on the job, he also has a degree in computer graphics and animation, good communication skills, business sense, and team spirit.

What makes the job exciting for him? Holland says, "I really enjoy the environment--it's creative and somewhere in between geeky and cool."

Web Windows of Opportunity

The Web is so big that it offers other Internet-related job opportunities with consulting companies, Internet service providers, on-line publishers, on-line communities, and search engines.

Internet job opportunities come from consulting companies such as Internet Information Systems in Edison, New Jersey, which employs Java programmers, Microsoft specific programmers, Internet developers/administrators, and database administrators.

Search engines also rate as potential job markets. At its corporate campus in Redwood City, California, Excite! hires people for customer care and support, engineering information technology, marketing, networking, public relations, and business development.

Another opportunity is working for an Internet "incubator" company. Incubator companies organize dot-coms. Miller Updegraff, who works for an incubator company as a developer and designer, has a unique blend of experience and college preparation.

Updegraff likes his job because he can combine his analytical side (coding and programming) with his creative side (graphic layout). Self-taught, he says he learned many software skills by studying well-constructed Web sites and learning from online tutorials. Then he got hands-on experience dealing with Internet service providers and setting up accounts and Web sites. "Until I built up my experience level, no Internet company would interview me," he recalls.

At Yahoo's site, college students can apply for internships and learn to design products, negotiate deals, do research, and launch new properties. "It was a great experience," says Vikram Bhan, who interned last summer. "It allowed me to apply much of what I learned in my first year of business school while developing new skills. You have the same responsibilities as full-time employees."

Learn Before You Leap

The Internet is here to stay, but it will continue to grow and change. So should anyone interested in this industry. Take school and college courses, keep up with professional magazines, frequent conferences and conventions, and get as much hands-on experience as possible. For Internet workers, the password to success is education.

RELATED ARTICLE: Working on the Web

Do you daydream in digital? Click to the newest, coolest site five times a day? You should get either a life or a Web career. Here are some hints for moving toward an Internet career:

* Consider an internship or volunteer job for a nonprofit company or school club.

* Set goals, such as mastering specific technology, management, communication, and people skills.

* Get a mentor. Look for people you admire--in associations, local Internet groups, nearby colleges.

* Market yourself well. Put together a great portfolio of class work and real-world experience.

* Network. Attend events hosted by an organization or company in the Internet industry.

* Keep learning constantly. On the Web, things change in a nanosecond!

* Be open to new opportunities. Even if you end up working for nothing, the experience on your resume will pay big dividends later.

* Be realistic--be prepared for hard work and long hours instead of quick cash and glamour.

* Stretch a little beyond your reach. Apply for a job even if you don't have every single "requirement." Employers factor in other essentials, such as the right personality and attitude.

Cyber-cruising

Many teens flip burgers or deliver newspapers to earn extra money, but Lauren Johnson, 17, logs onto the Internet. The Michigan high school senior, who plans on enrolling later this year at the University of Michigan or Michigan State University, writes feature articles for CruiseMates, which employs about 25 people including a chief technology officer, a content manager, and an HTML technician. "I enjoy talking with people my age about cruises and writing articles that will help them," says Lauren, teen editor for the Web site.

Lauren got the job while preparing for a cruise. She kept checking the Web site for information. Nothing ever changed. So "I E-mailed the editor, who offered me the chance to write an article," says Lauren. "Soon after, she E-mailed me and offered me job." Lauren's duties include hosting teen chats on Sundays and managing the teen message boards.

"I took word processing and digital imaging in high school and am taking Visual Basic I this semester," says Lauren. "Teens preparing for an Internet career should take what-ever computer courses are offered at their high schools." It also helps to be "driven" and to prove to your employers that you belong there.

"It's not easy, but it's definitely worth it," Lauren concludes.

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