Dear Career Adviser:

Computerworld - I'm currently a Visual FoxPro contractor with eight years of experience in Visual Basic and Delphi but apparently not enough experience to get me out of FoxPro. Recruiters always push me toward FoxPro instead of looking for even a lower-level Visual Basic contract.

I'm afraid the demand for FoxPro is drying up quickly. I'm having trouble getting my foot in the door for Visual Basic or Active Server Pages (ASP) projects and wonder if "at-home" projects count as verifiable experience.
- Former Fox

Dear Former:
According to James Cowan, a Web developer at ComputerJobs.com Inc. in Atlanta, it's true that FoxPro is more of an industrial-strength relational database development system when compared with Microsoft Corp.'s Access.

Despite its limitations, FoxPro supports modern technologies such as Component Object Model and ActiveX. It also can be an excellent front-end development system in both two-tier and three-tier application development environments.

But bottom-line, it has never caught on as well as other development tools. Now, in part because of the FoxPro programmer shortage, it seems to be on the "outdated" technology track.

There is good news, however. The object-oriented coding practices in Visual FoxPro are similar to Visual Basic and ASP. And SQL Server and Access require the same database design and management skills that FoxPro requires. So your transition is possible.

To reach your goal, focus on companies migrating from FoxPro to Visual Basic and emphasize that you only want to do Visual Basic work.

Tim Cederquist, vice of product development and technology at ComputerJobs.com, confirms that in this tight job market, your initiatives with home hobby projects and classroom training do help if you don't have on-the-job access to the technology. Cederquist also suggests looking online for free entry-level and demonstration versions of products to gain greater expertise.

Finally, your quest to make this next move might meet with greater success at younger companies in rapid-growth mode seeking talent on smaller budgets.

"Dear Career Adviser:
Should I use a recruiter who will charge me between $2,300 and $4,500 to help me find a new job rather than someone who charges the employer a commission? - Money Talks

Dear Money:
Absolutely not. At best, you're dealing with a "motivational counselor" who isn't a recruiter at all.

Similarly, delete resume-blasting services from your job-search efforts, since such e-mails are usually left unread and then deleted by recruiters.

Take courses leading to solid technical credentials and pay for career counseling through a local college or university career center. This will help you most.

"Dear Career