More Management and Careers In Depth

Career advice: The value of certs

Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leader Page Petry also has advice on winning a promotion and moving into the security field.

Google Leads Green IT Ranking

Google's motto of "Do No Evil" apparently extends to its environmental policies, as the company was recently ranked first on Greenpeace's Cool IT Leaderboard for overall green practices. Google grabbed the top spot for the first time, ranking high due to recent disclosure of its own carbon footprint as well as its investment in utility projects such as a large-scale solar project taking place near Sacramento. Other reasons it made the top of the list? The RechargeIT.org project which was designed by Google to demonstrate the technology used in plug-in electric vehicles and to accelerate their adoption, as well as other actions such as increasing its renewable energy purchasing and creating a subsidiary called Google Engery.

Bart Perkins: An argument for keeping IT training budgets intact

Many of training's benefits are intangible and won't show up in an ROI analysis. Insider (registration required)

When ERP is botched, CFOs must act

While ERP projects go awry for many reasons, each incident reveals its own set of troublesome repercussions, financial and otherwise.

Measure the success of your IT-business partnerships

How CIOs are determining if new attempts to partner with the business are making a difference.

How IT helped shape UL's new business strategy

Underwriters Laboratories' CIO Christian Anschuetz discusses UL's recent transformation from a non-profit to a for-profit organization and how IT shaped and supported that change. He weighs in on the consumerization of IT, offers advice for CIOs, explains why 'big data' without 'big discretion' will lead to 'big failure,' and more.

No more historic SLA reports: Get it (and fix it) in real time

Businesses of almost all types are increasingly dependent on service providers for network connectivity that consistently delivers certain performance characteristics. In addition to basic service availability, these characteristics increasingly include peak, average and minimum bandwidth utilization, latency (delay) and latency variation (jitter), and packet loss -- all of which can affect operational efficiency and end user satisfaction. This is especially the case with Ethernet-based service offerings employing packet transport to deliver E-LINE services operating at speeds up to tens of gigabits per second.

Building Your Cloud? Remember Your Workers

My post last week discussed the importance of long-term benefits related to productivity and cost when implementing cloud computing technologies. CFOs and their IT directors must understand the importance of hard costs, but they should not forget their employees who will ultimately be impacted by these changes.

Stupid user tricks 6: IT idiocy loves company

IT fight club, dirty dev data, meatball sandwiches -- nine more tales of brain fail beyond belief

Hire a vet? IT Says Yes

Microsoft, Siemens and AT&T are just a few of the corporations discovering the value of veterans' tech training, global perspective and surprising arsenal of soft skills.

Career Watch: In job interviews, be aware of what your body is saying

Body language is too important to ignore when it comes to public speaking and job interviews, says author Christine Jahnke.

The Grill: John A. Benanti and Donald Stanton

Deputy Commissioner of Technology and Support Services John A. Benanti and Assistant Commissioner Donald Stanton talk about how technology fits into the operations at the New York City Fire Department, one of the largest fire departments in the world. (Insider, registration required.)

Paul Glen: The 'Low Affect' Effect

Business people expect their colleagues to express enthusiasm openly, and they don't recognize hard work as an expression of commitment to their goals.

12 effective habits of indispensible IT pros

Ditch the slackers, take on dirty work, do it with data -- here's how to get the inside track on a highly rewarding career in IT

Infor CEO Charles Phillips discusses software vendor's remaking

Infor CEO Charles Phillips mostly kept out of the limelight after landing the job in October 2010, following a high-profile stint as co-president of Oracle.

Security Manager's Journal: End of year brings SOX, deadlines and layoffs

A busy year ends even busier as our manager works with the outside SOX auditors and tackles security reviews for several projects.

Computerworld's 2010-12 magazine index

See all the great content from our print magazine. You can browse through articles or search for specific stories and topics (free registration required).

IT Staffers Shed 1,500 Pounds

Kaiser Permanente's 'CIO Challenge' pumps up IT morale while promoting healthier lifestyles.

Career Watch: The hottest scripting languages

If you decide to pump up your resume with mastery of a scripting language, be sure you choose one that employers really want.

Grow Your Own Data Center With Colocation

Colocation is becoming a popular option for quickly adding capacity to an aging data center. But it's not as simple as throwing servers at a new site; be prepared to spend at least three months searching for a vendor and planning the steps of your migration.