Hi, jax brings up a nice topic. I could talk hours on it... There r 2 categories of people. 1. the "anything will do" kind 2. and the "nothing but this" kind the 1s are ready to accept any kind of job. They might have a primary interest but may be ready to compromise it for anything under the sun as long as they r having the expected benefits out of the job. The 2s will not think of anything but what is in their mind (unless personal/family circumstances force them to go otherwise). The first lessons need to start in college. It is up to the faculty to bring to the notice of students the various avenues opened up by an industry they r dealing with. Tell me, how many in our class had an idea of what their genuine interest was, at the time of studying, and of the few people who had, how many went on to work precisely where they wanted to (excluding people forced by personal/family circumstances). It is the inability in analysing themselves and the industry, that is the cause of such ignorance. It is only in the hands of the faculty to groom them. But having said that, the faculty themselves need to update at a faster pace to keep their students at their toes - not something which boasts a good statistic. And no wonder the situation told by jax arises. Now decide, who's to be balmed. On his second point of growth in their field of work... It all depends on the interest and proactivity exhibited by the individual. What data could be provided to say that "Web Designers, Multimedia Artists, Marketing, System Administrators, Technical Writers, Customer Support, Administration & Support, System Analyst, Visualizers, Interaction/Information Designers" (and people in all other non-programming IT jobs) move faster to higher management levels than programmers. It all depends on the individuals' interest, learnability, enthusiasm and proactivity. People assume that working in IT means programming because thats how their faculty have taught them in colleges. How many colleges/courses/papers are there for the above jobs. They certainly fall less in number than things related to programming. But not all get genuine interest in programming, but they r taught nothing but programming - this is the paradox that students have to live with. IT is more of a "help urself" industry for students. They cannot expect this input from college, still they need to have it. Or else, they will be languishing on what job to search for looong after they've completed their education.... Kicha