Many of you may be saying to yourself "that's all fine and good, but I don't have access to all that at my current job, so what should I do?" The answer is quite simple. If you're ready to leave wherever you are currently employed, take a look at the points above and do whatever you can to make yourself more marketable, then begin the job search. If you like where you are but don't have the opportunities to "raise the bar" at work, my advice would be to first see if there are opportunities at work that you're missing. The next time you have the chance, take that leadership role, assist the PM to better understand what he or she does, try coding something in a more object-oriented fashion or in a more advanced manner than usual, mentor the new member of the team, go out of your way to do something with CF that you've never done before, and above all try to enjoy what you're doing. Not thinking of your job as a job, but as a craft - as an interesting and challenging role that only years of strenuous exercise will perfect (and that's fun to do) will motivate you, make you happier and better at your job, and will show around the office as well as in interviews. The truth is that the most successful developers love what they do. If nothing else - get more active in the community. Join CF-Talk and some other list servers, volunteer to give a presentation at your local user group, submit applications to speak at a conference and attend every conference you can whether you're speaking or not, e-mail me with an article idea, even volunteer to contribute to one of the open source projects (or create your own). Just get involved.

To those of you who are interested in bettering your career and aren't committed to staying with the same employer you're currently with, the same rules apply but you also have the added benefit of being able to begin interviewing with companies. Hopefully, my advice here will help you better understand what it is you should look for in a company as well as in an offer. Assuming you have all the skills and credentials to get the job, there are still two things that many developers forget to do when going after work. The first is reviewing their resume - keep it concise and focused. When you're being evaluated for a CF developer position, nobody really cares if you know Quick Basic. Second, remember that attitude is everything, so be confident, have fun, and have a positive attitude about everything that's said when you're on an interview.

Ultimately, what you should do to further your career really does depend on your current skills and credentials as well as where it is that you'd like to see your career go. Whether it's a cushy government job with all the security in the world or a private contracting position working with bleeding-edge technologies on large scale applications with really high pay and a ton of risk, there is always something you could be doing to better the odds that five years from now you will be exactly where you want to be. I hope that this editorial has inspired and assisted some of our readers to get there.