by Richard Stooker

A few months ago a high school student sent me an AllExperts question which boiled down to:

Which computer career pays most money and has most job security?

I was floored.

Job security?

Does this 16 year old kid write term papers on a typewriter? Call her friends on an AT&T Princess phone? Twirl a hula hoop? Listen to a transistor radio?

Make most money?

Does anybody really give credence to those tables showing that in Boise ID average programmer makes $1544 more than average networker?

Who cares? Do you want to be average? Is anybody average?

The truth is, although it'd be irresponsible of me to have advised her to study COBOL, she'll make most money at whatever career she enjoys, given some reasonable demand in marketplace.

The more she works at giving her employers her best, more money she'll make.

The more she uses her skills to solve more problems for more people -- and this can and should be some activity far beyond normal employment -- more money she'll make.

Chances are, by time she graduates from college highest paying computer skill will be something nobody has yet heard of.

In long run, she'll make as much money as she sets out to make. No more and no less.

Some computer programmers are now on welfare.

Bill Gates is richest man in world.

The more you *create your own job* -- whether you're formally an employee or not -- more security you have.

Each child that is born has unique attribute of being an “angel”. Yes, there are television programs, books, magazines all dedicated to these heavenly beings. They are our helpers, our motivators, and our guides. They make us aware of some impending danger and they watch over children at night. Remember that beautiful old prayer “Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep”?

In essence, we are all angels to each other. But we are angels with a flaw. We are born with just one wing. As a child, I heard stories about one-winged angels but never considered myself to be one. As years passed, I met many of these one-winged delights, and saw this flaw in my own children. It may sound peculiar but I was grateful they were one-winged angels.