But he also loved cars. Fast cars, in particular. But when he went to college back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he knew it was clear that cars weren’t going anywhere in terms of a future career. We were raised in and around Detroit, and he went to college in Flint, Mich. If you’ve ever seen the movie, “Roger & Me,” then you know automotive companies weren’t very popular back then because of plant shutdowns, layoffs and the like.

Long story short…he decided to bypass his love of four-wheeled vehicles. Instead, he took his passion for computers and turn that into his career. He became an electrical engineer, moved to California and got a job making hardware. Not wrenches or hammers. That stuff inside your computer that makes it go. And, it turns out, he’s pretty good at it. Now, being a nerd or geek isn’t so bad. In fact, it’s made him a pretty nice life.

So where am I going with this? Well, I’ve been thinking about the many professions, degrees and educational institutions out there. And I’ve been surfing their web sites and looking at the fields available to the average student. And online degrees – education that focuses on information technology and other kinds of engineering – look not only interesting to me, but they seems fairly lucrative and in demand. And that is a powerful combination in today’s tough job market.

Let’s say you want to specialize in Information Technology. There are a bevy of career areas you can go into to make your living. I went to my old favorite over at the Bureau of Labor and did a quick scan of the Occupational Handbook. As always, it didn’t fail to impress me with the amount of information out there about the jobs available and how to obtain them.

Here are some fields you may want to consider:

• Network architects or network engineers are the designers of computer networks. They set up, test and evaluate systems such as local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), the Internet, intranets and other data communications systems.
• Network and computer systems administrators design, install, and support an organization’s computer systems. They are responsible for LANs, WANs, network segments, and Internet and intranet systems.
• Database administrators work with database management software and determine ways to store, organize, analyze, use, and present data.
• Computer security specialists plan, coordinate, and maintain an organization’s information security.
• Telecommunications specialists focus on the interaction between computer and communications equipment.
• Web developers are responsible for the technical aspects of Web site creation. Using software languages and tools, they create applications for the Web.
• Webmasters or Web administrators are responsible for maintaining Web sites.

I’m always happy to see jobs out there that I know Moms like us can do. For example, my friend April is the webmaster for our local Moms club. She designed our site, puts new information on it and generally maintains our presence on the World Wide Web. She is the mother of three – soon to be four! – boys and yet she can find time to learn, master and pass on this skill. So when (if ever at this rate) she goes back to school or into the workforce, she has a marketable skill.

What are your skills? Where is your passion? How can you adapt it to you current and future needs?

Officials told the news providers that students can take courses on subjects such as business, education, children's literature, philosophy, psychology, history, computers and sociology, among others. Furthermore, these classes are offered on campus and online through the school's virtual college.

The college offers 70 associate degree programs that are designed to help students transfer into a four-year university to continue their education. Officials noted that MCCC allows students to continue on to a bachelors degree curriculum on its West Windsor campus through partnerships with William Paterson University, Fairleigh Dickinson University and Felician College.

The college's student population is composed primarily of middle-aged individuals who are seeking to prepare for or change careers.

According to the 2010 Sloan Survey of Online Learning, approximately 30 percent of all college and university students now take at least one web-based course.

Unfortunately as the economy has dwindled so have the tech jobs. “The recessions impact on the tech sector was inescapable” said John the chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. “Even with the economy slowing some nascent signs of recovery…many companies are holding off on investments in new technology.”

And the reason that this profession has suffered so much is because one of the first things to go are the tech jobs. When the economy is suffering people stop purchasing those services or products and as a result the demand goes way down and so does employment. And companies are hesitant about hiring someone right now because  they’ want to make sure they have enough work to sustain them.

Electronic companies fared the worst with 63,500 job cuts announced and computer employers were not far behind with 65,261 layoffs and telecom had 44,068 planned cuts. So a total of 175,000 tech cuts comprised 13.2% of the 1.3 million jobs in 2009 that were lost in all industries. And Fortune 500 companies announced 65,000 jobs cuts on Jan. 30 from Texas Instruments, Sprint Nextel, and Microsoft.

But there should be some job growth in the health sector with electronic health records and other sectors but there will be some challenges so individuals should use this time to return to school. If individuals are interested in earning a degree in information technology: now is the time.

Eventually tech jobs will come back but there will be a lot of competition so individuals should earn a degree and set themselves apart from the rest. Besides, degrees have been linked to greater job security, benefits, and higher salaries than those without one.