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This article presents the answers of Roy E. Lawrence, chief technology officer of Capital One Financial Corp., McLean, Virginia, to questions regarding the IT career. One question is from a junior in college who is focused on networking. His problem is that his school is not very strong in that field. He asks what he can do on his own to develop skills that will make him competitive with students from other schools. Another question asks how one can exploit one's in-depth knowledge of both software engineering and biotechnology while hedging bets against job outsourcing. The third and last question asks whether one should plan to leverage the portfolio of white papers, audits, analyses and case studies in one's career when interviewing for a director or CIO position.

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to articles in previous issues including one on the level of knowledge some engineers have about the nature of their profession, another on the problems in software engineering, and last, on the use of the traditional pencil instead of software.