Pieter Poll is Chief Technology Officer at US-based Qwest Communications International, which serves business customers nationally and residential customers in 14 western states with telephone, high-speed Internet, fiber-optic Internet and DirecTV services. The company is also serving as an agent for Verizon Wireless services. Poll talked about his career and the directions Qwest is taking.

John R. Wetsch, WISE program director from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction is answering questions about re-entering the IT workforce, taking early retirement, work/life balance, the merits of a tech MBA, and the prospects for IT employment and the overall economy.

Our series on the most popular programming languages continues as we chat to Erlang creator Joe Armstrong

Dave Willmer, the executive director of Robert Half Technology, discusses finding a job in a deep recession.

The business model used by Oracle and SAP is fundamentally flawed and will lead to their downfall within the next decade, said Technology One chairman Adrian Di Marco.

Computerworld's investigations into the most widely-used programming languages continues as we chat with Giancarlo Niccolai the creator of the Falcon programming language.

Security experts say it all the time: If a company thinks it has suffered a data security breach, the key to getting at the truth unscathed is to have a response plan in place for what needs to be done and who needs to be in charge of certain tasks. And, as SANS Institute instructor Lenny Zeltser advised in CSOonline's recent How to Respond to an Unexpected IT Security Incident article, "ask lots and lots of questions" before making rash decisions.

Most IT professionals rely too much on external data to make business and career decisions. Even when a "gut feeling" warns of a bad decision, they often ignore their instincts. In this Q&A, a psychotherapist explains how listening to your gut can help you make better decisions in all areas of your life.

You may be surprised to learn how often professional references speak ill of the job seekers they purport to represent.

When managers see collaboration as an end in itself, they lose sight of the big picture.

Whether you prefer the term "utility computing" or "the cloud," the industry is headed in that direction, however slowly, and the transition will have a multifaceted impact on IT in some ways productive, others unpleasant. And it will strike to the heart of the very technology professionals who provide a significant chunk of what is today's enterprise IT.

In this Q&A, CompTIA President and CEO Todd Thibodeaux confronts the IT skills shortage, misconceptions about IT careers and ways to connect unemployed workers with the thousands of tech jobs that are still available.

Power Twitter user, former Mac evangelist, and Alltop cofounder Guy Kawasaki knows a thing or two about innovation. But, he says, that doesn't make it easy.

Whether you're seeking a new job or clinging to an existing one, persuading people of your value is going to be your key to success during this recession. In this Q&A, James Borg, author of "Persuasion: The Art of Influencing People," explains how to persuade people without being pushy.