I am fresh from college and currently working for a company in Bangalore. I would like to shift my area to e-commerce. Could you advise me as to what skills are needed for a career in this arena? --Praveen

E-commerce is just one of the many applications on the Internet -- although it may certainly end up being the biggest. To work in this area, you have to first determine whether you want to be on the technical side or the business side. If you desire to be on the technical side, you'll need to be skilled in HTML, Java, data warehousing, and other technologies for the software areas and networking technologies, web hosting, server management, routing technologies and other competencies in the hardware areas. If you are interested in the business side, you'll have to learn all the disciplines that are taught in an MBA program or you'll need to sharpen your skills in technology management.

Stealing Ideas

I have an idea in telecommunications business that I would like to sell to a company. My ideal target company would be an Internet company like Yahoo! or a telephone company. I don't want to start a company or build a product. Is there any place where I can sell my ideas without fearing that someone might steal it? --Anshu

If you worry about someone stealing your idea from the get-go, your idea just might get stolen. I think you should start thinking positively in terms of partnerships and strategic alliances. Also, no company will go ahead and buy an idea without knowing that it has proven market value. Most often, an idea becomes saleable only when a concrete product has been built around it, or at least a prototype is created. Often, prospective buyers and investors want to see that a customer has bought into the idea or there is a potential buyer who has expressed serious interest in purchasing the product. Get going and start building your ideas!