How do you respond to skeptics who insist that despite research that cites strong demand for technology skills such as Java and .Net, many people with those skills are unemployed or underemployed? The actual technology skills are very important, but so are the business management and project management skills that go with them.

It's a three-legged stool. Yes, you need .Net and Java skills, but have you developed the business management and project management skills to map out a project plan or work effectively with a project team?

Reading between the lines

That's what IT pros have to do with the Milken Institute's Best Performing Cities ranking of the 200 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. The think tank lists the locales based on five- and one-year growth in jobs, salaries and gross domestic product. But if you check out the chart on the MilkenInstitute.org Web site, be sure to scroll over to the column for the "2004 high-tech GDP location quotient," a measure of high-tech concentration. Do that, and No. 1 Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Fla., still looks pretty good, with a high-tech GDP LQ ranking of 13. But Nos. 2 through 5 on the Best Performing Cities list all drop below No. 100 in the high-tech GDP LQ ranking. Conversely, metro San Jose, No. 1 in high-tech concentration, is only 185 overall.

Some happy mediums can be found: Huntsville, Ala., is No. 28 overall and No. 5 in high-tech concentration, and Albuquerque ranks 43rd and seventh, respectively. But before you plan a move, keep some other factors in mind. Both Huntsville and Albuquerque are relatively small metro areas, and Huntsville's concentration of high-tech is almost entirely due to the presence of NASA.