In the competitive world of Information Technology, especially with today’s digital job search & application methods, technology employers are bombarded with hundreds of IT resumes daily. If you have a resume, you’re off to a good start. But what sets you, a qualified IT professional, apart from the other candidates? They have an effective resume that’s optimized for the job they’re applying to. A properly formed resume will increase your chances of landing the IT job you want.

Here are five tips to help you write an effective IT resume:

A new report from Dice.com indicates the best IT certifications to help you get a job.

In its 2012 Salary Survey, IT job board Dice.com asked "Which IT certification has helped you earn a new position?" Over 18,000 employed IT professionals and technology executives responded - below are the top eight IT certifications that helped them stand out from the crowd and get hired. Also included are average salaries, experience level and noteworthy hiring trends for each credential.

Here are the top 8 IT certifications most likely to land you a new job in 2012:

Cloud computing is often talked about as a technology that will make IT departments obsolete as companies seek to outsource computing needs. This analysis misses the complexity of what's actually happening in IT departments.

The actuality is that cloud technologies are running in conjunction with on-site systems, and many companies are choosing to operate and maintain their own servers - even if they have a few Cloud applications up and running. This adds a layer of complexity to effectively managing the IT needs of an organization. Rather than eliminating the role of in-house IT professionals, the cloud is merely changing the skill set and job functions of the IT department.

In my experience, here are the top 5 skills IT professionals will need to learn to work in cloud computing:

A survey of accomplished IT professionals indicates the passions and motivations that make for a successful career in the IT field.

As the CEO and founder of an IT training company, it’s my job to try and understand what makes IT professionals love their jobs enough to keep coming back for more. A question I am constantly asking people is, why IT?

My company recently surveyed over 2,000 IT professionals nationwide in an attempt to answer this very question. When asked why they stay in their careers, almost a majority (47 percent) said the most important factor was their love of technology. Interestingly, career advancement and ease of finding new opportunities in the field were at the bottom of the barrel, with 65 percent of respondents saying these ranked lowest in their book.

Rank why you continue to work in IT