What are leading IT professionals doing to ensure success in their careers, and what advice do they have for you in the wake of the economic downturn? Those are the questions I've been asking in my new series of 6 podcasts for the Microsoft Thrive site (http://technetevents.com/click/thrive/Default.aspx?p=Community).

The first podcast is now live, and it was fascinating to talk with Patrick McDermott, the IT Director for a school district in Utah. His situation is uniquely challenging. Half of the school district lies within the Navajo Nation, and two-thirds of the students qulaify for free or reduced lunch programs. The district is by far the largest employer in the county. It has 12 small schools with a total student population of 3,000. It's a 5-hour drive to travel from the northern-most school to the southern-most.

Addressing the IT situation since the economic downturn, Patrick told me, "I am very familiar with operating in an environment that continually demands more from less. From my perspective, that's what operating in the real world is all about. I don't have a team of scores of developers awaiting their next instructions. I don't have unlimited budgets. I don't operate in a sterile environment where all of our data comes from the Northwind database. Instead, I have to use IT to help improve the education of students in ways that maximize our limited resources."

And Patrick is doing some amazing things with technology on a small budget. Download the podcast and find out about his innovations.

Here's a sneak peek at upcoming topics and IT pros I'll be talking to for this series of podcasts.

Michael Dragone, an IT manager for a title insurance company discusses how the economic situation affected his company and his IT department and how he and his team have found ways to raise the value of IT's contribution to the business, keep up their own skills, and find ways to grow as the economy starts to improve.

Sean Deuby, senior analyst for Platform Vision, talks about maintaining your personal "brand" and taking advantage of opportunities to network with your peers and IT experts to keep yourself marketable and valuable to your company.

Orin Thomas, a well-know book author, trainer, and author of numerous Microsoft certifications exams, talks about the role of training and certification, and well as the importance of being open to new skills and technology trends.

Dan Holme discusses how his consulting clients from very large, multinational corporations are evolving their approach to technology and the importance of cloud solutions such as Microsoft's Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). But the most timely aspect of the conversation with Dan involves the sporting festivities in Vancouver and his role as Microsoft Technology Consultant for that event and the major television network that is broadcasting the competitions.

Just in time to get ready for the release of SQL Server 2010, Brian Lawton will discuss the database market, Business Intelligence (BI), and the value of database skills.

Please join me for all of this series. And let me know about your thoughts on how to Thrive in your career.