International consultant - I Love This Job!

Clarice Taylor Fee range: $75 an hour to $1,000 a day, depending on the project

"A friend once observed that I've faced Hutu militia and traveled icy roads littered with land mines in Sarajevo and lived to tell about it. In 1993 I relocated from New York to Atlanta with CARE [Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, Inc.], the international relief and development organization. My first life-changing journey occurred nearly a year later, when I was sent to Rwandan refugee camps in Tanzania to get information for CARE donors, the media and policy makers. What was supposed to be a two-week mission turned into almost two months of hard work, hazards and self-discovery. Once I was mistaken by some Hutu refugees for an opposing Tutsi tribe member and narrowly escaped attack. Sure, it was dangerous, but working in a war zone taught me a great deal about myself and my place as a Black woman in this world. Then I went to Bosnia, where I documented the stories of women who had survived the devastation of war and rape.

"My next assignment was working as a point person for CARE in the international fight to ban land mines. This time I traveled to Angola and Somalia--countries whose land and people have also been torn apart by war.

"I believe that every experience better prepares us for our life's work. After CARE, I embarked on a number of career adventures--working with the National Center for Tobacco Free Kids and joining the Synergy Project, an international HIV/AIDS organization. But nothing has been as satisfying as stepping out and becoming my own boss. As an independent consultant, I've served as communications specialist for the African Burial Ground project and traveled to Thailand and Uganda for the Rockefeller Foundation.

"Every exploration has been spiritual, emotional and physically challenging, yet deeply rewarding."

Information Technology professionals with such skills as data visualization and warehousing are in high demand. They often average base-pay increases of more than 10 percent a year, according to the Hewitt Associates U.S. Hot Technologies Survey. For more info, log on to hewitt.com.