By T.J. Ripley

A candidate sits in front of you talking about notes and keys, his passion for opera and his swing experience. But you’re looking for a network specialist, not a musician, how did he wind up in your office?

Well, not all technical terms are acronyms or buzzwords. Notes is a groupware application, keys are used in encryption software, Opera is a browser and Swing is a Java toolkit for developing graphical user interfaces.

With hiring managers looking for people with SS7, X.25 and UNIX kernel experience and candidates touting their knowledge of BGP-4, DWDM and SONET, making sense of all this technobabble is a daunting job.

But there’s a Web site that can help you translate all this jargon into plain English and keep you up-to-date on the newest terms as they are introduced. Whatis.com (http://www.whatis.com) is devoted to making information technology understandable. It maintains definitions for over 5,000 terms and provides over 15,000 cross-referenced links to more information. Whether you want to know what CDMA stands for or what multithreading is, whatis.com can provide the answer.

You can look up individual terms as you run across them or you can subscribe to the site and receive updates via email. Sign up for the "word of the day" feature to learn the meaning of an IT term each business day or choose the weekly update option and get a mini-lesson in a different technical category each week.

As all good Web resources do, whatis.com maintains an abundance of links. Each is designed to help you understand the Internet and the fundamentals of information technology. For example, follow the "Handy" link to get explanations of file formats, lists of error codes, acronyms used in chats, or what modem lights mean.

But undoubtedly the most valuable links on the site are those that take you to a group of highly-targeted IT portals and search engines. Each one is devoted to a particular vertical market specialty within the IT world. For example, searchCRM.com (http://www.searchcrm.com) gathers information about customer relationship management, searchASP.com (http://www.searchasp.com) about application service providers and searchVB.com (http://www.searchvb.com/) about Visual Basic. There are also sites dedicated to S/390, AS/400, Domino, HP, networking, Solaris, storage and Win2000.

Each of these sites provides four useful sections of information. First is a search field for finding specific terms or keywords related to that topic. Second, there is a news section where technology stories related to the topic appear. Third, there is an "Editor’s Picks" section -- a directory of the best information on the Web about the topic. These are arranged in categories such as basics, downloads, support, events, and training. Finally, there is a help desk area where you can find tips about the topic.

If you’re looking for candidates in one of these specialized fields, you can put each of these sections to work for you. Use the search to find information about specific technologies, products or source companies. Use the news section to learn where the industry is headed, see who is heading up the organizations or see what new developments are hot. Use the "Editor’s Picks" to get a handle on where conferences and events are being held, find out where candidates get certified or review case studies. Use the help desk (for which you need to register as a user) to get technical data and product information or participate in online chats with the movers and shakers in the IT industry.

Whether you’re new to IT placement or a seasoned pro, whatis.com is sure to have something you can use.

-- T.J. Ripley is a journalist and Web explorer who contributes to AIRS research and writing.