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Let's start with the obvious: Everything today is revolving around the Internet. Now a day, instead of having teleconferences we have web conferences, instead of paying traditional bills via checks, we pay our bills online via e-checks or credit cards. Anything and everything can be done online; right from getting a job via posting your resume on certain websites to paying your taxes thereafter.

As a professional, there is a learning curve at all times. That's how you climb the ladder of success. I am amazed by how many learning resources we now have on the Internet. Earlier, when Internet was not so popular, people used to go to the library for hours and hope to find some relevant books for the topic they were looking for.

Now, we have so many resources on the Internet that it's a matter of how we can get the right resource at the right time. Let's look at a few handy and important ones.

1. Search Engine like Google has grown so much over the years that now one can actually find answers to basically all the questions in the world on Google. Definitely, for some of those difficult questions, you need to know how to use Google. There is a term "Google-Fu" which is used to describe your ability to use Google. All of us have the access to the same tool, what makes the difference is how skilled we are in using it.

2. Online encyclopedia like Wikipedia is the best resource to get quick overview and introductory material for topics that are new for you. It can be difficult to find such material with a plain search in Google. For example, if I search for knowledge base in Google, I will most probably get a lot of technical resources pointing to various knowledge bases but never explain what knowledge base is in the first place. Using wikipedia under such circumstances is better.

3. Discussion forums like Experts Exchange is where you can get answers for your entire computer related technical questions. You can search over 1,000,000 solutions to retrieve the answer you need. They have almost all aspects of computing covered. Similarly you can find such domain specific forums for your help. Always remember, you are not the only one facing the problem that you are. Learn from others experience.

4. Knowledge base like FAQTs is a growing collection of high quality information. You can browse their knowledge base or perform specialized searches. They have a wide range of topics covered. You can create your own knowledge base as well here.

5. Content Marketplace like Gazhoo is a distinctive portal which has almost all kinds of documents like reports, essays, various business and legal forms and market researches. If you search on Google for various business documents like purchase order etc., you will have to dig into all the search results to see which one matches your needs, and still not find all of them in one location. Under such circumstances, you can visit Gazhoo.

John P Carter is a freelance journalist.