With two years of industry experience under his belt, Colin Chung, director of consumer intelligence and strategy at SmartBargains has worked with two of the dotcom shakeout's most high-profile casualties: MotherNature.com and Furniture.com. But he doesn't regret a minute of it. Although he was laid off from Furniture.com in June, he found his experience with that company to be invaluable.

"I received so much experience in marketing, from

Will You Be There Too? Top 6 Tips for Surviving the Shake Out 1. Evaluate a company based on its business model and management team. 2. Don't believe the hype. 3. Know your risk tolerance. 4. Know when it's time to leave, and then do so. 5. Balance your expectations. 6. Find value in your experience.

branding to PR to online and offline marketing," says Chung. "I worked with a tremendous amount of talent. We had graduates from all the top Ivy League schools, as well as people from the top management consulting firms. And when you work with great talent, the depth and breadth of your experience grows significantly." And even though the company finally had to shut its doors, Chung walked away pretty much unscathed. In fact, he's convinced the experience he gained from working at Furniture.com is something he couldn't have found at a large consulting firm or a traditional brick-and-mortar. When he got laid off, he was inundated with calls from recruiters and other companies eager to get him on board. He landed at SmartBargains shortly thereafter.

Chung, along with most of the industry's long-time professionals, is more realistic than ever before. He claims a good sense of balance is what has made him successful and

Advice from the Front Line Sean Martin, a senior consultant with the Trium Group, a leadership consulting firm, has worked with companies of all sizes, including Nokia and eStamp.com. Here's what he suggests for people deciding whether to stay or leave the dotcom world: It's the Job, Stupid. Regardless of the company's nature, individuals should always pursue a job that inspires them and for which they are passionate. Whether it's the technology, the industry or the functional position, people should focus on what engages them first and foremost before considering the lure of riches or a sexy title. Can You Handle It? Small startups have distinct characteristics, such as being fast-paced, highly entrepreneurial environments, that allow for a ton of personal responsibility. However, this also tends to create little role clarity, poor alignment between authority and responsibility, huge time demands, uncertain financial rewards and little support. If you find traditional industry frustrating because of a sense of stagnation, little innovation and slow growth, then there are a lot of benefits to jumping to a dotcom. Just be prepared for the other side of the coin. Investigate the Opportunity. Once you have decided you are hungry for the Internet industry's culture, perks and challenges and are thrilled by the risk, then it's a matter of doing the homework. Since joining a small startup still guarantees ownership at some level, you should approach it as though you are an investor. If you would not put money into the business, do not join it as an employee. Not only does this indicate your faith in its survival, it also shows your belief and connection to its mission and value proposition. While no one can predict an early-stage company's fate, you can weigh the cost of spending 10 to 12 hours a day in an environment that does not inspire you. No Get Rich Quick Plan. Jumping the traditional ship to a dotcom can no longer be about making a quick buck. Those days are quickly coming to a close, if they are not over altogether. It's not about getting rich quickly, but it can be about taking ownership of your career and creating your future. It can be about putting in a lot of energy and time, and taking some risks to build something you own and care about from the ground up.

can help others navigate the uncertain dotcom landscape. That means balancing risk and equity with the chance to gain the experience a dotcom environment can offer. His advice for others who aren't sure if they should stay or go: "Don't have unrealistic expectations that you are going to get rich off of this. You have to focus on how this experience will make you more marketable in the future, advance your career development, and make you more valuable. Also, if you are entrepreneurial, this kind of experience might help you start your own business one day."

Staying Put

After four years in the Internet industry, Janet Holian is considered a seasoned veteran. She has seen companies succeed and fail and the Internet sector go through its ups and downs. But through it all, she has known one thing: This is where she wants to be. Currently, Holian works as the vice president for product marketing at VistaPrint.com. Before that, she was vice president of corporate marketing at Andover.Net, the leading Linux and open source technology portal. She was also a key member of the management team that took the company public in December 1999.

But before that success, Holian watched a company she cofounded, Personal Audio, go under. It was her first taste of sinking with the ship, and she's determined not to make that mistake twice. "If you get to the point where you don't see long-term potential or it looks like the business model isn't working, it's time to get out and start searching. Don't go down with the ship just because you feel obligated," she says.

After her professional setback, Holian reevaluated her career. She didn't think she wanted a startup's chaos and uncertainty again. So she interviewed with a couple of large and medium-sized companies and realized she "belonged at a fast-paced, growing company with a good business plan and model." For many dotcom survivors, that's a valuable lesson: Succeeding in the dotcom sector isn't about the up and down hype; it's about whether or not the company you work for has the business model and management needed to prosper.

"You hear so many negative things now. It's really unfortunate," says Holian. "We're lumping the Internet into one world. It's too general. The Internet is huge, and it has many different uses. Things are settling down, and abnormal valuations have fallen off the cliff. We are just settling in, and I think a lot of the negative attention will fall to the wayside. I don't pay attention to all the hype." And neither do most dotcom survivors. Getting caught up in the media hysteria, both good and bad, can make a difficult period even more stressful.

Even though the layoffs keep coming, and the doors of well-known e-tailers like Pets.com and Garden.com continue to close, longtime Internet industry professionals know this is all par for the course in a young and evolving sector. And the smart ones -- those who have built careers based on solid business principles and realistic expectations -- will be around for the long haul.