Reply to: Benched's birth song.

[MPwannadecentincome]

I was in the first year of 6th form college doing A levels in 1980 - we were introduced to a teleprinter that was remotely connected to some mainframe at a big oil company's research center using BASIC - the programs were saved to punched tape - plus the teacher had a Z80 based computer with a screen running BASIC.

The sense of being able to solve any problem simply by writing some lines of code was thrilling! I can't remember exactly what the programs were for now but I was forever writing them on blank pieces of paper and putting the best ones into the teletype - what fun it was too debug them!

I think the Sinclair ZX80 had come out around that time or soon after, though I could not afford one. I went to WH Smiths to browse through "Sinclair User" and digesting what the possibilities of these things were.

By the time I had saved any money up for anything I bought a ZX Spectrum (the BBC needed more dosh than I had) and started playing with it including typing in long listings from "Sinclair User" which I had subscribed to. I started writing some stuff on my own and showing them off to anyone who cared to listen - but could not be bothered with Z80 Assembler, I did whatever I could in ZX Basic but after a while frustrated with the clunkiness of it all.

Then the interest got taken over with playing all the games - I remember Jet Set Willy was very popular when I was at University, though at Uni as well we had to do some Fortran as part of the course too - that is where I learnt more about operating systems - it was Multics at the time.

Then one summer I found a summer job - a travel agency (actually a "bucket shop") wanted someone to come and write a program on a ZX Spectrum to make it easier to find all the flight deals that they had on various bits of paper.

So I took on the task of analysing all these bits of paper and wrote a program for someone to enter the data and another program where it asked for the destination and listed all the results. It was very slow at searching so I got a friend to give me some Assembler to do the search loop. The whole system turned out to be very effective - I had to use it myself when the boss went on holiday leaving me as the only person left to answer the phones (real testing and quick debugging needed!).

After that I ended up doing my thesis using a modelling program written in Fortran IV, which I had to enhance quite a bit and document what enhancements I had done - this taught me something about good code writing styles - well upto a point given the limitations of Fortran IV!

Like OrangeHopper I scraped a 3rd and I fell into IT full-time more by accident than by design - by the time I graduated there was a recession for science graduates so after 100 job applications I found myself with 20 other graddies in a defence company. As the pace there at the time was quite slow I did a lot of reading (e.g. Yourdon) learning C and VAX Fortran, Poplog and Coral-66 and went on a City and Guilds course for Programming and Systems Analysis, also the company sent us on various courses. The work was interesting and mainly on VAXes though some on Unix too, which all set me up for my career going forward!

BTW I still have all the "Sinclair Users" and the ZX Spectrum with microdrive safely packed in the attic - hoping that by the time everyone else has lost theirs mine will be very valuable

[nomadd]

Can every/most/any single professional out here tell the story about how they started with computers. But try to emphasize on the emotional moments - the excitement , the scientists in you , etc , etc.

The goal basically is to try and cheer up all us benched , god forsaken endangered kind that needs a high-dose of pro IT career propaganda.

Worked as a motor mechanic. Covered in 5h1t every day. Saw a Sinclair advert for the ZX80. Couldn't afford one. Started to notice computers in the high street - Laskey's and Maplin. Finally saved up and got a VIC20. Decided that "computers were the future." They were.

Still, those early days are nothing compared to the day I landed my first contract. I actually shouted the house down with YYYYYYEEEEEEESSSSSS!!!!!! My flatmates thought I'd won the football pools. So did I.

I think "How did you feel when you landed you first contract?" would make a good emotional thread.

[OrangeHopper]

Went to Uni to do chemistry and in the second year attended a 2 hour introduction to FORTRAN. I was hooked and subsequently spent as much time as possible in the computer department.

Scraped a 3rd and entered the job market at the start of the 80's recession. Did 2 years renting cars at Gatwick while learning to code on a ZX81 and then an Amstrad PC.

Finally lucky enough to get into a simulation company and seven years later I went contracting.

[newblood]

Because...

Definitely appreciate the story , what I meant was I didn't want to reflect on my personal misery since I have been reflecting enough now..

The IT picture as we do it is false learning. We are told things are done certain way , we learn it then we apply it on the job, then 10 months later all we knew is no longer relevant and we have new tools and methods to learn.

The person in this profession is doomed one as long he remains the resource that needs to relearn constantly.

Changing to other capacity - management , writing whatever that is not demanding constant relearning every 10 months is what I need to do.

[Tingles]

I got my first programming job because the HR woman had a thing for young 19 year old boys. Her husband wasn't too pleased about it but she rescued me from a career in the civil service or a bank, bless her frilly pantied a*se.

Forget the subject of this thread... I'm more interested in the background to this story!

[RichardCranium]

<why?>

Because...

this is opposite of what this thread is meant to be

[Mich the Tester]

<deleted>

<why?>

[singhr]

I got my first programming job because the HR woman had a thing for young 19 year old boys. Her husband wasn't too pleased about it but she rescued me from a career in the civil service or a bank, bless her frilly pantied a*se.

[newblood]

Opted to do Electronics at school. Discovered the microcomputers. Got hooked. Went to college to study Data Processing. Got a job as a Junior Programmer in a software house. Designed, developed and completed some systems that were hard and one that was impossible. Was not given the promotion I had been promised for completing a 2 year system in 9 months by working 100 hours a week. Left and joined a big corporation.

Spent 8 years climbing the greasy pole, working evenings and weekends for no overtime, being backstabbed and shafted by experts all the way until I made it to the roof of the most senior technical grade in this world-renowned corporation that is famed for its technology. Had three teams - 20+ staff - working for me.

Then they laid off all the non-core departments and I discovered a rolling permie 2 year contact = no redundancy pay. Left with nothing.

Realised I had spent a decade of my life working, giving up my leave, not doing anything much else except work and had nothing to show for it. I had never even been on a Spanish beach holiday.

Sat on bench for months until I got a contract junior support role on a helpdesk.

That was when the IBS got really bad and the depression kicked in.

Clawed my way back up to management contract positions, all the time trying to get back into permanent work. Never once managed to be considered for a development role.

Eventually realised I would never get permie work again as I had been labelled a filthy contractor. Decided I'd better get used to the idea.

Government decided it was better to employ 3rd world IT people than UK IT people.

Decided to compete by spending all my excess contracting income on professional training and qualifications. Managed to get 23 letters after my name in the process.

Got myself chartered and on various committees and councils.

Sat around on the bench a lot.

Decided this industry is tulipe and dying.

Forget it. It's all a heap of wink. I've wasted my life and career on a dream that had already gone away by the time I started work.

That is the kind of feeling I have now - 10 years of hard work for what ? Some tulipe agent telling me I am not this or that. But this is opposite of what this tread is meant to be : Cheer up and raise enthusiasm for IT.

[RichardCranium]

<deleted>

[EternalOptimist]

I had completed Gear of War 2 on Medium difficulty. Are you saying I should be putting this on my CV ?

of course not, dont be daft. You should only put real accomplishments on your CV like

Gear of War 2 on Hard difficulty

[newblood]

My intoduction to IT was certainly full of excitement, drama and very very large rewards in terms of money.
I was unemployed at the time, and had been for a very long time. It was the lowest point in my life, depressing and there seemed to be only one way out.

Then I was given a zx spectrum and some basic programming manuals. What happened next is a story to warm the cockles of your heart. I threw the programming manuals in the bin and bought a game called elite.
The hours merged into days into weeks into months as I forged an intergalactic empire based upon courage skill and many reloads.

I vividly recall dodging the fer de lances as they unloaded dozens of radar guided missles onto my tail, and the strange buzz as I traded hundred of ilegal slaves to Alpha-Proxima, keeping the best one for myself. I made it to deadly with millions of galactic credits to my name

Ah yes, IT opened new horizons

I had completed Gear of War 2 on Medium difficulty. Are you saying I should be putting this on my CV ?

[jimjamuk]

Left college and instead of following the crowd to Uni managed to get two job offers by the time I had to make the decision to go or not. Unfortunately (for Uni) one job offer was in a Brewery doing QA work - Bingo!

A few hazy years passed and as standard for a few hundred people employer there was no IT dept - me and a chap from accounts had an inkling how these beige boxes worked so we went around voluteering to fix what we could and declaring anything we couldnt as dead. Before the other chap left though he installed VNC on every box he could and left me the passwords. Having the whole company on a single LAN meant I spent the next couple of months playing the game of figuring out who's computer was who's, moving the mouse round just when people wanted to click on things to pee people off and generally loading up non appropriate material on mates machines before logging out.

Final straw was watching the Directors secretary typing the letter to us all saying the brewery was closing and we were all out on our ear. Couldnt risk telling my mates as I had £20k redundancy rolling on it and was sure the wrong comment would mean I would have been out on my ear without a jot of cash. Being in management then though the reviews suddenly came round for some of them and my advice to them was that Brewing probably wasn't for them and they should look to find something else

Anyway £20k richer I decided there was money to be made in IT and suprisingly I now do network security which means I now have an excuse to browse other peoples machines.........

[Paddy]

Got into IT more by accident than desire. I was self taught with electronics and the companies I worked for in the 60s (Like Kodak) had mainframes or rented mainframe time for a couple of hours per week. I bought a CPM machine and wrote a database and used good old WordStar CPM version. GF was going to university studding computer programming. I ended up having to read her notes in order to help her explain how understand the hardware worked. After a few years of all helping increasing numbers of friends with “computers” ; plus the odd couple of my own businesses going under; one friend said to me, why I don’t I do IT for a living. Due to media hype I was very unsure that anyone over 30 could do IT for a living, but I took the plunge, found work and did exams on the side. Money in IT is not a great as I was used to be getting in the 70s and 80s (I was used to having buckets of cash). The main observation is that there are too many muppets in IT with paper qualifications and no common sense.

[Drewster]

... was a permie Civil Servant at CO level......
... sat the EO exam and p*ssed it...
... next form to fill in (Career Planning) had a tick box "ADP".... looked at
the pay rates...
ADP Year 1 = + £350 p/a
ADP Year 2 = + £700 p/a
ADP Year 3 = + £835 p/a.

On my paltry few K the £350+ "bonus" for doing ADP looked good...
.... sat the ADP "Aptitude" Test. p*ssed it......

Thus started my IT career... an EO in Dept of Energy with the Title of "Operations Manager", reporting to an SEO "Senior Operations Manager"
beside a EO "System Programmer" who reported to an SEO "Senior SysProg"
and a few EO/Sandwich Student "Programmers" reporting to SEO "Application Managers"

All 3 SEOs reported to a Principal "Computer Manager" who in turn reported to (desk opposite) Senior Prin "Senior Computer Manager"......

I was "line manager" to the single "Operator" who actually did some work.......