Old geeks still in the trenches

[jimg]

'The Passage of Time' thread got me wondering how many geeks who started way back when are still in the trenches. I recall reading a trade article which gave the astonishing stat that after 15yrs 95+% jump ship for other occupations. Im not sure how true that is but its sort of believable given all the layoffs since the 80s and the fact I keep running into the same cast of characters no matter where I go. Ive been in the s/w eng trenches (as a paid FT job) since the mid 70s. BTW I started college early so its going to be hard to figure just how old I might be. I guess you might call this the old geeks registry. Who else is out there??

 

[RobertN]

I jumped ship from hi tech after 17 years in, mostly in same company/division. I tried something else, but have have back to hi tech; same company different division.

 

[mikim]

My problem was getting in late, trying to play catch up from day 1, and now that tech has outpaced me ... I just sit and let the younger guys carry me til I can retire. I feel guilty about it ... but as I've gotten older I just can't keep up with the changes. It takes me longer to learn it than it lasts. Just about the time I have a handle on it -- it changes. So - I've given up. Maybe that's a common cause of the old geeks fading away.

 

[drssg]

I have 22 years of programming geekdom. I've wrestled with the idea of jumping ship many times, but I've opted for the regular paycheck, health benefits, 401k, sick time, and vacation time.

When it's a beautiful day, I sometimes feel bummed that I spend the day in a cubicle. When it's extremely hot or cold, or when I'm not feeling well, a desk job doesn't seem like such a bad thing.

I think that true happiness has to come from within. If I have that, I can be happy anywhere. If I don't have that, then I'll be happy nowhere. And after that, job selection is just a detail. It's like the old says, "Where ever you go, there you are!"

 

[BamaRob]

I started out with a BS in Geography, started working on my MS, also in Geography with an emphasis in Geographic Information Systems. Took a job with a DOD contractor before finishing my MS. Worked for 4 years there. Got a job with a natural resources management (timber, land, recreation) company and finished my MS while there. Over the course of 7 years with them, I got to doing less and less GIS and more and more general IT/programming stuff. Got caught up in a lay-off there and went to work a little over 2 years ago with a steel company doing programming.

Kind of interesting that I do not have a CS or MIS degree, but have learned several programming languages and OS platforms OTJ.

Interesting topic...

BR

 

[Phils]

I programmed with Fortran on rolls of punched paper tape in the late sixties. I still remember how great it was when we advanced to "state of the art" IBM key punch cards! You didn't have to scroll through the roll to find an error, then patch it, then repunch it. It was simply find the card with the error, make a new one and insert it in the stack. WOW that was great!

Left in the mid-seventies. My wife and I drove truck cross-country for the next decade. Saw the country. All of it.

Didn't touch computers again until Windows 95. Man, things had changed!

You guys that hung in there have my admiration and respect. Heck, the people that learned DOS well have my respect. As posted earlier in this thread, keeping up had to be difficult if not impossible. I'm not sure I could've done it. Earlier this week I was ready to throw a computer out the window when I was unable to reformat it from XP back to W2K.


"Old programmers never die, they just don't C as good"

"Old programmers never die, they just lose their memory"

"Old programmers never die, they just get bugged with life"

"Old programmers never die, they just byte it"

"Old programmers never die, they just decompile"

Phil

 

[Tig]

Moved away in 85 soldering iron in hand to go maintain computers. Kept the same chair through 6 companies. Had titles as glorious as director. Many days I never even saw daylight out the window (no windows in the datacenter). Right now I do remote technical support, analyzing cpu logs from home or where ever. Here is the view out my office window today. We can visit my parents, sister, FIL and other family by boat. I have no plans to leave the industry soon.

 

[California]

First a thank you to RobertN and all the Fairchild/Intel crew for making the modern era possible. Moore's Law wasn't possible before that. It literally re-directed the course of the future.

"Jimmy Wales [founder of Wikipedia] has one simple goal: to give 'every single person free access to the sum of all human knowlege.' " *

Now that's a revolution greater than nearly all in history.

*(The World is Flat, a Brief History of the 21st Century. Thomas L Friedman, 2005).

 

[riptides]

I've been in the same job classification for over twenty years, through three major companies. I have serviced customers all over the world, in some places and conditions that we cannot talk of or about.

I have been fortunate enough to change accordingly.

If it's not altogether clear, I can write it in UML or somefink"

-Mike Z.

 

[texasjohn]

I started computing in the university in 1964, graduated after a while and joined IBM at Houston Space Flight Center. Stayed there thru Apollo, Skylab, Shuttle approach and landing missions. Did software performance analysis for Mission Control, Ground Support and Onboard Shuttle computer operating systems and applications. Left and moved to Austin with IBM and worked on Office Systems, then Personal Computer operating systems and applications. Punched cards to GUI days! Retired after 30 years, now do computer consulting and book layout for folks who want to publish historical books. Also now punch cows and drive a tractor from time to time.