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My start was writing one of those paper tape messaging systems for the
admiral. He typed up his message in a "word processor", my program took it,
transformed it into the standard navy message format, printed it and punched
that paper tape to be handed to you. (back in '84)

Those were the days... (thanks for the memories, as Bob Hope would say)

Rich Marion


-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of nhdennis@xxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, October 18, 2013 11:40 AM
To: M.C - Midrange-L
Subject: Re: Where can I find a list of current IBM i companies?

Some of us really have been around longer than Buck ;-) <geezer alert> I
started my computing career in the military operating a paper tape messaging
system. SMS is not as much fun. Like Buck, I started with no formal
qualifications but have managed to learn my trade. Logic is logic.


Norm Dennis


----- Reply message -----
From: "Gary Thompson" <gthompson@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Midrange Systems Technical Discussion" <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Where can I find a list of current IBM i companies?
Date: Sat, Oct 19, 2013 01:25


thank you


-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Buck Calabro
Sent: Friday, October 18, 2013 11:10 AM
To: midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Where can I find a list of current IBM i companies?

On 10/18/2013 9:49 AM, Buck Calabro wrote:
It seems to me that the larger question is: Are we up to snuff?

Before this turns into a rant against old programmers, I'd like to add
something.

I'm an old programmer. In both senses. There aren't many people here who
started in this business before I did. I punched some cards, spliced some
tapes, matched some records and made hundreds and hundreds of julienne
fries... (geezer points and condolences for those who get that last
reference). My formal education ends with high school - I had to go to
work, so I didn't go to university. My first job was as a computer
operator, and my qualifications were: Had my own car, could lift full boxes
of paper.

35 years later, I don't have many more qualifications than I did then.
No formal education, not even any Certificates of Completion. Like so many
others, I'm self taught when it comes to programming. I worked in small
businesses all my life. Went to COMMON once, and a Technical conference
once and made it to New England for a user conference once.
I figure that I know so little that I could honestly teach a new person 20%
of what I know in two weeks. The other 20% is stuff I forget about until I
am in that weird place where knowing the difference between MHLZO and MLLZO
is the thing that saves me hours in the debugger.

I'm not Alan, Scott, Henrik or Mihael but I can slog my way through writing
new RPG wrappers for the odd Java POI class, put it into a service program
and consume it in a regular RPG program that's scribbling a web page. If I
can do that, anyone can.

Anyway, the key point in 'Are we up to snuff?' isn't to denigrate anyone.
We all of us have the ability to do this stuff. I've never taken calculus,
but I'm pretty sure I've never had to do any rocket science in the course of
my business programming. I've had to do a lot of 'read this, mush it around
so it can be accumulated and make some reports about it'. In 1978, I was
reading cards. In 1988 I was reading
DISK40 (and those magnetic domains are really only for young eyes, believe
you me). In 1998 I was reading DISK and in 2008 I was reading TCP/IP
sockets. In 2013 I'm reading XML.

It's a little more of a change than going from MFCU to DISK40 to DISK, but
not a whole lot. And if I can do that, honestly, anyone can.
There's an old joke (I only know like, two) that goes: 'How many
psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb?'

'One. But the light bulb really, really has to want to change.'
--buck

still matching records after all these years...
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