BJCooperIT
Programmer
In order to comment about the future of Information Technology please bear with me while I tell you about the past. This is the past of a man called "Bud". He was a young boy during the Great Depression who was the sole support of his family by age 12. To escape a life of abuse this Kansas farm boy, who had never seen the ocean, joined the navy at age 17. There was no such thing as IT in his world.
He made the Navy a career for 21 years and by the time he left the service in the 1960's he knew what computers were but had never actually seen one. Computers were something in Sci-Fi movies.
He took a job in maintenance for a company that made rocket motors and rocket fuel for NASA. Now he was the guy who had to keep the air conditioning systems running so the computers did not overheat. He became aware that computers were used at NASA when he proudly watched Neil Armstrong took the first step on the Moon in 1969. So this was the future of computers.
In 1970 his daughter graduated from computer programming school. While he had no idea what she would actually be doing for a living, he proudly displayed a punched card wreath, spray painted gold, on his front door that Christmas. Computers were her future.
In 1984 he nearly died. He spent 21 days in intensive care and a computerized machine breathed for him when he couldn't. They monitored his oxygen and saved his life. Computers gave him a future.
In 1985 his wife died. At the Social Security Administration someone entered her social security number into a green-on-black field on 3270 monitor hooked to a large mainframe and then pressed a function key. A few weeks later he received a death benefits check for $250. The computer program marked the end of her future.
He fell ill and retired early. Computers now sent him monthly disability checks. The receptionist at the Veterans Administration looked him up in their computer each time he was admitted into the hospital. His medical bills and utility bills were computerized. He could not envision a future without computers.
In 1999, well into his seventies, he bought a Web TV unit. He struggled with it but managed to get it hooked up and running. He was amazed. He figured out how to e-mail his daughter and started wandering the web. He contacted old navy shipmates and was instrumental in organizing a ship's reunion all by way of the internet. He sometimes couldn't walk to the kitchen without help but he could soar at the keyboard. The benefits of IT became his world.
In 2002, at age 81, he felt too restricted by Web TV and bought a new Dell 486 computer with all the bells and whistles. He figured out how to scan pictures and sent one of himself to the widow who had been sending him e-mail jokes for a year. He even started learning how to use Microsoft Word and had a fellow come to the house to teach him whatever he couldn't figure out for himself. He needed computers. IT had become his future as well.
Today he is in the hospital and he frets because he misses his computer and the friends he cannot contact. You can bet that the first thing he will do when he gets home is check his e-mail.
In the future perhaps, God willing, he might be able to see his great-grandchild being born thanks to computer technology. Perhaps a PDA will allow him to talk on the telephone, take & scan pictures, copy & fax, explore the internet, and watch his favorite television program.
Whatever the future of IT, we are the people who make it happen. We work for the benefit people who haven't a clue what we do. They may not know it, might not appreciate it, but we craft their future. We have a responsibility to do it well, despite our day-to-day hassles. It is important. It is critical.
When Bud's time comes, someone at the Social Security Administration will sit at their PC and enter a query on his social security number. They will click on a button and a check for $300 will arrive in my mail.
I help shape the future of IT.
Consultant/Custom Forms & PL/SQL - Oracle 8.1.7 - Windows 2000
When posting code, please use TGML to help readability. Thanks!
He made the Navy a career for 21 years and by the time he left the service in the 1960's he knew what computers were but had never actually seen one. Computers were something in Sci-Fi movies.
He took a job in maintenance for a company that made rocket motors and rocket fuel for NASA. Now he was the guy who had to keep the air conditioning systems running so the computers did not overheat. He became aware that computers were used at NASA when he proudly watched Neil Armstrong took the first step on the Moon in 1969. So this was the future of computers.
In 1970 his daughter graduated from computer programming school. While he had no idea what she would actually be doing for a living, he proudly displayed a punched card wreath, spray painted gold, on his front door that Christmas. Computers were her future.
In 1984 he nearly died. He spent 21 days in intensive care and a computerized machine breathed for him when he couldn't. They monitored his oxygen and saved his life. Computers gave him a future.
In 1985 his wife died. At the Social Security Administration someone entered her social security number into a green-on-black field on 3270 monitor hooked to a large mainframe and then pressed a function key. A few weeks later he received a death benefits check for $250. The computer program marked the end of her future.
He fell ill and retired early. Computers now sent him monthly disability checks. The receptionist at the Veterans Administration looked him up in their computer each time he was admitted into the hospital. His medical bills and utility bills were computerized. He could not envision a future without computers.
In 1999, well into his seventies, he bought a Web TV unit. He struggled with it but managed to get it hooked up and running. He was amazed. He figured out how to e-mail his daughter and started wandering the web. He contacted old navy shipmates and was instrumental in organizing a ship's reunion all by way of the internet. He sometimes couldn't walk to the kitchen without help but he could soar at the keyboard. The benefits of IT became his world.
In 2002, at age 81, he felt too restricted by Web TV and bought a new Dell 486 computer with all the bells and whistles. He figured out how to scan pictures and sent one of himself to the widow who had been sending him e-mail jokes for a year. He even started learning how to use Microsoft Word and had a fellow come to the house to teach him whatever he couldn't figure out for himself. He needed computers. IT had become his future as well.
Today he is in the hospital and he frets because he misses his computer and the friends he cannot contact. You can bet that the first thing he will do when he gets home is check his e-mail.
In the future perhaps, God willing, he might be able to see his great-grandchild being born thanks to computer technology. Perhaps a PDA will allow him to talk on the telephone, take & scan pictures, copy & fax, explore the internet, and watch his favorite television program.
Whatever the future of IT, we are the people who make it happen. We work for the benefit people who haven't a clue what we do. They may not know it, might not appreciate it, but we craft their future. We have a responsibility to do it well, despite our day-to-day hassles. It is important. It is critical.
When Bud's time comes, someone at the Social Security Administration will sit at their PC and enter a query on his social security number. They will click on a button and a check for $300 will arrive in my mail.
I help shape the future of IT.
Code:
select * from Life where Brain is not nullWhen posting code, please use TGML to help readability. Thanks!
of course, I could always have unconciously robbed the word off of someone, in which case I guess I should start giving credit where credit's due!)![[pc]](/data/assets/smilies/pc.gif "[pc] [pc]")