Where are you now?

[GlenJohnson]

For some reason I just got notified that InnoTech has responded to "Question for guys who are in IT for 10+ years". Since this thread has been put to bed, I thought I'd start a new thread based on the results. For those of us who have been in IT for 10+ years, where are we now. I'm in retail in a huge retail chain, and my specialty is electronics. I carry everything from large screen tv's to computer mice. I'm still in IT, because I run my own consulting and repair business on the side when I want to. I can pick and choose the IT jobs I like, and know I have a pay check coming in every week selling computers and such. People come in and ask how they can set up a home wireless network, I can hand them just what they need, tell them exactly how to set it up, and tell them to call if they have problems. Also, living in northern Florida doesn't hurt. End of February, hit 76 degrees, so I took a ride in the country with the top down.
thread656-908668 was the original in case you don't remember.

Glen A. Johnson
If you like fun and sun, check out Tek-Tips Florida Forum
"Creditors have better memories than debtors."
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790); US author, diplomat and inventor.

 

[tfg13]

Glen,
I see you just have to rub it in (I'm in Ohio). Anyway, when I started working with computers and networks in the early 90's for the Marine Corps (no I didn't retire, and kick myself in the butt for that), and have since moved to different "types" of jobs. Worked as a high level help desk, a network/systems analyst 2, a site monitor "engineer" (I hate using that word since by no means do I have the credentials to call myself an engineer), and recently and currently an administrator (who moonlights as a consultant) for about 52 Windows servers, and a smattering of HP-UX, Linux and Solaris machines, and not to mention the Cisco routers and other "fun" stuff I get to play with. As a government contractor, I don't forsee a immediate requirement for wireless. Not saying it won't happen, but with security concerns and such, it will most likely be ignored for now.
I think what can be the real money-maker is exactly what you are doing. There are so many home users, that are pretty much clueless to PC's, but jump on the bandwagon of being "connected". Makes "consulting" a profitable business....

 

[GlenJohnson]

Don't mean to rub it in. Remember, it get's hot and wet down here. Beginning of March and we're in the mid 80's already. Course, weather here is one of the reasons we chose the area.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Starke-Florida.html

Glen A. Johnson
If you like fun and sun, check out Tek-Tips Florida Forum
"Creditors have better memories than debtors."
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790); US author, diplomat and inventor.

 

[johnherman]

After working my way up from programmer to data warehouse director (across several companies I might add), I left corporate work for the glamour (and pay) of consulting, working first for one of the bigger ones, then for a smaller regional consulting company. Downsized in 2001, I started picking up contract work via W-2 and 1099. Twice had been offered to go full-time with one of my clients, but declined. Finally decided to go back to corporate America in mid 2004 for a 20% drop in salary but benefits, job security, and 4 weeks vacation. However, I'm getting the itch to consult again, maybe soon. Or maybe I'll stay a little longer and vest the company contributions to my 401k first.....

-------------------------
The trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody appreciates how difficult it was - Steven Wright

 

[Zelandakh]

Same ole, same ole. 10 years on and I'm still in the job I went into for 6-12 months. But it pays the bills, it is easy and it allows me to spend my downtime doing what I like - helping people and learning.

There are worse things in life.

Oh and its about 50 degrees, there has been snow in the air and having been to a minimum of 20 countries so far, NOTHING beats living in London.

 

[Skittle]

I have been in IT for 16 years ( not including 5 years colledge and university ).

Fundementally I have always been doing the same thing in the UK. Programming and internal company IT support in three permenant positions ( current one 9 years ).

I'm now at a stage where I am about to be outsourced and considering wether to stay in IT. It's great if you are with a company that will continue to keep an IT role but in my company that won't happen and I think it may be time to think of looking outside of IT.

There are a number of pot holes in IT I fear I could fall down in the future. Ageisum is supposed to be a big problem for IT workers in the UK, the skills race never ends, the outsourcing to labour cheap countries, technology is becoming more and more remotely administrated ( won't be long before server rooms are a thing of the past in companies ), training courses cost a fortune and most IT jobs want two years of previous experience in multiple disciplines.

I have an opportunity to go for a job that is more 'Systems Analysis' where processes and data analysis ( Six Sigma stuff ) are the core of the job. Logically I'm beginning to think that this is the way to go for me. Emotionally it's tougth though to break away from IT when I know it so well and have worked so hard at it for so long.








Dazed and confused
(N+, MCAD .NET)

 

[gbaughma]

We're lucky to see 76 degrees in August.

I'm in Northern Minnesota. I've been involved with computers since I was about 13, starting with hollerith cards. I'll be 40 in May.

I have always worked with computers in one form or another. My parents couldn't afford college for me, so it's all trial-by-fire. But here's some of my accomplishments.

o Wrote software for Tandy Corporation when I was 17.
o Wrote software for Pitney Bowes when I was about 18.
o Wrote software for the American Hotrod Association when I was 19.

... I went to work for Radio Shack when I was 18, and was the youngest assistant manager/manager trainee they had ever had. Not long after, I went to work for a startup company that developed charting softare for geriatrics patients.

I then went to work for a manufacturing plant writing their business software on a MAI Basic-4 Minicomputer, and developed a system for testing products as they came off the assembly line (taking them from about 3% quality control testing to 100%). Then I moved to Minnesota (from chicago area), and went to work teaching computers. From that I went to what I'm doing now; working for a juvenile residential treatment facility, where I've developed their entire database system with a web front-end. My "branch" of the company has about 140 employees; the entire company has about 2500 employees, and has been around since the 1880's.

Overall, been there, done that. I'm an A+ certified instructor, but that's my only "certification". I'm involved with every aspect of computers, from hardware to software to networking to finding new ways of making computers do things they haven't before.

Here's a fun one for you... my "computer timeline"....

o Started with punching Hollerith cards and sending them to chicago with a friend of the family to be run, he'd bring me the printed results.
o First computer - TI Learning Module - 4 "sandwich keeper" sized boxes; programmed in Binary; learned to go from Hex to Binary and back again in my head.
o First computer with a keyboard (lol) Radio Shack Color Computer 2 - Got it for $300... had to save every penny I earned on my summer job to buy it. Got onto the Internet with this one at 300 baud through CompuServe. This was 1984-ish.
o Next a Radio Shack Color Computer 3 - Decked out, this time, dual floppy drives, multi-pak, modem, speech/sound cartridge. Wrote scads of utilities, a couple of which ended up in Rainbow Magazine.
o Got my first "ibm" computer. 286/12 with a whopping 6 1/2 MB of RAM. 40 MB MFM Hard drive, 2400 baud modem. Upgraded later with 130MB IDE Hard Drive, 9600 baud modem, and (gasp!) a CDRom (single speed).
o A slew of 486's along the way, including a 486/33, 486/66. Started running my own BBS service with my old 286 at this point.
o Finally got a decent Pentium class machine (133 MHZ). Used the 486 to run WorldGroup BBS software, with 9 modems plugged into that single 486 machine, running a chat system. I had 8 2400 baud modems, and one "high speed" 9600 baud modem for downloads. W00T!

.... after that, it's more of the upgrade path, etc. but it's been fun. Sometimes I miss the old "BBS" days, and even the "old" internet.

Do you remember:

o Bang-paths in E-Mail addresses?
o Bill gates being excited because 300MB Drives were down below $10,000?
o Doing ARCHIE and GOPHER searches on the 'Net?
o Paying $10 an hour for CompuServe?
o Dial-up BBSes?
o Telling your folks not to pick up the phone, because you were downloading?
o Having your mom forget, and then yell at you because the phone was making such funny noises?
o Your folks saying that computers were a "Fad"?
o Your first printer, and how much noise it made? (Mine was a Single-hammer dot matrix called the "Gorilla Banana")
o Downloading the digitized (in letters) picture of Spock holding the model of the Enterprise?
o Printing out said picture on your noisy dot-matrix?
o Not shutting off your computer, because saving took too long on your casette drive?
o Accidently putting one of your computer casettes in your casette deck, and hearing the screaming bit stream?
o Wishing you could get that cool Commodore 64 program to run on your apple/ibm/radio shack computer?
o Translating it anyway?



Just my 2¢

"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify its owner." --Me
--Greg

 

[dennisbbb]

I miss those BBS days too, when "computers" were for "geeks".

Nowadays, even grandpa who doesn't even know how to type needs internet access to read his google news.

I won't bore you with the same story, but I think it's just a job everyone wants, but not everyone can handle.

 

[Zelandakh]

College all day and MUDs in Australia all night over a satellite link that the college got billed for

Downloading pictures at 2400 baud for 20 minutes only to find they were not the ones you wanted.

IN the 80s, before DNS covered practically all sites, command line telnet to an IP address and trying to guess a username and password (it wasn't hacking ok!) and being surprised to find Supervisor with no password worked a LOT.

Using email as an IM tool with far flung family when you couldn't find a MUD to use as a chat room as they were all being recompiled by the spoddy programmers that wrote them as they were being recompiled on the SPARC stations they were sitting at in Universities around the world and they all seemed to do them at the same time.

Ah, bliss...

 

[Mike2287]

gbaughma:

Your "computer timeline" Just add a IBM XT with RLL Controller after the Color Computers and it sounds like we took the same path. The 10 meg hard drive I had in it was used and I had to give it a little spin with a pencil eraser when I turned it on. LOL

 

[BackStageJim]

Similar story here.

I got into computers in 73 at 13. I was Explorer scout attached to Computer Company making peripheral equipment like 96 column card punches, sorters and printers. The President and VP-Engineering asked my Mom what I had planned after HS. She cleaned office there at night before getting job in factory line. Her response was ‘Not sure what he’ll do. No cash for college, single Mom. Guess he will try and find work in factory.’ I do believe she was giving an interview for me that day.

They saw something. They suggested a technical school in my future after HS. Since then I have not looked back. I enjoy consulting, new clients, excellent rate. Been doing mainframe, PC, Server, Web, ERP and lucky to have been an employee of some big Pharm companies. Did get my degree after many years in business.

Each year I thank Mom for that meeting that changed my life.

 

[gbaughma]

The 10 meg hard drive I had in it was used and I had to give it a little spin with a pencil eraser when I turned it on.

OMG... that's scary... when I ran my first BBS, I had two 20 meg seagate MFM drives... the thing wasn't even in a case, just a 286 motherboard sitting on a shelf, but if the power went out, I had to give the drives a "twist" to get them going... <ROFL>



Just my 2¢

"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify its owner." --Me
--Greg

 

[jmanj]

I graduated BSME in early 60s but since engineers are dime a dozen in my country, I went into programming(those early machines and their jalopies) I was with the government and they sent me to study all about computers with IBM, Univac, burroughs etc. Soon after I studied hardware engineering and networking. Life was really good. I was one of those sought after software nerds in Asia. Then came the opportunity to live in US of A in the early 80s. I started from being a computer operator to software specialist. I have learned more programming languages (total of 21 now) and now more involved in the ERP industry. Six years ago I decided to go independent consulting for the ERP industries such as Peoplesoft, SAP, Lawson, Seibel, Oracle etc. Life was really wonderful until somebody introduced the word "Outsourcing". I'm planning of retiring this year or just work at home. At mean time I do assemble new PCs and hardware for my kids, friends and from other contacts. Cheers..

 

[gbaughma]

My goal in life is to create a piece of software that threatens microsoft enough that they pay me $10M to buy it from me. Then I'll retire.



Just my 2¢

"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify its owner." --Me
--Greg

 

[GlenJohnson]

This thread has turned out better than I thought it ever would. 80 degrees today, and my first computer was a Radio Shack special with the cassete deck. Loads of fun.

Glen A. Johnson
If you like fun and sun, check out Tek-Tips Florida Forum
"Maybe this world is another planet's hell."
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), English critic & novelist

 

[sggaunt]

80 degrees today

Phe

http://wwww..

No hang on a moment your in Florida, so that's Fahrenheit.

I used to work for a guy (He was head of IT in a FE College) who serviced Hard drives in a plastic bag. Top off, dust platter, lube bearings and back into 286 PC working again!! This was 1992.


Steve: Delphi a feersum engin indeed.

 

[mmorancbt]

Where am I now?

I am in my home office - where I am most days. I am writing, The Technology Consultant's Toolkit - a project I restarted resently (3rd restart) because I am getting very particular about its content and tone. Cisco Press probably hates for this but they will love the result.

Over the past several months I have re-constituted my consulting business in a few ways. This came as a result of some opportunities that have come my way, some important feedback and advise from a couple clients, and a desire to more closely align my business with my longer-term professional goals.

As part of this exercise, I ran into a few books that I will whole-heartedly recommend.

The Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier - New Riders Press
Among other things, posed three key questions that every business and every individual should be able to answer.
1) Who Are You (simple);
2) What do you do (slightly more complicated);
3) Why does it matter? (this is the crux);

The other books were:
The Non-Designer's Design Book by Robin Williams (not Mork & Mindy) - Peachpit Press

and
Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug - New Riders.

Created New Logo, reconstituted old tag-line, and emphasized our positional questions.

http://www.KreativeKnowledge.com

Key objectives:
1) To create brand differentiation - not brand awareness. I am not large enough to have brand awareness (Superbowl ads), my goal has always been to differentiate at the point of contact...

2) To never compete on price - something we have been effective at for nearly 12 years - price is never the issue or if it is, the client is the wrong client...

3) Help other consultants benefit from both the brand as a differentiator - producing income for them through affiliation.

4) Use the positioning to foster additional writing and speaking projects - which, in turn, produce more high-value/high-profile consulting projects.

Lastly, to have fun - lots of it - both in the process and in the result.

Matthew Moran (career blog and podcast below)
Career Advice with Attitude for the IT Pro

http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/pm/career

http://techcareerconsult.blogspot.com