How did you get started in IT?
-
I fell in love with computers in the summer of 1979 when my dad brought home a Commodore Business Machines SuperPET and showed me how it worked. He had worked on computers for years and so did some programming in BASIC to show me how some stuff worked. I was too young to understand what he was doing but I could understand that he was telling it to do things and he made it animate a stick figure. I was entranced.
I am from the era when computers were things talked about on television and not things that you actually have at home. I spent a lot of my early years trying to figure out how to get access to the cool computers of the day like the VIC=20, Apple ][ and TRS-80. In 1984 I managed to start getting regular access to first release Apple Macintosh computers and loved them.
In 1985 my father was able to bring home an IBM PC XT and set it up in the basement for me and taught me to do BASIC programming myself. I loved it and that became my hobby. I had always known that I wanted to program but this is when I actually learned how to do it.
In 1987 my family got our first computer of our own, a Commodore Amiga 1000, a major advancement over the other computers that I had used up until then. I got lots of programming books and did AmigaBASIC for years there and learned C as well and played with a few other languages here and there, but really used AmigaBASIC primarily. The Amiga was the first computer that I ever used that used a Bourne Shell, so I was getting prepped for a life on UNIX without knowing it.
In 1989 my father managed to get me an intern project at Eastman Kodak doing a database front end. So I started, in the 80s, with database based software development.
In 1994 I fell into a FORTRAN and C programming position and a Solaris helpdesk position (two roles at the same place) for what is now Kettering University. Later on they added computer controlled manufacturing tech to my role list. That was a great position because it was more advanced programming in additional languages, the first time that I was a lead or manager position and the first time that I did IT (with the Solaris support) rather than only programming. So I learned a lot in that job.
-
I sorta fell into IT. My husbands best friend from highschool was really into them and got me interested. Granted my abilities are not anywhere near any of yours, I am a helpdesk tech only. I still really enjoy working around the technology but I get to boss around IT people all day which is almost as cool as playing with it all, and I get lots of gadgets to play with.
-
@Katie I still do not really know. It just sort of happened by association with @scottalanmiller. Every time I get overwhelmed with the IT industry and try to get it he ropes me back in!! That is what good Friends are for.
-
@ejmillen said:
@Katie I still do not really know. It just sort of happened by association with @scottalanmiller. Every time I get overwhelmed with the IT industry and try to get it he ropes me back in!! That is what good Friends are for.
There is no escape. You've past the event horizon.
-
@scottalanmiller said:
@ejmillen said:
@Katie I still do not really know. It just sort of happened by association with @scottalanmiller. Every time I get overwhelmed with the IT industry and try to get it he ropes me back in!! That is what good Friends are for.
There is no escape. You've past the event horizon.
LMAO
-
I did a traineeship (payed internship) in high school. Was working 2 days a week and at school the other 3. Went from hell desk to full sys admin for the firm before moving to my current job, Supreme Network Overlord for an ISP in Australia.
-
-
@Katie
My title was Network Engineer until I put Supreme Network Overlord on my leave form and the boss signed off on it. -
@slazer2au said:
@Katie
My title was Network Engineer until I put Supreme Network Overlord on my leave form and the boss signed off on it.Wow very cool Title
-
Writing games on the ZX Spectrum when I was about eleven.
-
My story on my entry into I.T. is a bit backwards. I was a naive boy when I moved to the U.S. from Germany (Navy Brat) and got a job working with a Metals Company. We sold Aluminum, Stainless, and other metals to machine shops, military, and contractors. Great stories while there and it was neat to work with some cool customers. Quick aside: received commendation for logistics support for a military base just prior to the 1st Desert Storm. I handled the logistics coordination for the aluminum that went on all the armored vehicles that used rakes for the mines they cleared. Anyway, back to I.T. After working in sales, purchasing, and management, it became clear to me this was an old boy's network and upward mobility was just too far off for me. As a young, headstrong person, I didn't want to wait till I was 50 to make VP, so I had a friend that was part owner of an IT company that wanted to grow, so I moved over there for sales.
I had played with DOS and like technology so I made the jump. My only requirement when I made this move was that I wanted to learn from the ground up. Well, the first week had me building 30 workstations to hook up to NetWare 3.12. For the first two years, I was given all the crap stuff until I started taking on more sales stuff. Eventually took over sales full time and eventually was promoted to VP, but during the whole time I played with stuff in the office and developed a tight relationship with the Engineers. I listened really well and had them teach me a ton of stuff. To be honest, I ended up taking on tech support, sales, project management, and politics. I was a bit fed up with the latter and resigned so I could go back to school.
After 3 months of going to school full-time and gauging my workload, I put out feelers to executives looking for some part-time work. One company called me in so I could help them with their business processes. They were growing like crazy, and about a month later was asked to come work full-time as VP. In addition to running IT, I also handled 3 other departments. Fast forward to today, after a massive layoff there and a 3 year stint of running an IT company part-time with two others, I now work here at the Engineering company.
While I made VP twice before I was 50 (remember the headstrong boy at the metal company), I really now enjoy just working and playing with technology. I've built/replaced tons of servers and PCs, am migrating Exchange at the moment, and just am in love with virtual technologies. I'm in a good place right now.
-
@DenisKelley That's an interesting story! I think working in different aspects of IT and being well-rounded gives folks a good perspective.
-
I am certainly very glad for my varied background. I've worked in many fields and disciplines and even within IT in many roles and industries.
-
@scottalanmiller said:
I am certainly very glad for my varied background. I've worked in many fields and disciplines and even within IT in many roles and industries.
Definitely does help see problems from different angles.
-
And helps with empathy.
-
I pretty much fell into it. In high school, I was determined to become a Geneticist. I was focusing on biology, attending genetics conferences, etc. However, I don't have any computational math skills, which would impact various of aspects of that career path. I was in the middle of the school hall when it dawned on me that I'd need to pick a different career. Not moments later, the computer teacher came to find me in order for me to bring up a crashed server yet again.
I got my foot in the door working for my high school after I graduated by doing data entry in the library. Things didn't quite work out there, and during my first summer semester of college, 3 of my classmates in my hardware 101 course pointed out a job opening on the college job board to me, and I jumped right into IT from there at that manufacturing firm.
-
I was always around computers as a Kid. My mom taught Computers and Keyboarding at a Vocational school, so from 6 or 7 I would run around helping the ladies (Mostly typists, learning how to use a computer) get their computers working in the lab. After High school I got a job selling Cell phones (Back before they had camera's or texting was a thing. It was then that I realized technology was something I always wanted to be around. After I figured out that sales wasn't something I wanted to do forever, i went to a Community college to get an associates degree. Got a temporary gig at a Poultry company in the IT, department, Moved from there to my first Technician job, and 12 years later, here I am.
-
@Nara said:
I pretty much fell into it. In high school, I was determined to become a Geneticist.
Genetics is very interesting stuff!
I came from a biology background - I studied Marine science, conservation, and ecology in college. -
@scottalanmiller is the Borg, so I assimilated. Once upon a time I was a forensic chemist.
-
@Dominica said:
@scottalanmiller is the Borg, so I assimilated. Once upon a time I was a forensic chemist.
I am excited to hear How did you get started in IT.
