Who works in IT?

JDtech · 07-02-2010, 12:01 PM

Who works in the IT industry? Thought it might be interesting to get perspectives on how the field is changing.

jcjacob · 07-02-2010, 02:44 PM

I did work in IT - from 1979 until my job disappeared in 2009.

Now I'm spending all my time getting to learn and use more of my two favorite hobbies, technology and photography.

Jon Foster · 07-02-2010, 04:56 PM

Unfortunately I'm in the IT field as well. I've been doing it since 1982 along with photography on the side (off and on) for about the same amount of time. Yikes, that's about 28 years. Man, how things have changed... And in a weird way things haven't changed much at all.

Jon.

JDtech · 07-02-2010, 05:12 PM

I'm still in IT although no longer working for a company that can be classified as IT. It's all still the same, although companies have clamped down a lot on the resources that people can use at work. It's stupid, really.

edk · 07-02-2010, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon Foster

Unfortunately I'm in the IT field as well. I've been doing it since 1982 along with photography on the side (off and on) for about the same amount of time. Yikes, that's about 28 years. Man, how things have changed... And in a weird way things haven't changed much at all.

Jon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDtech

I'm still in IT although no longer working for a company that can be classified as IT. It's all still the same, although companies have clamped down a lot on the resources that people can use at work. It's stupid, really.

know what you mean, been involved in IT for about 20 years (in one way or another), lots of changes, not all good. knew it was going south when IT became less the inovative way to do business and more another cost centre to be closely monitiored and scrutinised. still, i can do all the fun stuff at home.

how did you guys get in to IT?

JDtech · 07-02-2010, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edk

how did you guys get in to IT?

Got sucked into IT in the dot-com days. Never managed to escape. Despite my enjoying the whole thing, I still think sitting at a computer all day is a bad way to spend the majority of one's working life.

Jon Foster · 07-02-2010, 05:57 PM

My mom started me out on computers. Up into the early 80's all I was involved with was the military. I was a Marine Corps brat. She wanted me to learn other things and bought me a C64 when the hit the market. At first all I did was write dumb programs to do stupid things but after a while I started doing things for people and I started making money. When I got my first daisy wheel printer I was the most popular person in the city. I was printing every kind of paper you could imagine (the output looked like it was typed, not printed on a printer). From there I started a few BBS's. The BBS's had everything from forums and file sharing to online games. My houses were like mini data centers and looked like something out of a movie. We had multiple line access 24-7 and high speed modems for each node (a whopping 2400 bps). Near the end we also hosted multi BBS networks. We ran Image (for the Commodore's) and Tag (for the IBM clones). Ah, the good old days...

From there things just spread into the main stream IT world. Commercially I started with a old company called DEC. Mainframes were the hot ticket and we were running 100MHz RISC systems that smoked anything else on the market for the price point. Ah, more of the good old days...

It was an interesting start to say the least...

Jon.

JDtech · 07-02-2010, 05:59 PM

What I still don't understand is how in the world I missed investing in Microsoft and Intel in the late 80s to early 90s, when it was clear that the world was adopting these devices in a big way. I just wasn't into investing at the time. Kind of a no-brainer in hindsight, though. I work with a guy who tells the story of a friend who bought Microsoft stock early on. Hasn't worked in years.

edk · 07-02-2010, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDtech

I still think sitting at a computer all day is a bad way to spend the majority of one's working life.

couldn't agree more, still love IT, but not a great way to make a living. I got out once before, looking to move on again.

Jon Foster · 07-02-2010, 06:01 PM

I wish I would have had the foresight to do the same thing. But who knew?

Jon.

07-02-2010, 12:01 PM	#1
JDtech Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 308 Blog Entries: 1	Who works in IT? Who works in the IT industry? Thought it might be interesting to get perspectives on how the field is changing. __________________ Members don't see ads in threads. Register your free account today and become a member on Tech Today Online, gaining access to posting privileges, contests, free plug-ins and other downloads, unlimited online storage for your photographs, reviews, free marketplace listings, and much more.

07-02-2010, 02:44 PM	#2
jcjacob Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Doylestown, PA Posts: 159	I *did* work in IT - from 1979 until my job disappeared in 2009. Now I'm spending all my time getting to learn and use more of my two favorite hobbies, technology and photography. __________________ -John

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07-02-2010, 04:56 PM	#3
Jon Foster Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: White Lake, MI Posts: 149	Unfortunately I'm in the IT field as well. I've been doing it since 1982 along with photography on the side (off and on) for about the same amount of time. Yikes, that's about 28 years. Man, how things have changed... And in a weird way things haven't changed much at all. Jon.

07-02-2010, 05:12 PM	#4
JDtech Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 308 Blog Entries: 1	I'm still in IT although no longer working for a company that can be classified as IT. It's all still the same, although companies have clamped down a lot on the resources that people can use at work. It's stupid, really.

07-02-2010, 05:57 PM	#7
Jon Foster Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: White Lake, MI Posts: 149	My mom started me out on computers. Up into the early 80's all I was involved with was the military. I was a Marine Corps brat. She wanted me to learn other things and bought me a C64 when the hit the market. At first all I did was write dumb programs to do stupid things but after a while I started doing things for people and I started making money. When I got my first daisy wheel printer I was the most popular person in the city. I was printing every kind of paper you could imagine (the output looked like it was typed, not printed on a printer). From there I started a few BBS's. The BBS's had everything from forums and file sharing to online games. My houses were like mini data centers and looked like something out of a movie. We had multiple line access 24-7 and high speed modems for each node (a whopping 2400 bps). Near the end we also hosted multi BBS networks. We ran Image (for the Commodore's) and Tag (for the IBM clones). Ah, the good old days... From there things just spread into the main stream IT world. Commercially I started with a old company called DEC. Mainframes were the hot ticket and we were running 100MHz RISC systems that smoked anything else on the market for the price point. Ah, more of the good old days... It was an interesting start to say the least... Jon.

07-02-2010, 05:59 PM	#8
JDtech Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 308 Blog Entries: 1	What I still don't understand is how in the world I missed investing in Microsoft and Intel in the late 80s to early 90s, when it was clear that the world was adopting these devices in a big way. I just wasn't into investing at the time. Kind of a no-brainer in hindsight, though. I work with a guy who tells the story of a friend who bought Microsoft stock early on. Hasn't worked in years.

07-02-2010, 06:01 PM	#10
Jon Foster Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: White Lake, MI Posts: 149	I wish I would have had the foresight to do the same thing. But who knew? Jon.