I was the lead console operator during the midnight rollover on NYE for an aging fleet of state-owned mainframes and minicomputers which were affected by the bu

I was the lead console operator during the midnight rollover on NYE for an aging fleet of state-owned mainframes and minicomputers which were affected by the bug. Some of the machines could not be updated with a fix, so we were almost completely uncertain as to how these machines would behave. Testing on many of those machines was a huge investment. A lot of effort went into checking and re-checking job code. It was a lot of work for everyone. As mentioned here by others, it could have been (would have been) worse were it not for the heroic efforts of programmers to bug-proof their job code in the run-up to the rollover. As the lead console op, my responsibility that night and morning was to try and ride any trains that decided to jump the tracks. The skills I developed then still serve me well today, and I will forever be grateful to those grayest of graybeards for the trust I was extended when chosen for that role. Everyone on the payroll was there for the rollover except for the next shift's operators. For my part, it was in the end a lot of preparation which thankfully was not needed. I must admit to having a drink before that shift started. But when the rollover came, all was quiet. And after a few nervous hours, we poured some champagne with the hero programmers who were there in the room watching their jobs run without any issues.