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Idle curiosity: what was the step between "he got to know the guys there" and "started on his path of programming"? How did he turn knowing some computer guys i

• lgkk 3y ago
  He ended up getting a job as a cobol programmer at that IT company. The guy who ran the punch execution helped him understand what was going on and gave him some books.
• dudleypippin 3y ago
  "Back then", just being nearby and showing interest was often all that was needed. I remember wandering into the engineering computer lab my first day of college and being asked if I wanted an account by someone only a few years older than I. (I promptly locked up my shell, didn't know what to do and power cycled the machine under the desk. Got a quick reminder that multi-user machines didn't need to be the large rackmounted things I was used to. Oops.) (My story about fathers and punchcards involves hanging out in the lab with my dad when he was doing his CS homework. I had great fun punching dirty words into the scrap cards and crashing while playing lunar lander on the greenbar printer.)
  • grepfru_it 3y ago
    It was like this in the 90s as well. I would hover around noc closets and server rooms and just chat it up with the admin who came by. They were always eager to show off their systems. Then I would ask if they need help and I would end up doing network admin or sysadmin or building a system for them for a few months. Come to think about it, this is still a solid activity at smaller shops. I have recently gotten work from my colo provider by simply chatting with them. The ROI is not the same as early days in my career but a sale is a sale
    • imp0cat 3y ago
      Is it really? That's great! I'd think they might be a bit more, um, reserved, nowadays.