Praxis: Difference between revisions

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1974 is the actual start because that's when I took training at the schools Control Data was running and actually did first programming, but I went back for a 4 year degree majoring in Math and CS and only had Operator jobs before 1980. I did have a DP course at a community college before CDC in '73 which pushes it back to my teens. The Control Data Institute I went to btw, was in the building shown on the Bob Newhart Show at that time on Michigan Avenue as being where he had his office. Like many I just left college and went to The Valley to start my first professional job but I did graduate as I had enough hours, a A- average  and was paid up so De Paul granted me an Arts degree instead of the Science one for the Math program I was supposed to be in. In an ideal path Ida started earlier and finished a Masters but it really wouldn have made a difference in my ability to read relevant literature or deal with industry, since in Math and CS there's nothing to stop you from doing that on your own.
1974 is the actual start because that's when I took training at the schools Control Data was running and actually did first programming, but I went back for a 4 year degree majoring in Math and CS and only had Operator jobs before 1980. I did have a DP course at a community college before CDC in '73 which pushes it back to my teens. The Control Data Institute I went to btw, was in the building shown on the Bob Newhart Show at that time on Michigan Avenue as being where he had his office. Like many I just left college and went to The Valley to start my first professional job but I did graduate as I had enough hours, a A- average  and was paid up so De Paul granted me an Arts degree instead of the Science one for the Math program I was supposed to be in. In an ideal path Ida started earlier and finished a Masters but it really wouldn have made a difference in my ability to read relevant literature or deal with industry, since in Math and CS there's nothing to stop you from doing that on your own.


As an aside to &sect; d, <i>Mainframe Heritage</i> of the 2 page brochure, the Burroughs systems programmer job at Daytona Beach Community College '83-85, was a transition in two senses, it was the first time I was actually carrying a real development responsibility and the first time I would have control of the computer other than the personal ones I had at that time which were considered toys still. The shift after that to work on PC based systems, first with Methods/Digitalk Smalltalk at EER then contracts at IBM Boca, mostly OS/2 related, completed that transition to a mature doer. It's kind of amazing to think the first couple of years in those days you might not actually have a coding responsibility which is unthinkable now but in the last of the mainframe days not so much. DBCC ran on a 6800 but a few months in the Burroughs FE found a 6700 on a state of FL scrap heap and it was brought in and used by the ~10 person programming staff as a development machine which I controlled from my office. So that was how I became hands on. I did modify COLLEGEMCS, put PRINTERMCS into service for the app staff, and made a trivial MCS to operate a very troublesome OCR test forms reader. In a  MCP shop of those days the systems programmer would compile the OS and components on upgrades and manage system level deployments.
As an aside to &sect; a, <i>Mainframe Heritage</i> of the 2 page brochure, the Burroughs systems programmer job at Daytona Beach Community College '83-85, was a transition in two senses, it was the first time I was actually carrying a real development responsibility and the first time I would have control of the computer other than the personal ones I had at that time which were considered toys still. The shift after that to work on PC based systems, first with Methods/Digitalk Smalltalk at EER then contracts at IBM Boca, mostly OS/2 related, completed that transition to a mature doer. It's kind of amazing to think the first couple of years in those days you might not actually have a coding responsibility which is unthinkable now but in the last of the mainframe days not so much. DBCC ran on a 6800 but a few months in the Burroughs FE found a 6700 on a state of FL scrap heap and it was brought in and used by the ~10 person programming staff as a development machine which I controlled from my office. So that was how I became hands on. I did modify COLLEGEMCS, put PRINTERMCS into service for the app staff, and made a trivial MCS to operate a very troublesome OCR test forms reader. In a  MCP shop of those days the systems programmer would compile the OS and components on upgrades and manage system level deployments.


From the late nineties I mostly worked remote, but did work on-site in Buffalo in '14/15, and from the late 80s most jobs were on a contractor basis, Givaudan being the longest employee role, from the turn of the century largely independent of 3rd parties. I would say the GMRV job conclusively ended this stage of work life. The last paid gig as of this writing was Sep '23 and I'm calling it the 1<sup>st</sup> PWYWG as it was 3 days at my thrift rate. It had a mutually happy outcome, the kind I've generally been able to limit myself to for some time. Pauca sed bona. I am an Ayn Rand communist which you can find out more about from the &#x5DE5; &#x738B; link.
From the late nineties I mostly worked remote, but did work on-site in Buffalo in '14/15, and from the late 80s most jobs were on a contractor basis, Givaudan being the longest employee role, from the turn of the century largely independent of 3rd parties. I would say the GMRV job conclusively ended this stage of work life. The last paid gig as of this writing was Sep '23 and I'm calling it the 1<sup>st</sup> PWYWG as it was 3 days at my thrift rate. It had a mutually happy outcome, the kind I've generally been able to limit myself to for some time. Pauca sed bona. I am an Ayn Rand communist which you can find out more about from the &#x5DE5; &#x738B; link.

Revision as of 10:59, 6 September 2025

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