The Tao of DARS

[randy_byers]

Comments

[holyoutlaw]

That's not a "semi" technical job at all. Very technical!

[randy_byers]

I guess I still have a bit of Impostor Syndrome. It's hard to shake.

[kate_schaefer]

That's a pretty standard career path for mainframe database report writers. I recognize the similarity to my own path from medieval history major to financial analyst to database programmer.

My favorite piece of programming as a consultant was always the troubleshooting part of conversions, because that's the part where one gets to be a hero. Normal processing where everything is going well is dull.

Congratulations on understanding the business data so well. That's crucial to making sure the processes work, and it's a piece that lots of programmers I worked with over the years were impatient with.

And additional congratulations on being retired with a cleaned-out desk.

[randy_byers]

I feel that a lot of SF fans have followed this basic career trajectory, and one of my other theories is that there's something about the minds of people attracted to science fiction that will cause them to drift toward technical careers unless they have specific ambitions in other directions.

[del_c]

I wonder if that's just because many of us were looking for work during the era of increasing IT technology, so our unwanted literary qualifications coincided with an insatiable thirst for technical workers. I'd be interested in some memories from fans who entered the workforce before 1970, and to see what happens to fans who enter the workforce after 2030 (if the trend is even over by then).

[randy_byers]

We were undoubtedly filling a growing need, and we were a cohort who were likely to have played with Commodore 64s when they were the hot new toy. I wasn't one of those myself, but some of my best friends ...

[anonymous]

I am impressed with all that you did at UW. I never knew....but I remember meeting you at Schmitz Hall for lunch or drinks after work.

[anonymous]

Anon? This is Robyn

[randy_byers]

Robynomous.

[randy_byers]

Oh yeah. You were still a student at UW when I started working there.

[kalimac]

Interesting, and far more elucidating on what you actually do - did - at work than anything I've previously read

[randy_byers]

My sister always wanted to be a teacher, partly because that's what our Dad became when she was a formative age. She lived her dream, and retired a few years ago at age 52 (if my faulty memory is right) after putting in thirty years in one school district. The only thing I ever wanted to be was a writer, but I could never imagine wanting to do it for a living, not that I was ever in any danger of that!

[randy_byers]

By the way, I also learned raw HTML and used it right up to the end for a series of pages I maintained on a Unix server using pico as my editor. Old school! For my personal site at randybyers.net, however, I use Wordpress. HTML still comes in handy on LJ sometimes.