And What Exactly Does That Have to do With I.T.?

Ah, yes! What does fear have to do with technology? With I.T. as it's called today? With programming? Oh just everything and nothing. One thing that I should make clear here (a dark secret that I have alluded to in past posts and that I will now reveal again - much to my mortification and embarrassment). Here it comes: Not only do I "remember" IBM punch cards (which I refer to more appropriately, I think, as Hollerith cards), not only have I read about them in textbooks titled "The Historical Underpinnings of Automated Data Processing Systems" - but I have actually (drum roll please) used them in my professional career.

In short, I am not only a Catholic programmer, I am also an old, Catholic programmer! And anyone who remains at the level of programmer for many years can tell you - a certain amount of fear (I would say a good amount of fear) comes with the job. It is, as we say in the trade, "built-in", "hard-wired", "the nature of the beast". Sure, the context and quality of the fear may change throughout your career in I.T. - but it is always there.

I remember when I was just getting into programming when my biggest fear was would I be able to handle the transition from being a tech writer to being a IBM mainframe COBOL programmer. Would I be able to understand the complexities of a PERFORM VARYING UNTIL statement? That was good for a few short years. Until the dawn of "client-server" computing. Then I worried if I could ever make the jump from mainframes to PC's - and could I convince potential employers that indeed I had re-tooled my skillset for the '90's. Would hiring managers actually believe that a 40 year old "senior developer" could actually distinguish between the left mouse button and the right mouse button?

Speaking of fear, I am not afraid to say that I have successfully put my "Senior" days behind me (when whatever job title I had at the time was preceded by the word "Senior"). Today, I'm not interested in any job title with a "Senior" attached - unless of course it comes with a senior discount.

Most mid-level software people ultimately reach a point in their careers where the biggest fear in I.T. takes over - the point when you fear they will stop giving you more money unless you go into "management". But this is definitely best left as the topic for a later blog. My next blog, though will be about two very real people - programmers in the trade - and how each dealt with the fear of the "the technology merry-go-round". Until then, ... dominus vobiscum.