MAN-YEARS of programming count now at 749!

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

First many thanks to all you old geeks that answered my post! Haven't heard from a few of the other known regulars here yet. Hardliner must have his head stuck in a logic diagram :)

I'm hoping we can use this information to help enlighten the DGI. If they see that so many of us with real-world experience are very concerned about the Y2K problem, maybe they will give it some serious thought. We still have time to help people prepare. Let's use this to our advantage. True, the technical issue is only one facet of the problem, but all this experience surely helps support the fact that the problem is indeed real.

Also makes some powerful troll ammunition :)

Gotta go for now, time for some real work. See ya later. <:)=

Original post

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 11, 1999

Answers

Sysman; What a wonderful brain, knowledge and skills bank we have here. Your collation is very valuable. Keep asking and reporting. With thanks from your friend,

-- Watchful (seethesea@msn.com), March 11, 1999.

Sorry Sysman,

I was paying attention to other threads and missed that one.

34 years, but in fairness, you'd better drop off about 12 of those for time spent running my own business (not computer related), periods of active duty with USMC, management positions, etc.

I am quite sharp however in Hex, fairly sharp in BAL, competent in BASIC (and Visual Basic), 80x86 Assembler and Pascal, plus miscellaneous 5code instruction sets.

Also, my first enterprise was the design and construction (and subsequent sale) of custom industrial process control machinery for the construction materials industry.

-- Hardliner (searcher@internet.com), March 11, 1999.


Nonsense:

As an engineering consultant actually working on Y2K remediation, I have little time to poke around in the bowels of the delusionary. The fact that some old programming grunts think they corner the market on Y2K "knowledge" would be laughable, if it were not so dangerous. If you are a lurker, don't be swayed by the paranoid...

-- (y2k@*****.com), March 11, 1999.


Score: GI 35 DGI 2 <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 11, 1999.

"y2k@*****.com",

Let me get this straight.

You're too busy actually trying to fix Y2K problems to "poke around", but your snap judgement of what "some old programming grunts think" is supposed to carry any weight with strangers?

Give me a break, Jughead! Anyone who is influenced by argument (NOT) such as yours deserves whatever they get.

You're nothing more than a name caller. How about some reasoned commentary, Mr. "engineering consultant"?

-- Hardliner (searcher@internet.com), March 11, 1999.



"You're too busy actually trying to fix Y2K problems to "poke around", but your snap judgement of what "some old programming grunts think" is supposed to carry any weight with strangers?

Give me a break, Jughead! Anyone who is influenced by argument (NOT) such as yours deserves whatever they get.

You're nothing more than a name caller. How about some reasoned commentary, Mr. "engineering consultant"? "

Perhaps he (or she) is too busy working on the problem, and does not have time to throw excrement with a bunch of has-beens or wannabees ?

-- Vinnie (mail@bomb.com), March 11, 1999.


Vinnie,

Your argument clearly demonstrates your ability to read and draw conclusions that take actual events into account.

-- Hardliner (searcher@internet.com), March 11, 1999.


I'm neck deep in a Y2K conversion myself. Funny that y2k@*****.com and myself can come to such different conclusions. I've been researching the overall problem for about 15 months now. How about you, y2k@*****.com?

<:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 11, 1999.


Hi Sysman,

Been hacking around with code and computers since Sinclair released the ZX80. Still at it though now on an NT 4 Server Wintel box also running Linux. Mostly involved in using systems in education contexts and nearly always finished up cobbling together solutions for SW that doesn't do what people want.

Although from the outside it looks like I am an academic, (quals titles etc) most of my work is system support. In that role I get to see levels of dependence and inter-relationships that make Y2K very obvious.

So, self taught and still at it now for about 20 years.

-- Bob Barbour (r.barbour@waikato.ac.nz), March 11, 1999.


OK, Sysman, put me down for 18. I started in 1981 with Basic and Fortran, some 68XXX assembler, C, then C++, plus some 3/4GL stuff like VB, Delphi and Foxpro. All of my programs that were date sensitive have been retired except one which I had to personally remediate (hey, how did I know a temporary solution was going to be used 6 years later) so I guess I paid the price personally for not thinking ahead.

-- Lurker (eye@spy.net), March 11, 1999.


Put me down for 15. Started with BASIC, moved to Fortran and Assembler, to C, to C++, even messed around with Perl and Tcl/Tk.

Have been into computer security for about 6 years now and currently do korn shell scripting and bug patches.

-- Jay (havocuz@mindspring.com), March 11, 1999.


Sysman;

For a guy who is "neck deep" in a Y2K conversion, you sure do have a LOT of time to post on this NG. I think I'd rather trust someone with a litle less time.

-- vinnie (mail@bomb.com), March 11, 1999.


Some compiles take forever, so you do something while you wait. he also posts when i normaly do, at night.

Chuck, whose eyes are now certified for driving and who goes back to work Friday.

-- Chuck, a night driver (reinzoo@en.com), March 11, 1999.


Vinnie. Yup, I sure do spend a bunch of time here. Haven't found a better place on the net to get the latest news on Y2K. I'm a systems programmer and network administrator. My job is to support the programmers and customer service people that are doing the grunt work. When they are happy, and I have some free time I jump on the net (that T1 sure is nice!) When I get home, what I do is my business. Any other questions? <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 11, 1999.

"Vinnie. Yup, I sure do spend a bunch of time here. Haven't found a better place on the net to get the latest news on Y2K. I'm a systems programmer and network administrator. My job is to support the programmers and customer service people that are doing the grunt work. When they are happy, and I have some free time I jump on the net (that T1 sure is nice!) When I get home, what I do is my business. Any other questions? <:)= "

In other words, a low level IS/IT guy. Sheesh...

-- Vinnie (mail@bomb.com), March 11, 1999.



Vinnie - Yup, real low level. Only a System-360/370/390 assemnbly language expert for 25+ years, Not my humble opinion. Coded part of IBM DOS/VSE operating system. Real-time programming 10+ years. Wrote PostScript driver for III VideoComp. Real low level stuff, right next to the metal. <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 11, 1999.

PS - BTW vinnie, since this is an experience thread, what's yours?
-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 11, 1999.

Sysman, chuckles.

Can I throw my three days of demo software coding into the pot that got my start-up company a $25,000 contract with Dow Jones?

After that, I said "never again." I'm probably way more "experienced" than Vinnie.

Diane, GI without Assembler knowledge

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), March 11, 1999.


Twenty years, if you count a TI-59 programmable calculator. Eighteen or so, otherwise, on PCs. BASIC, QuickBasic, Microsucks Professional BASIC, dBase, Foxbase, Foxpro, Clipper, C (not C++), Visual Basic, Access.

-- vbProg (vbProg@MicrosoftAndIntelSucks.com), March 12, 1999.

Types of companies: Phone company, Bank, HMO, Real estate, Precious metals dealer, Computer manufacturer, Aerospace -- all contract (job shop) assignments.

The HMO job illustrates the potential of Y2K problems. One of my assignments was to do a program to look at data received from associated HMOs and the State of California. Sort of an expect system to fix data where possible and to report on possibly faulty data to later be hand massaged. Batch mode, used before acutally loading the received data into the client's main patient and provider (doctor, etc.) tracking system. This was a hassle, just looking at data on tapes and disks. Real time, anyone?

-- vbProg (vbProg@MicrosoftandIntelSucks.com), March 12, 1999.


Sysman; Vinnie is just a troll that truly hopes we can't come up with a thousand man years of programming. Along that line, your comment in the other thread about how long each persons man-days were made me chuckle. Ofcourse that is true for anyone in the business... the one I haven't heard mentioned is the I went to sleep with the problem in my head and woke up with the answer on my tongue... How many man nights have we all spent dreaming in some programming language. I expect vinnie hasn't spent a day working in BASIC let alone a night dreaming C or assembler.

:)

-- (...@.......), December 27, 1999.


LOL -- (...@.......),

I think Vinnie was my first troll. I was a newbie when I started this thread, here maybe a month, and Vinnie on my butt every minute. Back in the days when I used to fight with the trolls. Thank God I've given that up! Now I just fight with the pollys... <:)))=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), December 27, 1999.


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