People in the IT community have done your best, god bless. May you find happiness and peace. GET the heck out off dodge!

-- ET (bneville@zebra.net), November 21, 1999

Answers

I think the IT people who are planning to "get the heck out of Dodge" will nevertheless work until the last possible moment in December. They may feel that it's hopeless, and they may feel that their employer has acted less than honorably -- but most of these people consider themselves to be "IT professionals," and the professional thing to do is keep working until December 31st before switching their loyalties and their attention to their families.

Ed

-- Ed Yourdon (ed@yourdon.com), November 21, 1999.

I respect the people who will continue working on fixing the Y2K problem after 12/31, and I hope circumstances make it possible for just about everyone to do so.

But I do think that at least a few of the programmers are going to be worried about their families being in immediate danger. If the schools are closed, and you've got young children at home with no place to put them, that probably has a higher priority than shlepping into the office to fix some software. If the mayor goes on TV and says that a curfew has been imposed, and that anyone on the street will be arrested, then I suspect a lot of programmers will decide that common sense dictates that they stay home.

And I think there are a few programmers who feel that they've been screwed by their companies throughout this Y2K mess. In that case, it's kind of like being in a bad marriage: you stick it out until the kids are grown, and THEN you file for divorce.

That being said, there are a lot of good companies who have made valiant efforts to get their systems fixed. They've taken good care of their programmers, and their contingency plans include things like company-paid day-care facilities in case the kids are stuck at home. They've been up-front with their employees, telling them what kind of "above and beyond the call of duty" things might be asked of them. And in situations like that, I suspect that most of us would be happy to give it everything we've got.

If Y2K turns out to be a BITR, then none of this will matter. But if it's a 5 or 6 on the Richter scale, then it will force a lot of people to reexamine their loyalties, their priorities, their value systems, and their assumptions. With regard to their employers, I think they'll say, "What goes around, comes around..."

Ed

-- Ed Yourdon (ed@yourdon.com), November 21, 1999.

Actually, I suspect that most of us will be there as long as there is any chance of recovering.

Even though I believe that my task the evening of the 31st is hopeless (we are going to have hardware failures in remote sites, it has been admitted, and there aren't any contingency plans for it that I am aware of), I'll still be in there pitching, right up till they call us 'out'.

-- just another (another@engineer.com), November 21, 1999.

Ed,

I think the professionals will still be working after December 31 - monitoring, troubleshooting, and fixing anything they can to work towards a solution rather than hiding out from the problem. I feel they would actually be letting their family down if they just gave up after the new year.

-- Steve (sron123@aol.com), November 21, 1999.

Yep, we'll be there. Doing this for more years than I want to say.

-- DuffyO (duffyo@mailcity.com), November 21, 1999.

How long will we work past December 31 ?

Or better yet.

How long will the pay keep flowing out of a crippled company ?

If the non-essential (or non-critical) portions of a lot of businesses are going to end up being jettisoned, then I think the question may become:

How long can they afford to pay you and I to stay ?

-- snooze button (alarmclock_2000@yahoo.com), November 21, 1999.