I screwed something up!

 

One of the phrases I learned from my days as a computer programmer is: RTFM.  This phrase, RTFM, is described in polite terms as: "Read the Fine Manual".  Since most of us programmers were fluent in multiple programming languages, at least one spoken language and profanity, we usually substituted a better word for "Fine".  Last night, I had one of these situations where the manual would have stumped me if I had read it.

When I bought my first car, the owners manual was less than 100 pages long.  Most of the controls were self evident, the stalk on the left of the steering shaft controlled the lights (some cars had headlight controls elsewhere), the stalk on the right of the steering wheel controlled the wipers, and the gearbox lever was usually on the floor between the driver and passenger.  Even without an owners manual, the average person could operate the vehicle in complete confidence that s/he wouldn't screw up anything important.

The Subaru Crosstrek is much different than my Datsun B-210 and my Honda Civic.  Not only does the owners manual check in at over 500 pages, but the quick start guide of roughly 160 pages needs a shortcut guide of its own.  Needless to say, things can get screwed up very quickly.  For example, one has to turn off the collision avoidance system in order to take the car into a car wash.  I have yet to figure out how to use the car's adaptive cruise control feature along with the lane centering feature to allow the car to perform limited self driving.  But most of all, the device pairing process between the car and one's phone may just be the most annoying of all differences between this car and my old Civic.

Connecting Bluetooth devices is usually a simple task, and in both my Civic and the Crosstrek it is.  However, I had to program in my speed dial numbers and associated voiced names (such as "RQS Mobile") each time I connected a new phone to the Civic.  The Crosstrek ingests everything it can from the cell phone, and then allows the driver to hit a button and use voice commands to work much of the electronics in the car.  Yet, I screwed something up that was working when I took possession of the car.

The day I took possession of my car, the salesman set up the connection between my phone and the car.  All I had to do was hit the voice control button and say "Call RQS" and the car would make the phone call for me.  However, my phone would continue to display a message "Repair with device to enable advanced message access feature."  So I did this, and lost the ability to use voice commands to dial phone numbers.  AARGH!  Given that a salesman wants to keep his customers happy, I sent him an email and hope he responds quickly with a solution.  Fingers crossed!

A headhunter reached out to me for a position that I am qualified for

 

This computer is a relic, and the same applies to me.  However, a headhunter approached me today to discuss a position using technology I'm familiar with at the bank I used to work for.  Of course, only a person familiar with the Bank's IT department would have a clue (from this email) about the organization and area for which a person is being recruited.

 
Greetings!!

Hope you’re doing well!
 
I came across your resume on the job board and wanted to share the below opportunity with you and see if this is something you would be interested in discussing.
Please reply back with a copy of your UPDATED RESUME in word format if this is of interest to you and feel free to call me at xxx-yyy-zzzz or let me know a good number and best time to call you back.
Would welcome Referrals.

Job Title: Mainframe Programmer
Location: New York, NY or Pittsburgh, PA
Duration: 12 months initial contract & high possibility of extension
Need to come in the office one day/week
 
Key Skills: Hands-on Mainframe Programmer, COBOL, CICS, VSAM, DB2
 
In depth knowledge of IBM Mainframe z/OS environment with current hands on development, coding experience
Must have knowledge of programming languages COBOL, CICS
Experience with file systems VSAM
Strong knowledge of JCL/TSO/ISPF
Understanding of DB2 a plus
Should be able to run and analyze test jobs for various testing needs of QA/ UAT teams
Must have good communication skills, interaction with UAT and business teams
Will be supporting maintenance of critical applications in production, enhancements and new development projects
Experience with COBOL upgrade, reengineering and re-platforming of mainframe applications

The giveaway to me is the location of the position AND the technologies used.  My old application didn't use DB2, but had everything else in the alphabet soup contained in the above blurb.  So, I sent this headhunter my current resume, and a note mentioning that I've been retired for a while, but would be interested in getting back in the game for a while.  Mind you, I want to find out if it is the area from which I was laid off 8 years ago, as this would be the ultimate laugh for me.

Keep your fingers crossed....

Computer Problems

 

The computer shown above is similar to that I used in college and on my first full time computer position.  And if it weren't for bad marketing, the manufacturer might have stood a better chance of surviving the consolidation of the early mainframe industry.  

Today's post is a short one. It's about problems which will always plague  the computer industry - no matter hard one tries, computer bugs will get into the field and cause havoc.  In my case, I was one of 5 people for whom a network change paralyzed our computers - and kept from doing any meaningful work for a couple of hours.

Normally, I get to work somewhere between 8:00 and 8:15.  (I'll make up any lost time at the end of the day.)  It takes me about a minute or two to log on to the computer, activate a service, log into a batch of work, and start working that batch.  Today, I couldn't do so.  My computer couldn't connect to the network.  

Although it took about 2 hours to fix the problem, I started thinking - do we really want things like self driving cars?  Given that everything originates from the mind of a human at one point of creation or another, and that humans are flawed, can we trust any machine designed by a human to act perfectly?  No!  There are cases where Tesla automobiles using the autopilot mode have crashed into stationary objects.  This is why Tesla instructs the driver to remain alert behind the wheel when this mode is used - they know enough not to give unlimited trust to their own computer systems in their cars.  (And I'm one of the people who would trust Tesla's systems, as they are the best in the field.)

Later on, I thought about the story behind the book/movie "2010".  When the HAL-9000 computer (from "2001") was given the order to keep its mission a secret from the people on board, the computer thought the best way of keeping the secret would be to kill the crew. Again, human failings caused a computer malfunction.  Although this is fictional, it should serve as a warning to people who put blind faith in computer systems - they will fail when least expected and cause the most damage.

Sometimes, a gig will typecast you

 

Truth Justice and "the American Way."  Sounds great, doesn't it?  Well, the man above was typecast as "Superman" and couldn't get another good role in Hollywood after the show stopped filming.  Why is this a lesson to be remembered?

- - - - - -

Recently, I decided to contact an old friend who I've stayed away from because of his politics.  He was starting to go off the rails when I last was in contact with him, and what he mentioned about his vaccination status implied that he drank some, but not all, of the Kool-Aid that his political tribe is drinking.  

But I digress....

This fellow was the person who inspired me to enroll in my Masters program and get a degree in Education.  The idea was that by getting a foot in the door, I could get a tenured position in some school.  I quickly found out that there were no jobs available for people like me with this certification.  Yet, I found the degree to be the greatest investment in myself that I could have made.  No, it did not do anything to help me find work.  Instead, it helped me find in myself what I could be (or could have been) when properly motivated and mentored.

Although I was able to stay in the computer field for 3 years after getting my degree, my friend has been out of anything related to technology for years.  For him, the past 13 years or so have been a series of substitute teaching gigs broken up by some long term (a little less than a school year) teacher replacement positions. This is not the life I wanted to lead.  But I wonder, could he be overqualified to find work?  And, has he been taking too many short term gigs, instead of finding available work in a New York City public school as a starter position?

My acquaintance has 2 certifications - courses in both of his specialty areas are required for students to graduate with a "Regents Degree".  But this hasn't gotten him the job he wanted.  So I wondered, has he been subbing too long?  So, I started to think about an unrelated field - acting.  His experience reminded me of people who try to break into acting by starting out as extras.  They get an idea of what acting is like by being on a set, putting up with a lot of the headaches of filming a show, and building up a starter set of professional experiences.  Yet, one can only be an extra so many times before people stop taking your desire to be professional actor as a serious desire.  Could this have happened to him?

- - - - - -

Years ago, I decided to stop fighting to stay in the technology fields, as I had too much to catch up on, and I'd be out of the field way too long.  Three years after I left the bank, I gave up on the idea of being a project manager - and this made things easier for me to move forward with my life.  I wonder what would have happened if the man pictured at the top of this entry had made plans, as Lyle Waggoner did, to have a career after acting.  And I wonder what would have happened if my friend has a plan B to be used if teaching didn't work out....

 

 

Thinking about an old friend

I first met WDS when I was 16.  That was about 46 years ago.  He lived around the block from the college we once attended.  In many ways, he was the smarter of the two of us.  Yet, he was the one to praise my intelligence.  He never graduated from the school. Yet, he had a more successful technical career than I had.  He had the drive to keep up with changing times and provide for his own security, where I was secured by the bronze handcuffs of the firm I once worked for.

WDS was born in South America, and immigrated to the US at a young age.  I don't know much about his pre-college years, as we never discussed that part of his life.  At the time I met him, he was playing around with experimental music.  But the thing we had most in common was an interest in programming computers.  He saw me as the young kid who'd sneak into computer centers to have his programs run. (I was the type who'd hack security to do what I wanted to do, but never had the wish to cause others any harm.) He was the more pragmatic one of our motley pairing. Education was to serve a purpose, and when formal education was no longer needed, he dispensed with it.

There is a several year difference in our ages, and he was the one who first found a full time job.  A year later, I followed suit, and left the world of day-time studies.  (I finished my undergraduate degree at night, taking 4 calendar years to finish my last year of studies.)   Eventually, we ended up in the same firm - for about 2 weeks.  And then, our career paths never crossed again.  However, we did take advantage of the fact that we were young, had high incomes, and no responsibilities.  I can still remember going into Greenwich Village for a French Dinner that cost each of us $100 - almost 40 years ago.  (Could you imagine what I could have done had I been more frugal with my money?)

As with most cisgender males, women have a "nasty" habit of coming into our lives.  I never was that successful in dating. But WDS was, and got married to a woman who couldn't stand my presence.  So we lost contact for several years.  And then, out of the blue, WDS reestablished contact after getting a divorce and our friendship was renewed.  A few years later, WDS met another woman and married her.  This time things were better - the two of them got along well, and his wife was able to tolerate (if not feel comfortable with) my friendship with WDS.

During this era, I got a job with the bank, and was there for 30 years.  I also met my wife, and WDS was best man at our wedding.  But our lives grew further and further apart - we had very different interests, and WDS had the social polish that I could never have.  (His father was a successful man in South America, and made sure that he had the social skills to travel in any social circle.)

My friend was there for me when my wife took ill and when she died.  And I was there for him when his wife committed suicide. Sadly, she suffered from the same type of cancer that took my late wife, and didn't want to spend the last 2 months of her life doped up and unable to have rational thought. Almost a decade later, I can still remember the basic details of that evening as if it were yesterday.

The last time I saw WDS was at a local pizzeria.  He came up to meet me and Ex-GF-M.  We had a nice lunch, and I always thought that I would see him again.  That hasn't happened.  However, about t years later, he sent me a gift - a fully loaded iPad Air 2, with LTE for when I don't have WiFi access.  This must have set him back a nice penny.

In the years since then, we have communicated exclusively by email.  I neither have a mailing address or phone number for him.  He does work for the local "Agility" (competitive dog training) circuit where he lives, but there is little trace of him otherwise.  I know that he kept busy doing very technical things - software technology that I don't even understand.  He has suggested that I get back into programming.  But I wouldn't know how to get back in and make a buck from it.  So I decided to take down my technology shingle and let youngsters with more energy stay in that rat race.





WDS does not yet know that I am trans.  I just wonder what would happen when or if he finds out....