Destined for Tech
The technology world would have been interesting to me no matter what upbringing that I would have had, but as fate had it, it was in my blood and all around me at home. My dad had an aptitude for all things communications, as the US Navy soon figured out. He volunteered rather than be drafted so that he could have the chance to work on the armed services new tech systems. By hitting the books and gaining experience on ship-board and submarine electronics, he soon held FCC licenses that would open more doors down the road. After a gig with the Navy’s Regulus I cruise missile program, he returned home to help build the greatest telecom system in the world.
I recall being about 5 years old, interested in any science-focused television. That included Jonny Quest, Star Trek, and any space launch that I could find. Dad like shows like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, in which he was fond of observing, “That does not happen on a real submarine.” At the same time, dad had a very interesting tech hobby that included creating a phone exchange in the house, installing an antenna that could pivot to pick up television from Canada, and fixing a series of electronic devices from family. Eventually, he rose to a leadership position at the time digital phone switching in telecom was becoming a reality. His team implemented conversions of the old-fashioned magnetic relay devices that could count the rotary phone “clicks” to connect phones with a computerized connection. I got to tour one of the first digital switching systems in the country, and I was hooked. I wanted to work in the logic that made these huge computers work.
Normal high-schoolers tended to get some part-time work, get an older car, fix it up and find some time to ride around with friends or a young lady. I did work hard in my school years, but the cash funded a pricey tech habit. I started with TI-58 programmable calculator, and saved for 1 year to purchase the Big Kahuna: a Tandy Model I (TRS-80) tricked out with a full 16k bytes of memory. Friends reminded me that the greater than $2,000 expense would have funded a nice and sporty coupe complete with an impressed girlfriend. Instead, I threw my learning energy into code, and became a trail-blazer in the personal computer world. In the first 6 months, I had collaborated on very primitive report generator for finances, and started the code on my first game called Micro-Basketball. This hobby and my job combined to do a number on my school grades for my senior year, and my class rank “doubled” and dropped me out of the recognized scholar level. [To this day, I have not returned.] The very studious group who were my friends predicted that I just would be the “least likely to succeed” among the group, and that this computer think was way odd.
To cut to the chase, local universities were not up to speed on software degrees, and a young lady did come along to ask me out and also not mind the strange hobby. Knowing I was unlikely to have the interest, patience or finances to work through a non tech degree, and having a wife and baby on the way, it was time to “career it.”
The Career without a Plan
Honestly, most new initiatives that I take on do not start with a plan, but are normally fraught with trial and error. My dad helped with the first resume and (bless my mom) typed the nice copies to send to local businesses. I did have a couple interesting items in my brief work history. I was a night manager at the nearby McDonald’s. I had collaborated on commercial software with an established and brilliant senior engineer. I had finished the Micro Basketball game and sold it to the publication 80-Microcomputing to be featured in their 1981 Games issue. I was encouraged by my favorite techie, dad, that in the world of software developers that he employed, I was “pretty good.”
A number of local companies responded to my resume, including all of the local big hitters. I was invited as the person with the most unusual background as a hobbyist. Perhaps I was more like a side show, as I felt notoriously out of my element in the interviews that followed. Being young and looking younger, one manager told me that he thought I might have maturity issues. I held back the desire to stick my tongue out at him. Other interviews were similar, and modestly successful. I ended up with 4 legit offers for full-time opportunities. Most were positions in which I could “work my way” up to building software applications. One, the lowest bidder compared with union jobs on the list, was to be a software developer.
The company was Erie Insurance that had fewer than 15 developers. Although some felt that the $5.25 an hour was a compromise compared to some other offers, I knew what I wanted to do with my time. Also, one Director at Erie, told me that he wanted to give me a shot to do all I could. The small insurance company was committed to be “above all” when compared to other companies. That attracted the competitive fire in me, and when asked about my goals when I started at age 19, I let the leaders know that I wanted to become the best software developer in the room. I was told in 90 days, we would be able to know if I would work as a permanent member of the team.
My resume details day one at Erie to the summer of 2019 when I officially retired. The abridged version is that I did make it past 90 days to reach 39 years with the company. In my final role, I worked with an excellent management team and was Chief Engineer of nearly 300 employees and contractors who were the software developing techies like me. I was proud to have in hand an award for leadership named for that gent who took a chance on me those many years ago. Little Erie Insurance had risen to the Fortune 400.
Presently, my post retirement work is to serve as a manager for a smaller tech company, Avertra, with a goal of growing the talent, skills and processes. That desire to be the best in our filed had that same feel as a young Erie.
The Future
A difficult part of a software engineer’s day is to communicate effectively. That communication must include a translation from tech-speak to business results, and must have an empathy for the audience. English and empathy for the techie can feel much like a Star Trek episode. In 2019 and 2020, I created a comprehensive work of my communications to software engineers and their leaders. It is scheduled to hit the shelves late in 2021.
Leaders and Software Engineers: Communicate and Motivate without Speaking in Code from Mudsox Publishing.