Career

Before Personnel became Human Resources and outsourcing began draining jobs from the country, many people found a job they liked and stayed there, possibly for their entire career. I was one of those people, for a while anyway.

During the first part of my senior year of high school, I was participating in the early release program that allowed students with all of their credits to begin to participate in the job force. I worked briefly for a company that assembled and tested document printers for IBM. The same facility also painted the cast metal cases. These were specialized printers meant to feed a bank passbook in and print a transaction. I was working on the printer testing line. We had dedicated terminals that we connected to the printers and then ran a series of print tests, after which we might have to make some alignment adjustment or another. It was very repetitive work and did not pay well, but it was a job. I worked 4 hours per day on the testing line, until the one day when the floor manager called our entire department into his office. He shoved a bottle of scotch back into his desk drawer and proceeded, with a bit of a slur, to dress down the entire department. I had no idea what the dressing down was about, and neither apparently did my coworkers. I decided it was time for a change.

I went back to the instructor in charge of the early release program and told him I would like to try another option. I interviewed for a job at another manufacturing company in the area. This was an engineering-based company with a staff of older engineers in many key positions. I started out performing incoming inspections of raw goods and items purchased for resale, and some instrument calibration duties. It was tedious, but it was a steady paycheck. After high school, they offered me the job as a full time employee.

In 1983, I was given an opportunity to move to the Engineering Department as a technician. I was responsible for testing various materials for compliance and continued some of the calibration duties as well. It was during this time that I met Marvin Hillman, the company Purchasing Manager. Marv and I hit it off and seeing that we both owned Radio Shack Color Computers, we began attending meetings of the Raleigh Color Computer Club. During a morning break one day, one of these older engineers apparently observed me having a conversation about computers with Marv.

Later that day after returning to work, my immediate supervisor called me aside and informed me that this was not a computer company, and I wasn't to talk about computers! I informed him that during my break, my topic of conversation wasn't up for debate! I couldn't understand how someone could be threatened by someone happily discussing new technology especially on their own time.

At home, I continued to absorb everything I could about computer technology and electronics. At work, I was involved only in the occasional hobbyist discussion. The computer, in the form of the Hewlett Packard HP-85 had landed in the Engineering department, and programs were being written. People just weren't talking about it. The company actually started to build and sale a computer-controlled data acquisition system. They didn't call it a computer; it was an executive unit.

Gradually, I was able to explore the HP-85 desktop computer, and some of the early IBM PC Clones, in particular, the Columbia Data Products "Multi Personal Computer". I was also getting exposed to the concepts of analog to digital data conversion and automated motor control systems.

In the Purchasing Department, Marv had acquired an Epson QX-10 microcomputer and was using VALDOCS to organize Purchasing information. At the same time, Andy Dalgliesh, the company Controller, was writing accounting software using Hewlett Packard's HP3000 multi-user minicomputer system.

In 1986, there was a project discussion regarding automation of one of the testing systems in Engineering. I suggested a Color Computer as the controller, with a custom-designed interface board to control the motors that actuated a test beam, and to read the result. I worked closely with Lowell Sayles, one of the senior engineers in the company who embraced computers, on the data reduction and analog hardware interface portions of the application. I set out to develop the software using Disk Extended Color BASIC with time sensitive routines in written in 6809 assembly. Simultaneously, I laid out the hardware design using 7400 series logic on perf board, remembering valuable lessons learned from a mistake I had previously made on a speech synthesizer project.

With the success of this automated testing system, a new project was started that would replace an older system that used X-Y chart recorders to capture test data, in the form of a curve drawn directly on a page. The curve would then be manually analyzed and the data extracted, followed by a rather lengthy polynomial curve fitting process.

Using QuickBASIC and some assembly language routines on a floppy disk-based PC running DOS 2.11, I created an application that provided the user interface screens for test setup, controlled the test fixture's heating rate, acquired the data from an analog-to-digital converter, and stored the raw and reduced data.

One of the Engineers in the department, Bob Watson, wrote several programs that took the reduced data and ran it through curve fitting routines and saved the result. Then using programs that he wrote in Postscript, generated polished graphs that would be supplied to the customer with the shipped product.

As it turned out, Bob had grown up in an area not far from where my family is from, and although we had worked in the same department for a few years, this was the first project we worked together on. It would not be the last.

By 1989, the number of company PCs had quietly increased, despite the resistance of the older engineers. Now someone would have to manage and repair them. The founder of the company had designed a PC-based scheduling system for the manufacturing division. He was in the process of handing over the day-to-day operations of the company to others, and this included the responsibility for this new system as well. Without knowing the politics behind the decision, someone mentioned my name.

My new job duties included PC upgrades, repairs, end-user support, and managing and upgrading the scheduling system. Andy continued to write software on the HP3000 using a BASIC interpreter and compiler, combined with the TurboIMAGE database system. The system now hosted GL, AP, AR, and Inventory, accessed by users via dumb terminals.

Management decided that the PC-based scheduling system needed a new multiuser design. The decision was made to utilize the HP3000 that was already in place. I was sent to Hewlett Packard's Customer Education Center in Rockville, Maryland for a Programmer's Introduction to the HP3000.

After the training, I was tasked with the design and implementation of this multi-user scheduling system. Andy provided me with a solid understanding of the issues of record locking and data indexing. With that in hand, I began building the system as a series of menu driven programs designed for users who were not computer savvy. This aspect was a valuable learning experience in itself.

The following year, I was sent back the Customer Education Center for additional training. There I saw something that would not be seen for many years on the desktop PC. HP had created a ray-traced image of sports car, and using three rotary controls (X, Y, Z), you could move around the vehicle in real-time. While it was impressive to see, it almost certainly was running on a system costing hundreds of thousands of dollars at the time.

I was quite busy with day-to-day maintenance issues and writing the scheduling software. I also began to work with Bob Watson, who was working with several systems that utilized motion control systems for automated processing. He was writing software that was controlling real world hardware. We spent more time together and became friends as well as coworkers, collaborating on a number of projects.

By the end of 1993, the scheduling software was running and was being accessed by a dozen users across the manufacturing division. For some reason, the older management considered this the end of any need for PC support or manufacturing software enhancements. My boss called me in one day to inform me of this, and told me of their plans to train me as a manufacturing line supervisor! I was stunned. Anyone who knew me at all, knew that the technical challenges were what motivated me. I couldn't see myself managing a production department.

I talked to the Andy, expressing my concerns and my desire to be involved in technical projects. Apparently he pulled some strings on my behalf. I went to work for Andy in Accounting doing some minor software design and the PC maintenance that still needed to be done. A few months later, he called me in his office to tell me of another opportunity. The company was going to be creating a new product consisting of a data acquisition system accompanied by a Windows-based software package. He asked if I wanted to be a part of the project. I jumped at the chance.

I started working for Mike Bower, who was previously an Applications Engineer in the Marketing Group. Mike had a background in electronics and programming and we had been acquainted for some time. I felt that our skills would be complementary. Mike also hired another software developer, Pam Pickett, and the three of us began to design and code the project.

After I left the manufacturing division, management discovered that they did in fact need someone to maintain their systems and create new software! I was asked to participate in the hiring process. Greg Hodges was hired to assume these duties. Greg was a clever, personable and talented guy. He dove into the job and seemed to enjoy the challenges.

Our data acquisition software project was complex, and required us to split the coding into discrete blocks. Interfaces were designed and then each of us worked on our sections of the code. We tested, and as we completed a section, we would help each other is needed. The project proceeded towards the deadline with only occasional problems. After working through one major design problem, we completed the project on time. Sales reps and customers alike gave the system positive reviews.

In 1995, with the data acquisition project completed, I once again had an opportunity to make a move. The number of internal software development projects was increasing, and took the opportunity to move into my first managerial position.

With the latest move, I began to work with the guys behind the automation hardware. Dick Sukowski and Mark Ostling were designing and building much of the hardware that was making possible the production of a huge amount of the company's product. Dick and Mark were in many ways complete opposites. But when it came to solving design problems, they came up with elegant, reliable solutions.

In 1996, with a project backlog building, I was given the go ahead to hire another programmer. After a few interviews, we hired Audrey Harmon. Audrey was fresh out of school, but obviously had potential. Audrey went to work on business software applications while Greg was working with the automated control systems.

As the number of PCs and servers increased and with it the network infrastructure grew, I hired our first PC Tech (and later Network Administrator), Lisa Daly. At the end of the interview I supplied Lisa with a PC that would not boot. After giving the system a once-over, she found that I had played a dirty trick on her and installed the hard drive cable backwards. A quick flip of the cable, and the system started up, along with her new job.

Things were going well within the department. My programmers were gaining new skills and writing software that was becoming indispensable to the company. They were being promoted to Software Developers in recognition of their hard work. One day, Greg walked in and gave me his letter of resignation. While I was very disappointed to lose him, he had been offered a great opportunity to work for SAS, and my loss was their gain.

After Greg left, I hired an entry level programmer, Steven Kennedy, to begin filling the hole left by Greg's departure. I felt Steven had potential, but he did not stay with the company for long.

Upon Steven's departure, I was informed that I would not be allowed to replace him. The company was going through major structural changes, and the focus shifted to budgets and the bottom line.

At this point, we were using Windows NT 4 for our growing list of servers. We were seeing instability in some of our servers and Lisa talked to me about switching to Linux. I gave her the go ahead, and she installed Red Hat on one of the file servers, copied the data over, and set up the permissions. Uptime now took on a different meaning.

In 2000, I was promoted to Technology Development Manager and began to work for Bob Watson. My task was to work with both the hardware and software development groups on internal projects, primarily production automation.

For the third time, I was faced with a departure. Audrey had decided to take an opportunity elsewhere. I was again saddened to see a valuable employee leave, but happy for her chance to grow.

Project work had remained at high level, yet again, the chances of being able to hire were slim. Instead, I was given an opportunity to bring over an individual from the Engineering department to work on outstanding projects. I was acquainted with Ben Carlson and we had discussed various aspects of some of the projects that I had previously worked on, as well as some of the new projects that he was involved with.

Around this same time, Cindy Johnson was assigned to my department. Cindy managed process and custom product documentation.

And it happened again. In 2001, Lisa's left the company to go to work doing computer support for North Carolina State University.

Chris Brooks was hired on as our new Network Administrator. His duties also included general PC support.

In 2002, I was promoted to IT Manager, and began reporting to a manager located across the country. The job suddenly became bureaucratic, and technical challenges became fewer and far between. I was also given responsibility for other facilities as well as two additional employees, Frank Chavez and Debbie McQueen.

While attending a regional IT meeting, I got to meet some of my colleagues from other facilities. Among those people, were Marty Hubbard, a great guy from a facility just three hours from my own. I also met Jon Hilton, who I soon held in high regard, not only for his technical expertise, but for his honest and direct nature.

During my second meeting with Jon, about a year after first meeting him, he told several of us that he was leaving the company. The corporate bureaucracy was having similar affects on Jon, as they were starting to have on me. I will never forget Jon's words: “I know that going to work for a small company is risky. But I'd rather go down fighting, than go down chained to the deck chairs on the Titanic.”

I knew that I was not happy in the role that I now occupied. So, in January 2003, I decided to start my own company, Carolina PC Pros. I worked evenings and weekends to start building a customer base. I stayed with my strengths. I provided repairs, upgrades, and data transfers from old PCs to new ones. My first customers were primarily home users, as the day job prevented me from providing services to most businesses. I walked neighborhoods and stuffed flyers in doors. Word of mouth advertising brought in most of my customers.

Ben left the company in 2003 to go back to school. Now with no developers, project work became very limited and my time was split between IT Management and software maintenance and repair. Chris made sure that everything was running on the infrastructure side, and I knew I could depend on him to do so.

As more bureaucracy became a part of the job, we were given less control at the local level. This meant more interaction with people at the regional IT level. Among them were people that I held in high regard including Randy Hidalgo, Rich Aerni, and one the best storytellers in the group, Mike Carey.

In 2007, Mike Bower left the company for a job on the coast. Once again, he is developing software and enjoying it.

I left the company on May 30, 2008 just shy of 26 years of service and just before the economy collapsed. Chris took over my IT management duties and remains there today.

I enjoy running my own business. It has its challenges both technical and financial. But it gives me a chance to solve problems and to get my hands dirty. It requires me to keep up with what is going on with new technology, while at the same time, helping people to learn to use what is out there now.

I am working hard to make my business work, but should I ever need to find employment elsewhere, I hope there will be a technical challenge waiting for me.