The good old days.

Vintage Atari Computers and peripherals

I've been rummaging around the house and I came upon a box.

Nothing uniquely special about it but when I opened it I found the contents magical.

It contained a collection of memories in the form of some old Atari computers.  I'm not talking about an old 2600 or a Jaguar but rather a collection of those old 8 bit wonders from the late 70's and early 80's.  They have names like 800, 130XE and 800XL.

I look on them with the same reverence someone a few decades younger may look on a Nintendo 64 or their first Mac.  They represent a time when technology couldn't come close to our imagination but we tried anyway.

I think those of my age are far more fortunate, however.  If you grew up in the late 70's and early 80's and had any interest in computers then you understand what I mean.  I've been privileged to witness the evolution of personal computers from little more than a novelty to an invaluable tool. 

Strange how things have come full circle in the so-called "post-PC" era of tablets and the Smartphone.  To listen to the pundits you'd think we were on the verge of personal computers becoming a novelty again.

To some extent they're right.   There's not much mystery to computers anymore and I doubt anyone will ever look upon their laptop with the same nostalgia I feel for that box full of Atari's.

When I was growing up I was aware that I was in the midst of a sea change.  When I was small there were no electronic games or home computers.  The few that existed  were crude and more expensive than any suburban middle class parent could justify. 

Childhood was occupied by exploring the world contained within a few square blocks of my house.  Friends, adventures and fun were all very much real.  No virtualization allowed aside from what came from my own imagination.

Atari 410 Recorder

When I got a little older I found myself in the middle of an explosion of technology. The first hand held games soon gave way to the first game consoles and finally my box of Atari memories.

 It was nothing short of amazing.  Turn on the power switch and I could play a game or if I had the patience, I could write my own.

I remember spending hours entering hundreds of lines of code from a magazine article knowing that one mistyped character could make it all for naught.

Looking back now, I was a data entry clerk at 12 and didn't even know it.

By today's standards using such dinosaurs was a tedious and laborious affair.  Hours of work could be lost seemingly without reason.  Cassette tapes and later floppy disks made for a poor archive with more than a few hours of feverish work lost because of them.  "Save now and save often" became a mantra.

I doubt today's teenagers would tolerate the shortcomings of early home computers for long.  Maybe that's where I learned the patience that I rarely see in those that came after me.  Today's world is geared toward instant gratification.  Even those of modest means can instantly satisfy a whim with an Internet connected device.  A feat that would take me weeks in my youth if it was possible at all.

Things moved quickly and before you knew it technology was advancing at an exponential pace.  The novelty was wearing off but it was still an exciting time.  The first modems allowed us to reach out to those similarly enamored.  The BBS or Bulletin Board System was the precursor to the Internet most evident in the millions of online forums that exist to this day.

Atari 130XE

It seemed every corner had a computer store and its aisles contained the stuff of dreams.  Computers, Software and periodicals about them seemed to be everywhere. 

Technology itself was the entertainment medium.  Just standing in the middle of a Federated Department store or a Radio Shack was better than a ticket to Star Wars with a free pizza. 

Even movies and television reflected the culture.    Tron was revolutionary for its visual style.  Wargames made millions of parents nervous about their kid's computing habits.  Both films showed how technology had moved out of the dusty confines of universities and corporations and into popular culture.

By the time the 90's came around the idea of personal computing was no longer in the hands of hobbyists or tinkerers.  They were as commonplace as traffic during rush hour. 

Suddenly the computer store on the corner closed replaced by Supermarket-sized electronics stores like CompUSA and Circuit City.  Technology had become commoditized, outsourced and disposable. 

Computers weren't fun anymore, they were just tools.  Cold instruments hailed as revolutionizing a workforce.  In reality, performing the same mundane tasks as their ancestors: pen and paper, abacus and calculator. 

Instead of being a catalyst to our imagination, computers and technology in general rarely rise above the menial anymore.  Smarter, faster but with no imagination there is no substance. 

A faster computer can calculate your spreadsheet in seconds.  A faster Internet connection can connect you to anything the online world can offer assuming there's anything worth seeing. 

Atari 800XL

Technology isn't the catalyst for change I'd hoped for in my youth.  It's little more than a new means to do the same old crap and that's the real tragedy.

Which makes my little box of memories all the more special.

I think I'll keep it.                                         

Fun with an I.T. Job Search

Like a lot of folks in I.T. I've been pounding the pavement looking for a steady paycheck for awhile now.  So just like all the other millions of job seekers out there I have profiles on all the job boards, apply to daily listings and have a list of recruiters as long as my arm. 

Of course with the wheat always comes the chaff.  In this case it comes in the form of what I like to call "the resume stacker".  Resume stackers are recruiters usually from employment firms who gain clients by first shot gunning a potential opening (note the word 'potential')to a group of candidates gleaned from sites like Monster.com and CareerBuilder.  They utilize tools like resume scrapers to grab keywords so the job they're pushing usually has nothing to do with your skills. 

Hey, the more the merrier right? At least someone thinks I'm qualified!

Except that's not what's going on.  These "stackers" are just trying to collect resumes that they will in turn use to woo a client that may or may not have a real opening.  In the meantime the "stacker" will put the potential candidate through all the machinations of a job application but offer little to no communication afterward. 

Now I'm not saying ALL recruiters are bad, on the contrary some are genuinely interested in helping you but the guys who resume stack have a much higher profile and are the ones you're most likely to run into.

My skills lie primarily in the arena of Windows System administration and server support in smaller organizations.  So opportunities in that context are always of interest to me.  So why is that I get UNIX/AIX administration, Software coding and RF Microwave engineer?

It's the scraper again.  It's indiscriminate and completely autonomous.  The Unix jobs? because somewhere in my resume I may have had to reboot a Linux box once.  The software coding? because I used a scripting tool for Windows Administration once.  The RF Microwave engineer?  I have no idea, maybe the scraper thinks Wi-Fi is done with Microwaves. 

I get a lot of these, mostly from out of state firms that might as well be telemarketers.  They usually have strange names like Masood and Kailash.  Not only have they completely missed the target with jobs I'm not remotely qualified for but when you look at the pay rate you know they have no clue about what the local market will bear for the ones that do match.

For example, I recently had one of these stackers send me a listing for a technical support position.  Aside from technical requirements I didn't meet the position was priced way above market rates.  A high hourly wage is a hook designed to snag your resume.  Don't fall for it, remember what they say about a deal that seems too good to be true.  Remember it's not about you it's about the guy who sent the email. 

After awhile I get annoyed with these guys filling up my inbox with broken promises so I try to get rid of them.   Experience has taught me that these pitchmen will never do anything for me anyway so why not blow off a little steam.  Who knows? Maybe it'll make them switch to a more honorable profession like used car sales.

What follows is an email transcript from one of my interactions with a particularly pesky "stacker" who likes to fill my inbox with garbage.  Names and contact info have been removed to protect the stupid...

Incidental commentary is highlighted in yellow and black.

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Ok Here’s my info..

I doubt you’ll be representing me to anybody....

Job details:

Job Title: Technical Support Engineer 

(AKA the I.T. Catchall because they don't know either)

Duration: 5 Months

Location: Tempe AZ

Rate 31 / hr. on w2 

(This is about $6/hr over the top end of the market, never happen here)

Job Description:

Responsibilities

Resolve customer reported issues while working closely with the Engineering, SE and other cross functional teams and provide feedback to the Engineering for improving the product quality and reliability
Ensure that the work performed meets the quality within acceptable time schedules and meets the customer commitments while working with the Technical Support team members and management, Engineering and other cross functional teams
Ensure that customers are treated with highest degree of respect and drive operational excellence through quality closures and proper escalation of issues
Work closely with ...blah blah blah....
Willing to work evenings and/or weekends
blah blah blah.... calmness and composure.

Answers needed by the client ::

1. What do you know about this company’s products and services?

Nothing, don’t care

2. Tell me about your previous work experience providing technical support?

I like to abuse the caller

3. What are your strengths and weaknesses when interacting with customers?

Strength, know how to turn off phone ringer, weakness, forgetting to turn it off...

4. Do you consider yourself a team player and why?

F*** teams, just a way to become chief scapegoat for morons...

5. Tell me about a time that you helped resolve a particularly difficult customer issue.

I went to their desk and made them cry

6. Technical Support is a fast paced environment – you will be constantly busy and may often work concurrent transactions. Explain/share how your previous experience has prepared you for this type of work pace.

Your emergency is not my emergency so shut up..

7. Candidates must be able to successfully answer technical questions regarding SQL, MAC OS, MS Exchange

Yeah, aside from being an a**hole I’m also incompetent in these areas

That should do nicely, you should have a crystal clear picture of my qualifications for the position..

Thanks & Regards

It's a system!

Patrick Norton (of TechTV and Tekzilla fame) and I happen to share the dual afflictions of being both geek and gearhead and I've got the proof in my garage.  While many tech types I know wouldn't know a driveshaft from a driveway I've found the dual passion to be advantageous.

Over the holidays I celebrated an anniversary and it has nothing to do with matrimony or employment  although at times I've felt elements of both of those commitments.

I've owned a 1974 Chevrolet El Camino since December of 1991.  In that time, there's not a system on it that I haven't had to troubleshoot at one point or another.  You can't own a vehicle that long without spending at least  some time figuring out how things work.  Somewhere along the way I came to the realization that the deductive processes I've used to keep it running are really no different than working on an IT problem.  Both involve systems and it's generally the failure of one or more of those systems that causes you an issue.

When you consider that everything that is in any way animated relies on a system or sequence of events to function it isn't a stretch to see a correlation between technology and automotives.  Of course modern vehicles rely on electronics and purpose built computers for economy, reliability and performance but that's not quite the avenue I'm going down.

No I'm after something a bit more basic.  Let me give you a simplified example.

Let's say some sunny morning you go out to your garage, get in your car to go to work, turn the key and nothing happens, we also notice our dashboard gauges and radio aren't working either.  Aside from knowing you're going to be late for work it's obvious that something's gone very wrong.  Most people faced with this kind of event are going to call the auto club at this point but I'm not most people.

If I've got to call someone else to deal with my automotive problems I take it as a personal failure.  So for the sake of my example assume you're weird like me and try to fix it yourself.

Now, we know the car won't start.  So we know there's something going on with the starting system which means we need to figure out what it takes to turn the engine over in the first place.  Starting a car involves a basic set of components all of which must work together to get us to our goal which in this case is a running engine. 

The basics of starting system involve a battery, wires, a starting motor and your ignition.  In my example I said that we turned the key and nothing happened.  Knowing that nothing happens without voltage and amperage from the battery the first test I'd do is to see if our battery was putting out any voltage.  The quickest way to do that is to turn on the headlight switch and see if they come on.  If they don't or they're very dim then you've found the immediate problem, a dead battery or loose battery cable. 

We've narrowed down the problem by knowing how the system works and the function of each constituent part of it.  In my example we know that electricity is vital for the car to start and operate all the accessories like your radio and the ignition system(different from the starting system btw). 

The battery is a vital part of that system and if it's removed the system fails even though the other parts of it still operate correctly.

I know my example may be a bit oversimplified but it's only to illustrate a point.  That being that a dead battery in my example is the failing component causing the system to break down.

It's no different with computers and networking.  It's a system.  Let's give you another example.

Say I finally make it to work, apologize to my boss and go sit down in front of my computer.  I turn it on and I'm greeted with my login page.  I'm able to log in (yes IT guys, assume a cached login) and I see my desktop.  The problem is I can't get to any of my files that live on the network server I use every day.

Now I know it worked when I left work the day before so why doesn't it work now?

Apparently I'm having a really bad day, first the car now the computer...

Again being an IT guy calling in someone else to fix my problem is a point of personal failure. 

So we know I can't connect to my files on the network.  The first question I ask is can I connect to anything else.  So I open up my Internet browser and wait a moment.  All I get is a blank page that says something like "404 page not found".  Hmm, ok, looks like I may not be on the network. 

There's lots of technical troubleshooting that I'd do in this case but for the sake of simplicity let's say my next step in troubleshooting involves looking at the back of my computer to see if my network cable is connected.  Ha! It isn't.  Apparently my joker friends in IT decided I was going to have an even worse day than I was already having and pulled the cable out. 

I guess I should have known from the snickering when I came in the office.

I reconnect the cable and voila! I can get to my file and the Internet.

The troubleshooting process here was the same as the car. I knew there were constituent parts of a system that have to function if it's going to work correctly. In this case the disconnected wire prevented my computer from talking on the network.

It's not uncommon for me to fall back on my car analogies to solve IT problems and vice versa.  It helps me break down complex problems into their constituent parts.  That or I'm just weird....