James, that's quite impressive, the path you took parallels a bit from when I was in high school, chronologically, when I started, there was an actual computer room for computer science, I can't even tell you what that hardware was. By graduation the commodore 64 desktop replaced the room and its outdated equipment. We started with DOS and Basic. We learned basic programming as well, and I followed up in college later but never did as much as you have on that end of it, but certainly recognized the value of it, wishing I did !
I did a stint as an adjunct at NYU, where I graduated from. It was enjoyable to be on the other side, having been a student in the same program. One early morning as I was walking to work to an NYU building project I was working on during the day. It was dark and about 6am or so. One of my students, from the class I taught the night before, who was also an NYU employee, approached me and complimented me on the class I taught the evening before. He said that was a great class. This was all the pay I needed ! That was more rewarding than anything I can think of. Its really nice when someone tells you that you did a good job, you don't hear it very often in this life today. Last time I heard it was after raking hay for the farmer and friend I helped for years long after I left that career. He said you certainly know how to rake hay, (he being a 50+ year dairyman), you have that job anytime you want !
I did some training of some of the older employees at a state agency, where one of the architects had created a data base program in Access, to log in, track and record contractor shop drawing/product data submissions for review and approval. It was critical that the approvals were expedited to meet the deadlines. I helped him with some of the leg work, per his instructions, building some of the tables, data entry and the initial start up of it, so I could in fact instruct the state employees not on board with this yet. Many were not that computer savvy yet. The purpose was multi-facet, to expedite and streamline the process of these submissions start to finish, as it was a $100M fast track project, as well as document the submissions electronically. There was about a tractor trailer load of paper work on the horizon headed our way with an additional $150M project after the first one. What this architect did, who likely had a similar background as yours, was ingenious! It worked perfectly for years. I was not a state employee, so I had that barrier to overcome, as I was placed in their office from the private sector company who was awarded a state contract. When all was said and done, I had the most hesitant of the older employees on board with it, it was not so technical as it was the manner in which it was presented. One of the few that did not, and it was not for any bad reason, still used the rubber stamps and did all the manual paperwork. He was in site design and said I'm not always busy so it gives me work to do, we laughed, I said no that is no problem at all, I can log these in, just know how to do it if needed, which he did. Some found it really interesting and satisfying to learn after all the years of the previous ways. When my tenure was done there, the reward was knowing that this smart aleck, hot shot, still almost a kid, got through to all of them and overcame every barrier in the way, helping expedite this major project to the benefit of the taxpayers, and the state facilities involved, and it never seemed like work the entire time. Its one of the more memorable periods of that career, some I'd like to forget LOL !
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Today's Featured Article - Third Brush Generators - by Chris Pratt. While I love straightening sheet metal, cleaning, and painting old tractors, I use every excuse to avoid working on the on the electrics. I find the whole process sheer mystery. I have picked up and attempted to read every auto and farm electrics book with no improvement in the situation. They all seem to start with a chapter entitled "Theory of Electricity". After a few paragraphs I usually close the book and go back to banging out dents. A good friend and I were recently discussing our tractor electrical systems when he stated "I figure it all comes back to applying Ohms Law". At this point
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