D.C. Stultz

Rod and I go back to the internet boom years. He was the daily tech columnist for Andover and I was the Information Technology guide for About.com. Somewhere during that time we became aware of the other's efforts and started an email correspondence that continues to this day.

Andover splurged, merged, and purged, with Rod being promoted to manager and then axed. I also got the ax at About during one of their purges. Both of us found out that our internet company stock options were so far underwater that we'd have had to hire a deep diving bell to go read them.

Recently, after I'd forwarded the tenth tech blurb or link to him in a week, he said that MIA should be updated. Since he should be working on his autobiographical triology, I decided to offer my humble services.

You know Rod, but you don't know me. Here's the short version of my IT background.

I've been in and around the computer industry since 1965 when I worked as a tech on the manufacturing test floor at RCA in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. After a year, I joined Control Data Corporation and worked at sites in Albuquerque and Toulouse, France. I then joined Digital Equipment and jumped ship to teach software at Univac.

I worked for GE doing a conversion from GE computers to Honeywell computers. I worked at Cape Kennedy -- babysitting Modcomp computers in the space shuttle firing rooms. I then settled down for several years at Harris Corp. working with Modcomp, Harris and HP computers. After implementing some of the first industrial uses of bar coding, I got to tour the country and give presentations to various conferences. (I was speaking only 10 miles from the epicenter of the 1989 California "World Series" earthquake when it hit.)

Ten years ago, at age 55, I was forced to take "voluntary retirement" (their term, not mine) at Harris. It took several months, but I found yet another computer programming job at a major defense contractor. I'm still there, although what I'm doing is far removed from what I was hired to do. Ironically, I work in the same physical building that I worked in back in 1978 when I worked for GE.

For the past five years, I've been the intranet guru for our manufacturing plant. I design, code, test, document all of the interactive web applications. My tools are simple: Perl, JavaScript and HTML. I'm the go-to guy when there is any question about "can we do this?" on the web. That means that part of my job is staying knowledgeable about what is happening with technology. Not only does my boss tolerate me visiting Cringley, Slashdot, Doc Searls and more on a daily basis, he encourages it.

The computer biz is a young man's game. Common knowledge is that after age 35 (or 40 tops) you're over the hill. How have I beat those odds and managed to stay employed as a programming grunt as I look forward to my 65th birthday in Novermber?

By staying knowledgeable about my field. By reading everything I can about it on the internet. (The dead tree trade press is d ead.) By finding and becoming an expert in a business niche where I can use computer expertise effectively. By avoiding working in the classic (and much hated) IT organization, but working for the business unit as their computer guru.

My boss hires -- and gives good raises to -- the package, not just to DC, the computer programmer. He could replace DC the Perl monger for half of DC's salary or less. (Especially since the bust and outsourcing to India has put so many good programmers on the street.) But he can't replace the half of the package that knows the business inside and out, the half that knows the data underlying shop orders, routers, purchase orders, shipping manifests, stock room cycle times, time keeping spread labor, et al. Nor can he replace the knowledge of all of the platforms where that data is kept.

In order words, I speak the users' language. I know what applications they use and why. I actually could perform a lot of the white collar jobs around the company due to my in-depth knowledge. I can build applications that will be helpful to them because I understand their needs.

One last bit of advise: Never underestimate the power of visibility. When you do a good job, don't be humble. Ask the user to send an email to his boss, your boss and your boss's boss telling them what a great chap you are.

There are over 1,000 people in our plant. Yet the plant manager knows DC's name and face well and says an upbeat "Hi, DC" whenever we meet. He knows who wrote the software he uses each month for the business review; he knows who wrote the software for his pet company charity event; he knows who wrote the softare that automated the in-plant Swap and Shop ad sheet; he knows who wrote the software for the online catalog of our consumables in the stockroom; he knows... well, you get the idea.

This has worked well for me -- a guy with only 3 credit hours to his name. It's also worked well for one of my daughters. She has parlayed being a power PC user into a tech support job into being a one-person IT department for a 100-person firm. And, despite my advise to get her degree, she only finished her AA -- without a single computer course -- during her ascent.

Oh, did I mention that her salary is bigger than mine?