T H A N K S !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jane Jack W. Ralph wrote: > Dear Cousins, > > Please forgive this non-genealogical message, but I thought that you > would all find it very interesting. FYI, I was one of the IT people who > participated in preventing Y2K problems for the State of Nevada. I hope > this information gives you a better understanding of what many people > had to go through in order to insure that the rest of you didn't have to > experience the disaster that was "predicted" by the media. > > Nevada Jack > > Y2K HEROES > by Judy Backhouse > > Congratulations, indeed, to one and all. > > The truly crazy headed for the hills with fortified bunkers and > ammunition. The more cautious bought water and tinned food. Even the > most optimistic drew some extra cash the week before. Everyone > speculated about the outcome. > > But in the IT world, we worked. We checked code. We corrected code. We > tested code. We rolled dates forward and backward and forward and > backward until our nerves were paper-thin. We upgraded hardware. We > upgraded operating systems (to cope with the new hardware). We upgraded > compilers (to cope with the new operating systems). We modified more > code (to cope with the new compilers). And then we began the cycle again > of testing and rolling forward and testing and rolling backward. We > initiated great, complex Y2k projects. We compiled project plans. We > filled in endless forms about the state of our Y2k projects. We wrote > monthly reports about the progress of the Y2k projects. We went to > meetings where we were told how the future of the company depended on > the Y2k project being completed in time. > > We dealt with panicked business people. We soothed troubled nerves at > dinner parties. We were asked to predict the outcome by distant cousins > who knew we were "in IT". We became overnight experts in the working of > diesel generators, photocopiers, motor vehicles and washing machines. > And, collectively, we averted the disaster. Like superman of old, the IT > professionals of today managed to intercept nothing less than the end of > the world. In an industry where projects run notoriously over the most > pessimistic time estimates, we met the deadline. The clocks ticked over > to the year 2000 with nothing more than minor hitches. > > And were they grateful? Did the world thank us and laud us as the heroes > we quite clearly were? No! They turned around and called it "all hype". > They questioned the money spent. We did our jobs so damned well that the > only question remaining was whether there had been any need to do the > job at all. > > So, to all those IT people out there who slaved away at the Y2k problems > over the past few years, who endured the pressure of fearful but > helpless managers; who lost endless sleep testing things at night > because there wasn't a separate test machine; who canceled their > December leave; who couldn't be in exotic places to welcome the start of > the new millennium; who stayed sober on New Year's eve because they were > on standby; who went to work on the 1st and the 2nd to boot up the > machines - I say put our feet up, pat yourselves and each other on the > back and go and get some much needed sleep with a smug smile on your > face. We did it. > > The IT people across the planet are heroes - even if unsung ones. Like > housework, what we do is not appreciated unless we don't do it. But like > the housewives of old we go on doing it, knowing that it is good, > honest, necessary work - and that it gives us inordinate power. So, my > fellow programmers, system administrators, database administrators, > operators, analysts and support staff - congratulations on a job well > done. Ours may be the youngest profession on the planet, but this 21st > century belongs to us. > > ==== DAVENPORT Mailing List ==== > Having problems with this mailing list? > Write to: DAVENPORT-admin@rootsweb.com > > ============================== > Personalized Mailing Lists: never miss a connection again. > http://pml.rootsweb.com/ > Brought to you by RootsWeb.com.