Dear Jack... I have been away, and trying to get through the backlog of messages, hence the delay in responding to this message about the Y2K efforts you and countless others made for the benefit of virtually the rest of us. I have some inkling of the long and inconvenient hours DP/IM/IT people must keep, in order to keep the systems working at what just a few years ago would have been unheard of accuracy/ dependability rates. Mostly a thankless job, but there are some of us who know what is involved. Thank you for your efforts, and for passing on Judy's well done thoughtful record of the extraordinary efforts required this past year. Bob Brooke "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.