RE: Heroes

Posted in 2000

shahid.mehmood@aku.edu — Thu, 20 Jan 2000 09:27:35 +0500 — source: Informix-list mailing list archive (1991-1998)

This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand this format, some or all of this message may not be legible. ------_=_NextPart_001_01BF62FE.B05BD7CC Content-Type: text/plain EXCELLENT Shahid Mehmood Software Designer II Information Systems Department The Aga Khan University Karachi Official:Y > -----Original Message----- > From: Gabbard, Mike W. [SMTP:MikeG@red-man.com] > Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2000 20:35 > To: informix-list@iiug.org > Subject: FW: Heroes > > > > The heroes of Y2k > By Judy Backhouse > > 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 > cancelled 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 > your > 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. > > > > ------_=_NextPart_001_01BF62FE.B05BD7CC Content-Type: text/html Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV=3D"Content-Type" CONTENT=3D"text/html; = charset=3Dus-ascii"> <META NAME=3D"Generator" CONTENT=3D"MS Exchange Server version = 5.5.2650.12"> <TITLE>RE: Heroes</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> EXCELLENT Shahid Mehmood Software Designer II Information Systems = Department The Aga Khan = University Karachi Official:Y <UL> -----Original Message----- From:   Gabbard, Mike W. = [SMTP:MikeG@red-man.com] Sent:   Wednesday, January 19, 2000 20:35 To:     informix-list@iiug.org Subject:       = FW: Heroes         =        =20         =         The heroes of Y2k         =         By Judy Backhouse         =         The truly crazy headed for the hills with fortified = bunkers and         =         ammunition.   The more cautious bought water = and tinned food.      &n