18 Years With IBM

Don was reminding me that my IBM service anniversary is 1/5/90. That gives me 18 years:-) OK, so I wish it was 20 (I'll get a 5th week of vacation), but still, 18 years is now starting to seem like a bunch of years. And, if I'm lucky, I'm near the halfway mark in my career:-)

The first 16 months or so were spent at IBM Charlotte as a co-op while I finished up my BA in Math at UNC Charlotte. I worked on the southeast region helpdesk writing small amounts of code in REXX for a forms application called ECFORMS (or EFAS). I also learned how to use the IBM Information Management helpdesk product to track customer problems. That would be an important skill down the road.



When I graduated from UNCC, and my co-op gig had to end, I was lucky enough to be offered a job at IBM RTP. IBM Charlotte was NOT hiring. Don is the one that interviewed me for the job in RTP. It was a L2 support job, and he always says he was pleased with my ability to openly talk at the interview...something a customer support rep needs to do. I know none of you is surprised I was running my mouth. Boy am I lucky he took a chance on a college hire. He had a lot of training to do before I was ever able to truly help our customers. It was a lot of work bringing me up to speed on how to be an IBM employee, the MVS mainframe operating system, and the Information Management (InfoMan) helpdesk product.

You see, at IBM Charlotte, I was working on InfoMan, but they didn't call it that. Don and I had no clue I already knew a little bit about the product I was hired to work on. Then one day, it was, "Hey, Don, this is the helpdesk. I've seen this before!" "What? Cool!"

I've been scanning in some old pics lately trying to preserve some pre digital pics. It's a lot of work, but it's worth it. What I scanned in today were the pics of my going away party at IBM Charlotte and the pics of my first new on my own apartment in Cary just a few miles away from my IBM RTP job.

Those that didn't know be back in 1991 will be surprised that I had 2 cats and no dogs at that time. Also, the apartment is slightly more feminine than the decor in the current house; you can get away with some stuff when you live alone. I see a few former boyfriend guy influences (owls and pic over couch in main room), but overall it's a bunch of my childhood stuff just moved to the new apartment and set up in a new place. Interesting.

I'm sorting through getting ready to turn 40. These musings are helping.

More IBM Charlotte and Cary Apartment Pics