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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Judy Backhouse is an IT professional who does freelance writing in her
free time.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
________________________________________________________________
YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET!
Juno now offers FREE Internet Access!
Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagh.
|
