I have just added another post to our social blog, Buckle-Up, that was the last of ten posts retelling stories that first appeared in Speed News, a digital publication of the track club to which for the better part of a decade Margo and I belonged. The title of the post was Retiring from HPDE and for those not familiar with the HPDE programs they were all about High Performance Driver Education and catered for those car enthusiasts who prefer to experience speed on tracks rather than on streets.
When it comes to the subject of retirement nothing tugs
at the heartstrings more firmly than thoughts of lazy days spent on a tropical
beach, beneath a palm trees, sipping on a fruity cocktail. However, for most of
us, those tugs on the heartstrings are only part of the story as there is a lot
more that influences us than the quiet life. When it comes to the IT industry and,
particularly when it comes to all those dedicated to support of the HPE NonStop
ecosystem, is a quiet nap even in the plan?
We retire applications, of course. Those tasks we
assigned to our computers when appropriate. Repetitious, for the most part and
more recently, mission critical and yet, as the tools of the trade have evolved
it’s often proved more productive to rewrite an application than fix what is
already in place. Often under the guise of modernization an argument in support
of so doing has often revolved around the simple observation; how do we keep
our highly skilled staff if we don’t let them stay current with technology?
The last application I wrote was for an IBM mainframe
where the programming language of choice was PL/1. Having come from a
background writing routines in IBM 360 Assembler, the productivity boost from
using a modern language became obvious very quickly even if the resultant code
was truly verbose. In my case it was an application to track empty containers
arriving in Australian ports to make sure that they were truly empty and that
yes, each departing container ship had the needed empty containers onboard to
ensure return trips to Australia with the full container loads were possible.
A relevant topic for today it turns out as our supply
chains struggle to get goods to where they are needed. Retiring applications
seems a sensible thing to do and we all recognize the value but what about retiring
systems? When I first took up the position of Managing Director of the
Australian arm of a US software vendor it was all about giving new life to old
mainframes. As IBM introduced the 370 line, a replacement for the 360, what
were the mainframe leasing companies to do? How were they going to keep moving
the inventory that was steadily building up in warehouses across the country?
Simple solution, retrofit the operating system of the 360 to include the new
features IBM made available only on the 370. And it worked – EDOS and EDOS/VS
brought value to enterprises not yet ready to retire their older mainframes.
That was a special case involving mainframes, but what about Prime? Data
General? Four Phase and even DEC? With price points well below a mainframe,
retiring these systems as each new model appeared was all part and parcel of
the non-mainframe experience. When it comes to NonStop then today we know that
their stickiness is even more apparent and none of us would be surprise to read
of a NonStop II still running production tasks.
Much could be said about the networks we once deployed.
Are we all depending upon the Internet and what is now ubiquitous with TCP/IP?
Very little is discussed of late that involves SNA, OSI and the like. Still
want to write code directly to NetBEUI – the NetBIOS extended user interface?
Probably not and for the very good reason. Programming has moved on and the
likes of PL/1, COBOL, Fortran, etc. are simply the domain of some really old
programmers.
When it comes to people then the global pandemic has
opened our eyes to a whole new world of possibilities. Even as the headlines
today write about The
Great Resignation and tell us that it has reinvigorated
workers, putting them in the driver’s seat for the first time in 30 years (or
more), but I have the sense that when it comes to those of us in technology,
it’s proving to be a time where there is enticement being dangled before us to
join the gig economy. Yes, those tugs on the heartstrings we though were
pulling us toward retirement may in fact be telling us a completely different
story.
Don’t think of retirement, think of just doing what you
like to do seated under that palm tree with a tablet or smartphone and an
internet connection and have at it. Write those requirement specs. Write that
code. Join that scrum, and more. Perhaps nobody will notice that fruity
cocktail by your side. Don’t feel self-conscious about the lifestyle you have
embraced but rather, enjoy it to the full as IT doesn’t know about any age
requirements. For the NonStop community even as we entertain the potential
coming from an Under 40 Special Interest Group (SIG), the profile of members of
the NonStop community is somewhat skewed towards the elder generation.
For as long as I can recall working for and with
NonStop, I have been in discussions about the downside of a workforce that may
disappear in time. Not physically but rather a workforce that ebbs away one
proficient technologist after another. But wait, those days represented a time
when we all came into the office, talked around the water cooler and sat
through endless PowerPoint presentations designed to improve the level of
communication across the company and NonStop, nee Tandem Computers, was no
exception in that regard.
Today, the experience is still all there and continues
to provide value even as its relevance isn’t lost on anyone in the NonStop
community. We have a culture that has endured for decades that centers on the
willingness to share knowledge. Applications will continue to be rewritten even
as systems, networks and even vendors are replaced, but accumulated knowledge
remains at a premium and the tools now at hand mean contributions can still be
made in support of those rising through the ranks.
So no, retiring our most learned of experts shouldn’t be in the cards any longer. That includes me! We have all been dealt a new hand and how we play it is up to each of us. As for those that are part of the NonStop user community then yes, there are ample skills out there that are readily accessible – just look at those who post to LinkedIn and even twitter. Whether these posts come from the NonStop team or from vendors fully committed to the platform, it is reassuring to know that the platform continues to exceed the hype that is growing around NonStop.
If you come away from this post without a renewed sense of the renaissance that’s happening around all things NonStop then take a moment to pause and consider how far NonStop has come following serious investments being made in the platform by HPE. More important still, take a look to at the major global enterprises expanding their NonStop footprint to better support their mission critical applications. And yes, if you are looking for new challenges and an opportunity to realign your career then remember this renaissance of NonStop isn’t complete without your participation, today!
As a final reminder of what we have all witnessed these past two years amid the global pandemic, enthusiasm to contribute knows no boundaries and with the tools at hand this level of enthusiasm cannot be underestimated. Looking to enter a new career? Looking to resign? Looking to retire? Then by all means look at that lifestyle alongside a beach, but remember you can do it all with just a couple of items on the side table where you place that fruity drink.
It may just be the real future for you that up until now was little more than a misty, dreamlike aspiration that you knew all along just didn’t sit right. Welcome to the age of the individual, the gig economy and yes, you guessed it, the age of working as you always envisioned it from the time you first entered the IT industry! And if you would like to read that final post referenced earlier that triggered thoughts appearing in this post, then follow this link –
https://buckle-up-travel.blogspot.com/2021/11/tenth-and-final-post-to-nasa-speed-news.html
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