Interesting parallels
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| wjl Feb 08, 2006 11:07 PM EDT |
Hi Tom, thanks for your great article. Somehow in many ways, it reminded me of myself. I considered myself a musician when I was young, and I really made it into the EMI record studios at the age of 19, and later was working part time as a studio musician. This turned out to not bring in enough money to survive, so at 26 I sat down and thought. What was it that I really *could* do to earn some money? The thing I was able to do best during my past was to learn, so I decided to go and learn more. This is why I did another three years of high school at the age from 27 to 30. It was then when I first came into contact with computers, and before I got my high school exam, I was hired by a marketing and analysis company to administer their HP3000 and to teach their stuff in MS-DOS and the early Windows 3.x. Before that, I had programmed my C64 in assembler, hacked myself into some VAX computers which had bugs in their OSses, and so on and so forth. This was still before the age of the internet as we know it today - everything was text and console based, and this all happened with modems of various speeds (from 300 to 9600 Baud). I started studying information technology later, but without getting a degree. Meanwhile, I had read in some Hifi magazine about the invention of CDs, and as a former musician, I saw the potential of digital sound - plus as an IT guy, I saw the storage potential as well. So I predicted the CD a big success - long before it hit the market. Alas, I couldn't turn this knowledge into a personal profit. Another thing like that happened later, when I was working in IT service with a big IT shop here in Germany - they started with 5 guys in Cologne, and when I joined them, we were more than 2.000. Then came GE and bought it, and later we were 3.500 (before I left and it was sold again). What happened in this company was that I got more and more frustrated about providing services for an OS for which there simply wasn't enough information to deal with it. Plus it wasn't the most stable of them all - even the now long dead Novell Netware was better. So while I still did my job and did service in various levels (up to consulting people who had titles like MCSE or Novell Certified Engineer), I decided to turn to something else. So I told my supervisor I would concentrate on Linux. He laughed me off. Plus he told me that this was to be considered a toy, and I should at least choose Solaris as a target, but our main business... blah blah... What he probably didn't notice was how closely I was listening to his advice, and of course I learned about Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, and all that. But at home, I had some early SuSE, later Red Hat, then FreeBSD, and so on. So I went again and told everyone things like "Hey, Linux is the future - let's do it", and got laughed at again. My knowledge about Solaris got me some other and better jobs, and there I learned more about firewalls, VPNs, and the like - until I was considered the "expert" for this, and with that knowledge, got some other jobs again. Later, as we all know, Linux just went BOOM. Now everyone and your neighbor is talking about it. My brother and my aunt are using it (with a bit of recommendation through my side). And still the company where I work is clinging to their Exchange server instead of trying the much better Kolab, which I am telling them to consider since a while. Anyway: this whole process is awesome, and I'm growing with it. I do *not* consider myself an expert in anything (I'd rather go with Descartes' famous sentence that I know that I know nothing), but still I'm learning day to day, and I'm even paid doing so. What could be better? cheers, wjl aka Wolfgang Lonien |
| tadelste Feb 09, 2006 7:32 AM EDT |
Wolfgang: You're story has more similarities. I studied music from age 6. Even wondered where the sharps and flats were in the alphabet in the first grade. I was a studio musician at age 15 (sax, lead guitar, harmonica and keyboards). As part of a travel band, I would read the help wanted sections of the local newspapers and saw jobs for bookkeepers and CPAs. So, I left the band, went back to college and studied accounting, etc. You know the rest. I did a revival album in '92 with friends from the Steve Miller and Lee Michaels Bands, some members of Asleep at the Wheel and Willy Nelson's engineers. It was fun and I enjoyed it. But, by that time I realized the mafia had infultrated the entertainment distribution business. I wouldn't pay the up front money. So, there you have it. |
| wjl Feb 09, 2006 9:20 AM EDT |
Wow - this is even more impressive. You mean *the* Steve Miller Band? Fly like an eagle? Waaay coool. I played bass only. But thinking of Jaco Pastorius et al, this doesn't mean that bass is no real instrument. ;-) I agree with what Joel wrote - nice to have you here on LXer. That only makes an already good page even better. cheers, wjl aka Wolfgang Lonien |
| tadelste Feb 09, 2006 12:27 PM EDT |
Wolfgang, yes like in Fly like an eagle. Our drummer was Frosty. I always liked Bass players, they rocked! It also made the band sound like a band. I especially like a Bass riff to open a song. |
| wjl Feb 09, 2006 9:59 PM EDT |
Yup - what most people don't actually know (but somehow most of these people still feel it) is that bass players - together with but even more than drummers - are the guys who make them dance ;-) If you happen to be in northern Germany, send me a short notice, and feel free to come over. You will be welcome. |
| tadelste Feb 10, 2006 5:47 AM EDT |
I would like to do that. I'm planning a trip in fact. I'll send you my email. |
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