y2k congrats to us all

[Damned Angel]

Sorry bout the length of this. I recieved this in e-mail today and would like to share it with all of you.

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.

[sj]

I loved it!!! I spent many extra hours in trying to prepare for Y2K and all I got in return is a silly comment about it all was hype. I fill that if it weren’t for all of our hard work, extra hours and a few cries from our family to come home, it would have been much worse than a few little hiccups. Damned Angel, I will have to agree, all techs, prop your feet up and smile.

SJ

[tecman]

Y2K to me:
Bad: lots of extra hours
Good: lots of PIII's where there used to be 386's.
Bad: Lots of "hey, i have a quick question for you about Y2K"
Good: lots of Hay! here's your bill for the extra consulting after hours ($$)
Bad: Camped out around my pager at midnight Dec. 31.
Good: Slept pretty darn good, no hangover, no crazy M#&% F*$&% killed me or my family
Bad: Things seem slow, compared to the hustle bustle of Y2K
Good: Things seek slow, compared to the hustle bustle of Y2K!!

All in all, the quality of hardware i support is much higher than it was in Jan 1999.

Screw the hype, we rocked.