Re: Growing your own programmers

[Dennis D Pearson <ddp@xxxxxxxxx>]

I am one of those home grown programmers.  Started in Accounting, 
moved into programming when our programmer quit in 1983.  I had very 
little experience with midrange systems; I use to program on the 
TRS-80, with a tape player as a disk unit, when I was in my teens. 
I would not call that much experience at all.  The President at the 
time liked my logic and attention to detail.

The company I (still) worked for sent me to the IBM school 
(just outside of Chicago) for several weeks, to get the basics. 
I have been programming since, though with my expanded 
responsibilities, I do not have much time to code anymore. :-(

I have seen programmers come and go around here.  They have the mind 
set for logical programming or they do not!  Those out of a detail 
minded department like accounting may be better suited for computer 
programming.  Finding someone with the mind set for programming is 
the key, whether inside or outside of your firm.

DDP
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