While walking back up to my office with my lunch, I passed by the area that used to house the corporate computer center. I thought about the hanging folders for printouts, the 1403 printers and mainframes that used to be there. It made me think back to the 1950s and 1960s, and a question for y’all:
Would you be able to do the job you do today in the 1960s?
Consider:
- You wouldn’t be doing your own word processing and writing. Instead, you would write out reports and such longhand, and pass it to a secretary to type up.
- If you are a programmer, you likely wouldn’t be entering your program yourself. Instead, you would be preparing programming forms, and passing them to a keypuncher to punch. You might occasionally put your fingers to the 026 or 029, but it would be unlikely once you moved up the ranks.
- You wouldn’t have instantaneous outputs. You might get one or two runs of your program a day, and have to get the output at the computing center, not from the printer in your office.
- You wouldn’t have instantaneous information. You would be looking up information in books and files.
- You wouldn’t have your nice cubicles. You’ld be in a “bullpen”. Think “How to Succeed in Business”. Rows and rows of desks.
- One question: Got sliderule?
So, could you do it?
