What I was doing in this job 16 years ago.....

[bushby]

i would of been in year 3 then. and would of been playing muppets tresure island on the home pc XP

[witch]

I was two years off starting back in IT in education - working as a part-time computer recruitment consultant and keeping house for the family - children were then 7,9 and 11

[jinnantonnixx]

The millennium bug was a big deal, we were flapping over that.

 

Things are hazy, but we must have been running a mix of Novel Netware and NT as we patched both systems for the Y2K bug. I must have been working in tech support at that point. NT was replacing Netware, which was a step backwards IMO. In fact we missed one Netware server, and found it in a school's storeroom sometime like 2003, still running perfectly. The uptime on those things was outrageous, in sharp contrast to the brittle fragility of NT. But there you go.

 

ISDN was all the rage, and we still used the D channel for X.25 comms to the Unix servers for the financial systems. Things are really hazy now.

 

One thing I've learned is that technology is fleeting. Things that were essential to know back then have simply vanished. Nowadays, I just pick enough from the IT smorgasbord to get the job done, happy/resigned in the knowledge that this technology is temporary, and will be replaced by the next new shiny thing.

Edited February 26, 2015 by jinnantonnixx

[BKGarry]

I was 14 and in Year 09, already making a nuisance of myself on the old RM Nimbus networks, there were about 4 areas in the school with computers but they had 3 different networks. That day when your teacher let you play Worm, Trains and with the Smile Suite was great. And Internet, P'ah in the summer hols they put in the RM CC2.4 network and then my fun really began WWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

[Norphy]

In 1999 I was working for Watford Electronics as a " Direct Sales Executive" (AKA "Telephone Monkey" ). Not the sort that phoned you up and bugged you to buy stuff, I was the one being phoned up.

 

Millennium bug software was quite a big thing, people were still paying £1000+ for PCs, the PIII was the big thing and the Athlon was just coming onto the scene. I remember certain popular products being in constraint and being shouted at. A lot.

 

I'd say something along the lines of "Happy Days" but that would be an outright lie. I hated that job. It was a huge relief when I asked to be moved to the Repairs department.

Edited February 26, 2015 by elsiegee40

[clareq]

I was just about to start working here. I brought the first Windows computer into the school - until I started it had 4 suites of Acorn PCs.

[AJWhite1970]

Working with Novell Netware as my main NOS, Windows 98SE workstations, implementing Groupwise for email. NT4 server for Intranet, removing HP switches that no one ever used but previous NM thought was the way ahead. Millenium bug testing and being allowed to take leave only in term time

 

Wow, almost exactly what I was about to write apart from the switches issue... 50 Netware servers, 800 Windows 98 workstations, 9000 users, 8 sites and 7 staff in the IT team. Left that job in 2009 and been in my current job half a mile down the road from the first job ever since. Still good friends with several of the old team that are still there. And yes, this thread does make me feel very old at the ripe old age of 44!!!

 

Andrew

[GPT123]

16 years ago, that was in another lifetime...... was a Technical Manager at an Insurance Broker back then.

[tmcd35]

99? I'd quit work as a projectionist for Odeon cinemas in 97 and started an Applied Computing course at Uni on 98, so that would have been my first year of Uni - getting good grades and thinking I had a future...(I got a 3rd in 2001). Started at PC-World part time Christmas 99, I think it was. Wouldn't get my first real IT job as an IT tech until 2005! I was a PC-World sales monkey for far, far too long.

[HarryMonkey]

I partied.

[Tall_Paul]

Was in the final stages of my computer science degree. Left in June (I think!?) and started with EDS Defence in Tewkesbury.

[SovietRussia]

I was in year 1.... Just to make you all feel old

 

So was I!

[kennysarmy]

Great responses.....though I do feel shall I say, more mature!

[Arreks]

I'm more amazed that you've been at the same place for 16 years! dedication!

[pcstru]

99, I was running a team programming large scale data migrations generally using Oracle PL/SQL - but no one cared what tools we used, they just wanted the data. I was just into my 30's.

[Boredguy]

Technically I've been in the same place for 23 years but I try to forget the initial school years

[elsiegee40]

I've stopped feeling old... I just have to accept my age. I've just posted a link to a job at my last school... the one I attended. I remember my Physics teacher proudly showing off the brand new BBC computer they'd just got. The first one in the school. I was in the upper 6th (Year 13 in decimal) ... and I still managed to study Computing at university. By the looks of the JD, things have moved on a tad there now Edited February 26, 2015 by elsiegee40

[SteveBentley]

In 1999 I was doing the placement year of my degree, mainly in web development, in a different department of the same uni, where I got a job after graduating (but doing a lot more than just the website) and have been ever since.

 

Strangely enough I was back in my old department yesterday. They are thinking of buying some kit that we've had for a while and, they wanted a demo and to know how we'd used it. Very strange doing a presentation with three of your old lecturers in the audience!

[sted]

I think in 1999 I finished college and was looking for a job / I think I spent the month before Christmas installing backup generators in places like Manchester airport

[eddyc]

I was in Year 7 at school, seems a distant memory looking back at it!

[davyboi]

I would have been in year 5 or 6. Started secondary school in 2000. All I can remember IT wise from Primary school is that some classes had some black and white Macs! lol and the year 6 class also had a standalone windows 95 computer that had something like Crystal rain-forest on!

[E_G_R2]

Was working with HP 100VG switches (802.12) then because none else would use that standard had to move to fast ethernet at some cost!!!!

[googlemad]

Year 8 I think.

 

Wasn't it around the time optical mice started to become the 'must have' thing? I clearly remember being amazed by the red light and the smooth nature compared to the previous mice!

 

I also clearly remember the scroll wheel in the middle not working at all as most of the school was still running Windows 95!

[MrKJLS]

I was 2 Years old... They were the good old days.

[jdoldridge]

I would have been in year 5 or 6. Started secondary school in 2000. All I can remember IT wise from Primary school is that some classes had some black and white Macs! lol and the year 6 class also had a standalone windows 95 computer that had something like Crystal rain-forest on!

@davyboi Crystal Rainforest was the best thing since sliced bread when I was in primary school, I remember us getting our first suite of PCs in the library and I think that was pretty much all IT consisted of In primary school!