I’ve witnessed a lot of changes in the Information Technology (IT) industry, having been a computer nerd since the Commodore Personal Electronic Transactor (PET) days. They were screamers! with 4K of ram, tape drive, and a 9” green-screen.

It’s kind of funny, games “back-in-the-day” consisted of a “K” - knight poking around on an empty green screen, looking for a “D” - dragon. The weapon of choice was the “->” symbol. And, the fighting action was a display of ratios from random dice rolls and a counter representing how much life the “K” and “D” had left.

My buddies and I thought we had reached enlightenment when game programers started using box symbols to draw halls and rooms. The “K” still chased monsters around a green screen, but we now had “D” - dragons, “G” - goblins, “M” - mummies, and “Z” - zombies to deal with.

Our librarian had a strict policy of not allowing games on computers. So, we would sneak the games in on our Walkman tape players. Then, while one of us played lookout, the others would enjoy a lunch-hour of bliss as we moved our “K”’s around the green screen, rescuing those memory bits from peril.

Few things remain constant as new programming/hardware methods are introduced and grandfathered within 6 months of their entrance. One of the things that seems constant is the database industry. Mind you, changes happen, but the methods used and best practices introduced endure. That is one of the major reasons I chose the database industry as my IT carer focus.