A long time ago a friend of mine told me that the mental abilities to do computer programming, music, and foreign languages are probably linked genetically. Since then I have noticed a lot of anecdotal evidence to support this theory, including myself. But I have also found a lot of people who are strong in only one of those three possibly interrelated skills.
Bill Fairchild Rocket Software -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Scott Ford Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2011 11:44 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: An upbeat story Thats interesting did a lot of Sysprog/Network Engineer consul Todd, Thats interesting did a lot of Sysprog/Network Engineer consulting and found a lot of the 'crew' I worked with were either musical or very creative. Interesting, I am into photography, etc before I was into 'systems'...makes you think Scott J Ford ________________________________ From: "Burrell, C. Todd (CDC/OCOO/ITSO) (CTR)" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Wed, June 15, 2011 5:18:07 PM Subject: Re: An upbeat story The main thing I have found that makes a good sysprog is the ability and drive to not let a problem or issue beat you - that "I will find the damn answer" drive that makes you always try and solve a problem. And you need to have excellent problem solving skills. I've found that good operators can make good sysprogs and programmers if they want to make that move. However, one of the best DBA's I ever worked with had a Music degree in college. He liked music, but he had excellent drive and problem solving skills. And IT paid a lot better than being a music teacher. C. Todd Burrell PMP, MCSE 2003:Security MCITP:Enterprise Administrator Security+, Network+ ITIL V3 Foundations CSC Lead z/OS Systems Programmer ITSO (404) 723-2017 (Cell) -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Scott Ford Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2011 5:11 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: An upbeat story I came up through the ranks: Operations -> Systems Programming -> Network Engineering -> Development.... Been a joy almost the entire route, had bumps buts thats life. IMHO its very subjective to ask if Non-IT ppl make better programmers or not. I feel/think there are a lot of variables to consider. Aptitude is a big one ..ability to learn ...self-starter... Scott J Ford ________________________________ From: Rick Fochtman <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Wed, June 15, 2011 3:22:09 PM Subject: Re: An upbeat story -------------------------------------<snip>-------------------------------------- > The "non-IT" thing is interesting. > > At my company we have many application developers that started >elsewhere at the company. Me, for one. I personally had previous IT >skills, and some schooling in programming, but most of the others I >believe did not. > > Do non-IT people make better COBOL programmers? Why might that be? > ---------------------------------<unsnip>-------------------------------------- I started college in a "General Engineering" program. I think that was useful as I had exposure to different types of problems from Mechanical, Civil (What's a "CIVIL" Engineer? A polite one?), Electrical, Chemical and Mining situations. It helped me learn to take a broader look at problems and implement solutions that crossed the so-called boundaries between the various engineering disciplines. So I would guess that non-IT people might have a better grasp of the types of problems that others areas of the company might encounter. Rick ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
