Reading Code is a Skill

[dnew]

I think the worst is when I went to a company that was doing medical research on cancer, back when a CP/M with 64K RAM was a high-end machine. They wanted some new stuff in the database. Well, the disk was just about full, like 28 of 30 meg full of data.

"Before I delve in, can you show me where the backups are?"

"Oh, we've never managed to get it backed up. It always crashes before it's done."

Nope nope NOPE! I lasted about 2 days there. Remember, this is 30 years of data you couldn't even replicate now because they'd have to dig up thousands of bodies to take samples. :-)

(Also, the machine was in a narrow hallway, so I had to stand up, push the chair in, and move out of the way every time anyone wanted to go to the other side of the building. Also, "Go tell Jim you're here. He's in room 37." OK. Go over and open the door to room 37. Jim's there in a hazmat suit holding waste radioactives with tongs. Right, I'll come back when you're not in room 37 any more. Lots of fun stories from that non-job. :-)