The First Program I wrote

That was in 1991. It was in COBOL. Black and white (green) screen. Keyboards were kind of similar (although they made more noise and had to be pressed harder) but the monitors were huge in depth (that is the part that is behind the screen). The printers were all Dot Matrix. I do not remember what my first program was meant to do - probably, it was as simple as printing out a few words on the screen - but what I do remember is that for a 20 line program consisting of the four data divisions and that I got an error list of 168 errors. Was a huge blow at first to my rosy thoughts of becoming a great programmer one day........but I kept working at it and realized that only 4-5 problems in COBOL could result in hundreds of errors....kept my cool...and bingo, the program worked!

It took me almost an hour to fix the errors but once I saw the output, it gave me immense satisfaction and, more importantly, confidence. Now, I am one of those with not a typical Engineering background and I knew that this is a field where anyone with a logical mind and tenacity should be able to do a good job. 25 years later, I must say I am contented, having worked on several technologies, with what I have achieved but am not complacent. Every day gives me opportunities to learn new things and I grab them with my two hands and a thankful heart. In the new world, hierarchies would matter less and knowledge and collaboration, more. And I would like to think that I am gearing up well towards the new challenges in the industry, getting the right talents being the biggest one.