When I started in data processing, some many years ago, friends would ask me what I did for a living. I never knew how to explain it. Then one day, I started thinking about what I did and all of the different jobs. After some time, I determined that computer people are like doctors. There is one major difference that has to be stated. Real doctors have human patients. My patients are made of aluminum, silicon, and plastic. Beyond that, we have more in common than you think.
- Medicine and computers have many specialties. For doctors, there is general, brain, and geriatrics. In computers, there is hardware, software, and programming. There are far more areas than I can list, but you get the idea.
- People in medicine and computers require a special education. They have to go to special schools to learn about the profession. In fact the learning doesn’t stop once you have that diploma. You have to keep up with the latest information out there. The way you did things in the past, may have improved today.
- No matter what career your in, you have to understand the need or problem. With out this, there is no way you can continue. Doctors call it treatment, and I call it a project.
I’m sure that if you try hard enough, you’ll find more similarities. Now when I have to explain what I do, I just say that I’m just a different kind of doctor.
Later…