There’s no denying I am a geek – how many non-geeks have multiple blogs? 🙂
It started when I was at school – I ended up teaching part of the Computer Studies course that I was taking! Back then (1980) it was a CP/M network of RML 480Z workstations and a standalone 380Z.
As part of my “O” (Ordinary) and “A” (Advanced) level courses I also had the chance to play with the infamous Sinclair ZX80 and ZX81 (expanded to a whole 16Kb RAM!) as well as having access to a DEC PDP-11/40 too. I even wrote a library management system, which my school then sold to an Icelandic school!
Before going to university I worked at a haematology company, writing a statistics/graphics package on an Apple ][e. It processed a stream of data coming in from a particle counter via a serial cable – very groundbreaking and a major selling point.
That job, and a little side business in helping fellow students with their coursework, helped me afford my first computer.