Monica arrived at the computer school on the Monday that was to be her first day and also the day she would be acquainted with the school and staff. The Training School, as it was formally known, consisted of several different courses designed to put students into jobs upon graduation. Courses included accounting, secretarial, and data processing. Monica had selected the computer programming
course, which she thought she had an aptitude for, since she liked detail work and enjoyed hearing about computers.
She was ushered into the office of Mr. Blakely, the Director of Admissions of the school. He wasn't in the room when she entered, but the door opened as Monica sat in her wheelchair looking at an issue of 'Redbook', the opening temporarily startled her.
"I'm very sorry, Miss Rawlings," he said, "to have opened the door and jumped into the room while you were concentrating on reading."
"That's okay," responded Monica.
He walked over to his chair behind the mahogany desk and sat facing Monica.
"We are very happy that you have made the choice of attending our school to learn computer programming. I don't know if in any of your discussions with any of our staff here that they mentioned the fact we have several blind students attending."
"No, no one mentioned that."
"Several of our prior students who are blind have gone on to rewarding careers in the computer industry, and we are certainly proud of them having done so and of our instructors who taught those students. Needless to say, the student has to do quite a large amount of work on his or her own if they want to succeed in the computer area, or any other field for that matter."
"It is not simply enough in this business to say you want to succeed, but you must put forth the effort to accomplish that which you desire."
As the director continued to speak about school policies and procedures, Monica noticed that he was pretty young and probably not much older than she was. He had long curly hair and resembled the cuddly bear type of guy. His speech was very articulate and his session with Monica cordial. Mr. Blakely, she noticed, was dressed in a dark blue stripe suit. She thought he looked like the fellow who played a policeman on one of the television shows she had watched.
"Do you have any questions for me?" he asked. "Ah...no, I can't think of any right now," she answered.
"Well, if you have any problems while attending our school, please don't hesitate to call on me as I am always here to help any person desiring my advice."
"Thank-you, very much," Monica smiled.
"We can show you to your classroom and have you meet the teacher who is just starting a new class today, in fact, this is Mr. Beers' first day on the job. He is probably just as nervous as you are about getting going today. Would you like me to push you?"
"No thanks, I am able to manage," Monica said.
"Okay, follow me then." He opened the half glass-half wood door leading to the hallway. Mr. Blakely stood back while he pushed the door to the wall and motioned for Monica to exit. "Make a turn to the right whenever you get to the hallway."
In a few seconds, Monica was out in the hall and slowly moving her body carrier down the hallway to the room where she would attempt to become a programmer.
"Your room is the third one on the left, Monica."
When the two approached the slot numbered 110, on the closed door, Mr. Blakely knocked once, and then entered.
"Hello, Mr. Beers, I have one more student for you to teach. This is Monica Rawlings." She entered very slowly, looking around the room at the students already in attendance. To her surprise, most of them didn't seem to notice her problem, and again to her surprise, the school had prepared a special table for her.
"Hello, Monica," said Mr. Beers. "We are very happy to have you with us. Please pull up a seat."
"I believe you are in good hands, Monica, so I will see you later on," said Mr. Blakely, as he left the room.
"We had just started talking about computer programming here, Monica, and I was going around the room asking the students why they wanted to become computer programmers. I'm always interested in the answers, which I get and it is always amazing to find that many people think unlimited amounts of money are made by all people working in the data processing industry. Unfortunately, that is not true and there are many people working in the industry who are not making the bucks some people believe them to be. Some would-be programmers are making more money in their current jobs than they could start at in „D. P.' I don't want you to think that the field of data processing isn't a good field to be in, because I really like the things going on and the way technology is moving, the field will be more interesting in the future. "
"Let me explain the types of positions available today in the field of data processing. First of all, there is the keypunch or data entry clerk, the control clerk, the computer operator, the programmer, the systems analyst, the data processing manager, the systems manager, the MIS director, the data base manager, the systems programmer, and the software specialist. Our primary endeavor in this classroom will be to teach you people the knack of computer programming with some systems work thrown in to help you understand the why's of programming."
"In the data processing field, the data entry clerk is the individual who inputs data via a machine into some media, whether it be tab cards, magnetic tape, magnetic disk, diskette or cartridge. This type of position is held mostly by women, although there are a few men doing the task, but very few. I'll relate to you a little story about interviewing a colored fellow for a keypunching position that we had open in a company I used to work for at one time. It took this individual about one hour to arrive at my office from an employment agency located about four blocks away. The girl who phoned me from the agency told me the applicant would be right down. Where he had been for one hour beats me. Anyhow, when he showed up, our company receptionist had ushered him back to my office and he was already sitting down whenever I entered my cluttered room. I had the fellow complete an application and then tested him on the keypunch. Of course, one of my keypunchers did the actual testing. She later informed me that the fellow looked like he had been on a trip because his eyes were real glassy and he took a long time to understand the directions. Most people can grasp what we wanted them to accomplish in a few minutes, but this applicant took forty-five minutes. After I interviewed him and asked if he had any questions, I could see what our keypuncher was talking about when she referred to the way he was acting."
"When he asked me a question, the words came out garbled, but unfortunately he didn't have very many questions. We left my office and I proceeded to show him the way to the elevators. It just so happens that we had to walk through the accounting department as we did so, I noticed the girls staring. I didn't know why until I came back through the department. One of the women informed me that I should be a little more careful in selecting my friends and when I asked why, she whispered in my ear that the guy's fly was down."
The class laughed.
"That wasn't as embarrassing to me as to the fellow I interviewed, but I don't think he even cared. Moving on with my discussion of the positions available, we can just say the control clerk does exactly that...controls data going to be processed and that which has been processed, being responsible for balancing and distribution of reports. The programmer is responsible for writing the instructions for the computer to perform a task and the systems analyst is the individual who designs a system, whether it be computerized or manual. A data processing manager is a person who may be in charge of overall functions of a data processing operation such as keypunching, control, computer operations, programming and systems. This individual may only be responsible for operations and keypunching or other facets of a data center. It really depends on company philosophy. A systems manager, as the name implies, would be in charge of systems analysts, and an MIS director, the MIS standing for Management Information Systems, is a person responsible for overall data processing, including operations, programming and systems. The data base manager, which is a term that has come into use in the last five years applies to a person responsible for data base information systems in a company."
"Prior to the coining of the term data base manager, the file structure of most systems designed included multiple accesses for related information, which the data base structure is supposed to eliminate. For instance, in a bank, all the recorded dealings with a bank customer whether they be a mortgage, installment loans, or others are easily accessed by using a file structure that permits almost instantaneous retrieval, mostly by CRT's, better know as cathode ray tubes. So much for the data base manager. "
"The systems programmer is an individual who is technically competent in setting up the operating system for a computer. Prior to third generation computers, most of their predecessors didn't operate by something called an operating system. However, the advent of the operating system has added the feature of rolling one program to the other, interactive communication of terminals with the computer, computers with computers and multi-programming. This type of position will not be of great value in the long-term future of systems because the operating systems are much easier to generate than those of computers of prior years. Although this course does not call for a study of mini-computers, we will attempt to throw that into the course for your benefit. Mini-computers are really maxi's in small cabinets."
"Probably one of the greatest areas to get into is that of the software specialist. This individual is one who designs the software to make computers run. You will understand as we progress, that computers are programmed usually in a language other than machine language, machine language being what makes the machine tick. The programmer writes in COBOL, BAL, BASIC, PL1 or something else and the program goes through a compiler, which changes the instructions to those a machine understands."
"Depending on the position you might select, the range of wages is from four hundred dollars a month to over one hundred thousand dollars a year. Of course, keypunchers and all the people on the lower scale are never in the fifty thousand bracket. Only the biggies get that much. Programming people are in the twelve thousand to sixty thousand dollar bracket. Contrary to your possible misunderstanding, you do not attain twenty grand overnight because there are many people who have been working in the field who have not reached the limit in their area and possibly never will in their working lives."
"There is plenty of opportunity for the D. P. entrepreneur and many things are happening, as I said before due to the fast paced technology that makes the field interesting. Being at the right place at the right time also helps, not only with this type of position but in any other field as well."
"Are there any questions?"
"No, then we will pursue the field which you are all paying good money to learn and succeed in."
"You all should have in your possession a book entitled The Basics Of DP, which you should read and interpret to the best of your ability. Many of the things that I have mentioned are in the book but are explained in a different way. We will start with Chapter, 1, which explains the use of the keypunch. At the school we have 029 keypunches for your use and some 129 units. These are not difficult to operate for our purposes, which will be the punching of some cards to be used in a program or for correcting those cards, which have been keypunched incorrectly. The unit, whether it be an 029, or some other type, consists of a keyboard fashioned in typewriter form. An 029 needs a drum card to perform certain automatic operations and the drum card is physically stored on a drum as shown in Figure 1B."
"The 129 unit accepts the information from the drum card, which is a tab card by the way, punched with control punches to make the keypunch perform certain operations automatically. You just pass the drum card through the read station and the information is stored in an area inside the keypunch. We are all going to take a short walk down to the keypunch room and then I will explain first hand how to make the machine perform those tasks, which we desire. It is not that we wish to spend much time on the keypunching function, but only to learn about performance, because your programs will be punched by the employees of the school service bureau. Is everyone ready?"
"You can lead the way, Monica," he said, walking over to the door to open it for her. She turned her wheelchair around and said, "Which way?"
Just before leaving the room, Mr. Beers expressed his doubt they would be back before lunchtime.
He was correct in his assumption. His group didn't return until twelve fifteen. When all the students were back into the classroom, Mr. Beers informed them they should all try to return to the room after lunch by one o'clock for the afternoon session at which he promised movies and dancing girls. The fellows wanted the dancing girls but the women in the class were not too impressed with the fellows' thinking. They were hoping for a good movie, though.
"Will the movie be DEEP THROAT?" asked a young red haired girl. "Not one with that type of message or acting," laughed Mr. Beers.
"How about BEHIND THE GREEN DOOR, then?" asked the same young lady.
"I believe we can clear up the movie area by saying that no pornos will be shown this afternoon, but don't give up hope," said the instructor.
When the class returned to the room at one o'clock, Mr. Beers did show them an hour and one-half movie about computers and the computer industry, tracing the beginnings through the current technology period.
"Someone turn on the lights," he said, as the movie reeled to an end. "Okay," yelled one of the fellows near the switch.
"Any questions about the movie or anything I spoke of earlier?" asked Mr. Beers. A student in the rear of the room raised his hand.
"Yes, Jim," he said to the young man," what is your question?"
"I would like to know the possibility of obtaining a job in the data processing field after we finish taking this course?"
"In Pittsburgh, I would have to say the odds are going to be pretty tough on your obtaining a beginning position upon graduation," said the instructor, while walking to the windows on the right wall. "Mostly because there are quite a number of experienced people in the D. P. field in Pittsburgh, and most of the companies look for those persons who have some form of experience with computers, and some will not take any individual without a specific machine experience. By that, I mean those employers who require an individual to have IBM 360/40 or Burroughs 5000 experience and they will not even speak to anyone without the specific requirements."
"As a matter of fact, many companies also demand applicants be experienced in their particular industry. I don't feel these nuances are valid for hiring personnel, but the companies do not speak to me before they do the hiring and they really don't care what the hell I think anyway. Have I answered your question? "
"I think so," said Jim, "but you know the salesman at this school told me and everyone here that the jobs in this field were plentiful, but many of my friends who have gone here still haven't found a job."
"I know why they are telling you what you are repeating, but there isn't, or I should say, this isn't the time for me to get involved in telling you what I think about sales people in the data processing field."
Mr. Beers smiled upon making this statement.
"Tell us some more about job possibilities," said a blond haired girl sitting in the front row.
"I think we had better get off the job kick and get into some study for tomorrow's class. First of all, I want you to all read the manual on flow-charting and the manual on THE BASICS OF DP, chapters one through four. You will also take out your flowcharting template and look over the designs, which the tool is capable of charting and become familiar with the meaning of each symbol. What is it?" he said to a black student in the second row raising his hand.
"Man, this is a lot of reading," said the boy with an unsmiling face. "And I have to go to work at five o'clock tonight, I won't have time to read all this."
"Well, man, you don't think I am going to read it for you, do you?" Mr. Beers said with a grin.
Monica's face turned to a smile and the other kids in the class began to laugh. "See you tomorrow, gang," said Mr. Beers, "you are dismissed."
"Would you like any help?" asked the girl sitting next to Monica. "No thanks," said Monica.
"My name is Joan," said the five feet tall young lady. "Mine's Monica."
"Yes, I know," said Joan, "the director and instructor both used your name frequently today."
"So they did," laughed Monica.
"I'll walk you out, if you don't mind?" asked Joan.
"No, I don't mind," answered Monica. "It is nice of you to offer." They moved into the hallway. "What do think of the instructor, Monica?"
"He seems like a pretty nice fellow and one who seems to know exactly what he is talking about."
"Yes, I believe the same thing."
Joan was a well-proportioned girl of twenty with a nose pointed up at the tip and she sported auburn hair. She wore lipstick, which did not over-express her lips. Her blue jeans and T-shirt with 'Foxy Lady' written across the front, expressed her body.
"Are you really that type of lady?" asked Monica.
"Not quite," said Joan, smiling. They reached the front doors of the building and Joan opened and held them for Monica. "Thank-you, Joan."
"Is someone picking you up?" asked Joan.
"Yes, my roommate should be here about now. There she comes."
"Okay, Monica, see you tomorrow." Joan waved as she walked away.
Monica's roommate pulled her car along side the curb and got out and walked to Monica's side. She opened the passenger's door of the blue Pontiac and held the door while Monica pulled herself onto the seat.
Rose waited until Monica said she was okay and then folded the wheelchair and placed it behind Monica's seat. "How did things go today?" asked Rose, sliding into the driver's seat.
"Pretty good," said Monica. "I think that I will like going to this school to learn computer programming. The instructor we have is a nice fellow and one who will teach us what he knows about the field. I just hope I can make the grade."
"There isn't any reason why you can't be a computer programmer," said Rose, as she looked into the rear view mirror, then the side mirror before pulling back into the traffic stream.
"What would you like to eat for supper tonight," asked Rose. "Whatever you make," answered Monica. "How about pizza?" offered Rose.
"Why not," said Monica.
"Okay, I'll just stop on our way and pick up a pie," Rose said as she flipped her turn signal to get into the left lane.
"I really can't wait until tomorrow to find out how programming a computer is done," said Monica, smiling as she looked at a battered old lady walking down the street.