Chapter 207J

5/3/2009

Ch 207J  Pete                                                                                         Pete France story

'64 back room with Mark's swords guns martial arts stuff, SU Indian football cowbell, Daily Orange and looks like a map of the DMZ to come.

BIO

Stewarts Ice Cream Store dipper

IBM mainframe operating system software programmer, manager

pertinent links:   current hobby president railroad club, NYNJ trail maintainer volunteer, kayaking, several more links

married 2 sons coast guard, 2 daughters architect

living in Lake Katrine, NY

Stories

 My 59 Ford Galaxie at Coop  & side view

I graduated in 1967 with a B.A in Political Science. I think my GA was around C, if that. What I didn't know in 1967 was that I would have done much better had I majored in Computer Science, a curiculum that wasn't invented until the late 70's. I enlisted in the Marines in April, 1967, and spent the summer hanging out in Syracuse and East Hampton waiting to attend Officers Candidate School in Quantico in October. I worked at Marley's junk yard in Syracuse from May to the end of July, then for McConnel's nursery in East Hampton during August and early September. In September, I returned to Syracuse. On October 16th, I headed for Quantico.

I didn't like officer training much, so I dropped out three days before graduation. That might have been a mistake. It's hard to know. I was supposed to go to Pensacola next for Naval Flight Officer training. NFOs were the navigator/gunner on either F4s or A6s. Anyway, I didn't go. Instead, I got to see the exotic lands of South Vietnam and Japan. I was in Vietnam for a month, Okinawa for a month, and Japan for

ten months. Pete Chapter 144 war story

That covers my first two years out of college. The rest is pretty boring, or maybe routine is a better description. Not that boring is bad. I'll just list a few things.

1. I was hired by IBM in March, 1970 as a 'Component Analyst'. I was a clerk who ordered parts for our mainframes. We built a lot of mainframes in Kingston.

2. In 1975, I met my future wife, Nancy, while hiking in the Catskills. We were married in 1976.

3. I retrained as a programmer in 1977.

4. I was a pretty good programmer. I got promotions about every two years. That was needed, because we kept having children. By 1982, we had two girls and two boys.

5. I became a program manager in 1984.

6. The next fifteen years are a blur. I worked during the day, and drove someone to something at night. There were ballet lessons, music lessons, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Little League, Soccer, Girl Scouts, Varsity Swim Team, Track, etc.

7. In 1993, IBM started laying off. About 150,000 people were fired between 1993 and 1995. Luckily, I was out onf management by then, and once again a programmer. Many of the managers that I knew were cut. It's easier to make a new manager than it is to train a good programmer.

8. My job went to India in 2004, and IBM forced me into retirement. IBM can hire six Indian programmers for the same price as one American programmer. I get a pension based on my 34 years.

9. Two months later, IBM hired me back as a contract programmer.

10. In January, 2009, IBM decided not to renew my contract. Now, I collect unemployment and my pension. What a deal.

Additional facts.

My oldest child, Cynthia, is an architect in Cincinnati. She works for the city, and has three children. Therefore, I am a grandfather.

My oldest son, Dave, is in the Coast Guard, stationed in Miami. He runs the avionics on their Falcon jet. Sort of like an NFO's job.

Dave graduated from SU in 2001 with a degree in Bioengineering. He never used it.

My youngest son, Dan, is graduating from college with a degree in accounting. He's been in and out of college for ten years. Nancy and I are very happy that chapter is ending.

My youngest daughter, Beth, graduated from the University of Delaware with a degree in nursing. She is a nurse in Las Vegas, and is getting married on May 16th.