18-30
30-40
40-50
50+
We used to get together with our 486's to play Doom. Took half of the day to get network cards into the machines and working, the days of DOS.
I had a smokin' fast 486dx4-100
Entered at 33 but it was on the IBM Selectric typewriter... and lately that's what I'm back to doing at 67, 34 years later... Typewriters! Still helping out the folks that need me, though.
Worked for a Typewriter outfit that was getting into computers back in the 80's into the early 90's. I mostly ran the computer/printer side of things but was cross-trained on Selectrics so that I could back up the other techs on calls. Boss handed me a manual to read, then put a II in front of me, reached in with a pair of side cutters and snipped the rotate tape, then said, "Okay, now fix it." That was frightening LOL
' "But the salesman said . . ." The salesman's an asshole!'
Mascan42
'You will always find some Eskimo ready to instruct the Congolese on how to cope with heat waves.'
Ibid
I'm just an ex-tech lurking around and spreading disinformation!
The demographics distribution has nothing to do with the age at which someone started in the business. It is more to do with how long they have been in the business. Those of us who are in the 50+ age group have been in the business 25 to 30 years or more. I for one at 73 have been in the business for 49, almost 50, years.
I started in 1984 at the age of 24. I was just going to do it till something better came along. There is nothing better, I am still going to work every day fixing copiers. It's still the same job, but the machines have changed quite a bit.
I started in this field in 1986 at the age of 20. I was a delivery guy for this office supply small family owned store. They sold & serviced MITA copiers. One of their Techs just up & quit, the owner asked me if I was interested in working on equipment.. I went out and worked in the field for about a year with 2 senior techs training me along the way. They sent me to MITA school in Dallas Texas 5 or 6 times over the next 4 years, then they sent me to Fujitsu Fax machine school in Danbury Ct. The office supply side struggled for a year & service was carrying them till one day at the end of 1992 the owner closed the doors. I went out and gave a business card to everyone I could remember & that was how I started on my own in 1993.
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