Newsletter #44 : What Was Your First?

Andrew Weaver
February 15, 2021
Hey Everyone

Welcome again to the “5 Minute Tech Break” from CTO Academy.

Big news for us this week was our first corporate assignment.

If you think we can help enhance your tech leadership capabilities and/or if you have some high flyers in your team you think could benefit from our courses and coaching, please get in touch.

In the meantime this 1st for us got me thinking about some of my other tech 1st’s
Have a great weekend.

Jason Noble
CTO Academy
[email protected]
First Computer …It was …. big drum roll ….The ZX Spectrum.

Had some fun this week recording a podcast that opened with a question about my first computer.

Well I spent 6 months hounding my parents for a computer though at that stage I was going for the ZX81.

By the time I had convinced them about this unfulfilled need the ZX Spectrum had appeared as the thing to have, as it was in colour. 

I got the 16k version as the 48k was not available at launch. It was incompatible with our Hitachi TV so that got replaced with a Sony TV, that subsequently lasted 25 yrs.I read the manuals from cover to cover and still remember the giddy excitement of getting my hands on this new bit of technology.  In fact, I still get the same excitement now … about new technology, not the ZX spectrum. 

First Language …on the ZX Spectrum.

Read the manual, programmed, saved to tape, loaded from tape.10 PRINT “Hello World”20 GOTO 10
Who needs more?

 

First Qualification …Novell Netware 2.2 Engineer at 16.  

Yes, a lifetime ago.

Truth is … it was cheaper for my dad to put me on a course to look after his small network than to carry on paying the “muppet” who was looking after it.

Took the day off school – I think the official excuse of “Granny was sick” – and sat in a dingy room with 20 other hopefuls.
I was so paranoid I would be way under qualified, I read most of the 15 odd manuals beforehand …always being well prepared is a trait I’ve carried with me!

 

First Job …Aged 17.

Network engineer at 17 managing PC networks and televideo machines.

It was also my first proper interaction with users and their peculiarities.
Have been living with users ever since.It’s been a love:hate relationship ever since! 

Favourite memory of that job is a sale over the phone, of a 20mb hard disk that had previously been used to prop open the door of the office.

 
 
Next Webinar: How To Create and Manage a Tech Budget

Tuesday 29th October 2019, 11am (UK Time)

We will walk you through some of the key issues to consider when creating and managing a tech budget.
From the need to collaborate to watching out for variables and what % gets allocated at different stages of a business life cycle.

Quote of the week 

Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory” – Dr. Seuss

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