# SDMB Technology Advisory Council (-or- IT Dopers Check In) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 10, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-technology-advisory-council-or-it-dopers-check-in/356236 "2006-05-10T16:29:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-technology-advisory-council-or-it-dopers-check-in/356236/1 "2006-05-10T16:29:49Z")
There’s at least a few of us posting here that work in IT. I’m a _Senior Systems Engineer_ with a background in Network and Systems Administration. The last couple days I’ve been thinking it would be nice to expand my available contacts to include the folks here on the boards. I don’t know if get off the ground, but I’d like to gauge interest. _¿Hablo techno?_ ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-technology-advisory-council-or-it-dopers-check-in/356236/2 "2006-05-10T16:56:04Z")
I’m a _Principle Technical Support Engineer_, plying my trade amongst various unix-y operating systems. I’ve got a background in general system admin and C programming. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-technology-advisory-council-or-it-dopers-check-in/356236/3 "2006-05-10T17:07:28Z")
I am an applications programmer working in COBOL and DB2. I work for a major banking services provider. We’ve got just about every kind of platform there is. My code runs on OS390 mainframes. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-technology-advisory-council-or-it-dopers-check-in/356236/4 "2006-05-10T17:22:06Z")
I’m a former database developer and programmer, and I now teach computer science at a private high school. ---
**Author:** ![Redwing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dfb087/32.png) [@Redwing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redwing)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-technology-advisory-council-or-it-dopers-check-in/356236/5 "2006-05-10T17:28:13Z")
I am a _Senior UNIX Administrator_. My background is unix, high-availability, and some storage. In the distant past I was a developer in FORTRAN (V and 77), and Smart Elements. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-technology-advisory-council-or-it-dopers-check-in/356236/6 "2006-05-10T17:34:02Z")
As the handle suggests, I’m an \*Information Security Analyst. \* My specialty is user access administration. I’m with one of the largest banks in the US, keeping your money safe. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-technology-advisory-council-or-it-dopers-check-in/356236/7 "2006-05-10T17:47:07Z")
I’m a software engineer developing applications for a company you’ve all heard of. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-technology-advisory-council-or-it-dopers-check-in/356236/8 "2006-05-10T18:28:25Z")
Programmer here. I work in the Windows/MS world. Background is C/C++ and now C# and .NET and all those goodies. Pretty good with SQL Server and SQL in general as well. Have worked everywhere from 3-man startups to companies with thousands of employees. Currently working in a startup writing code for an electronic medical records product. Very nifty stuff. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-technology-advisory-council-or-it-dopers-check-in/356236/9 "2006-05-10T20:47:18Z")
Senior IT Program Manager …which to be honest means I really don’t know how to actually **DO** anything… […slinks slowly out of thread with head hung low…] ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-technology-advisory-council-or-it-dopers-check-in/356236/10 "2006-05-10T20:50:42Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > As the handle suggests, I’m an \*Information Security Analyst. \* My specialty is user access administration. > > I’m with one of the largest banks in the US, keeping your money safe. Does this scare the hell outta anybody else? I mean, a guy using the handle “gotpasswords” is handing user access? ---
**Author:** ![dasgupta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@dasgupta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasgupta)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-technology-advisory-council-or-it-dopers-check-in/356236/11 "2006-05-10T20:58:30Z")
SysAdmin here. Deep in the Windows world, but I can get around my linux boxes OK. I dabble in cisco IOS, Citrix, Mac and other less important things. I also do minor programming and web/ASP/PHP projects. ---
**Author:** ![Greenback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/2bfe46/32.png) [@Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-technology-advisory-council-or-it-dopers-check-in/356236/12 "2006-05-10T21:02:57Z")
Software developer checking in. I’m relatively new to the industry (5 years) and have worked with cobol, c++, VB6 and the Dot Net framework (presently [VB.Net](http://VB.Net) and c#). The company I’m in has commissioned us IT guys with rewriting everything and money is no object. Well, at least it’s not instantiated. It’s a good time where I’m at right now. Ultimate goal is to make CIO in the future. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-technology-advisory-council-or-it-dopers-check-in/356236/13 "2006-05-10T23:05:54Z")
They say I’m a Software Engineer. I’d call myself a programmer. I maintain a number of applications where I work - administrating upgrades of commercial ones, coding upgraes of in-house ones. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-technology-advisory-council-or-it-dopers-check-in/356236/14 "2006-05-10T23:39:48Z")
> [@UncleBeer](#): > > Does this scare the hell outta anybody else? I mean, a guy using the handle “gotpasswords” is handing user access? It sounds better than gotlogincredentials, gottwofactorauthentication or gotsecuresocketslayer. OK? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Landshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/77aa72/32.png) [@Landshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Landshark)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-technology-advisory-council-or-it-dopers-check-in/356236/15 "2006-05-11T01:10:43Z")
I’m what my firm calls a Production Control Planner. This entails _many_ things, which I could drone on about at great length, but I’ll spare everyone that. At it’s most basic, the job deals with preparing for and scheduling of many kinds of batch processes that are run on our servers. This involves knowing what processes can be run at what times, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-technology-advisory-council-or-it-dopers-check-in/356236/16 "2006-05-11T01:53:39Z")
I write manuals. I get to describe all the stuff you folks do. Although these days I’m describing mostly how to take apart hardware. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-technology-advisory-council-or-it-dopers-check-in/356236/17 "2006-05-11T03:34:48Z")
Tech writer. Mostly software, mostly telco software, currently on a contract documenting business processes for a financial firm. Would _much_ rather be a regular employee somewhere (but not there—I have to wear _business clothes_ there). Also a hardware geek-lite, but I build my own PCs and provide HW and SW tech support for family, friends, and coworkers. ---
**Author:** ![Otanx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Otanx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otanx)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-technology-advisory-council-or-it-dopers-check-in/356236/18 "2006-05-11T04:33:36Z")
Network Software Switching Operator Maintainer in the US Army(MOS 25F). I run communications links(Data, and voice) for the end users. Right now the links I handle are normally 512K UHF shots, but have also supported T1 links. Prior I was a network tech, and handled everything from installing MS Word to configuring Cisco equipment. Certified as a CNE 3, 4, and 5. A+, and just lost my CCNA certification. I failed the recert test by 24 points (700 point scale). Going to retake soon, and get it back. Intrests lie in Networking, and more specifically network security. I think I was the only person that was upset I didn’t get to go to the Information Assurance conference two weeks ago. -Otanx ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-technology-advisory-council-or-it-dopers-check-in/356236/19 "2006-05-11T10:18:08Z")
I’m a humble, VB and VBA database programmer by preference. In practice, I spend a lot of my time mucking out maillists for a bulk mailer and occaisionally trying to determine what country “Kikuyu” is in, anyway (Kenya, not Japan). One of these days, I’ll probably wind up starting a thread in MPSIMS saying what _not_ to do to an address (spaces are good!) and asking my fellow IT types to please allow more than 20 characters for an address line. I do get the odd, interesting special project, though. I’m no snob. While C does have its merits, I’m building stuff to make people’s jobs easier, and these people may not even have computers at home. Last week, one of our customer service reps asked for help because nothing was showing up on her screen. When I walked over to her computer, the solution was simple. I turned her computer on. It was the same solution we used for a fellow whose “hard drive” wasn’t working. If I can build something people like this can use, I’ve done my job well. ---
**Author:** ![cabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@cabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cabdude)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-technology-advisory-council-or-it-dopers-check-in/356236/20 "2006-05-11T10:46:47Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > I am an applications programmer working in COBOL and DB2. I work for a major banking services provider. We’ve got just about every kind of platform there is. My code runs on OS390 mainframes. Hey there - Operations here. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-technology-advisory-council-or-it-dopers-check-in/356236.md?page=2)