General Discussion

da svenster

(70 posts)

62. funny switch...

Tue Oct 22, 2024, 04:19 PM

Oct 22

i was in the medical research field - molecular biology, R&D for bone marrow transplant programs - in the 90s.

when the later 90s swung around, and Y2K furor was ramping up, companies were looking for warm bodies to work on the problem.

i switched from mad scientry to IT in 97. and haven't looked back. well, yeah i do. still loved what i did but unlike a lot of the Y2K cannon fodder i stuck in the field and it's been pretty good to me.

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I don't know how many of you all remember late 1999. [View all] Srkdqltr Oct 22 OP

To be fair LearnedHand Oct 22 #1

They spent over a decade... Whatthe_Firetruck Oct 22 #66

Exactly LearnedHand Oct 22 #72

"Office Space" with Ron Livingston and Jennifer Aniston Simeon Salus Oct 22 #75

I remember DeepWinter Oct 22 #2

This wysimdnwyg Oct 22 #29

Happy 21st DUnniversary. niyad Oct 22 #51

Thanks! wysimdnwyg Oct 22 #76

Unless you were working for IT for a company slightlv Oct 22 #54

we worked hard in the decade before that... da svenster Oct 22 #64

Oh do I remember..... Karma13612 Oct 22 #3

Not the best comparison Cirsium Oct 22 #4

Well just the extreme hand wringing over Kamala loosing. I think she has a very good chance of winning. Srkdqltr Oct 22 #5

We're talking about voting vs technology LeftInTX Oct 22 #8

You are doubling down now Cirsium Oct 22 #15

Many of the potential Y2K issues were dealt with well ahead of time. TwilightZone Oct 22 #12

Good point Cirsium Oct 22 #21

Hey,ever prep for an extreme hurricane? BattleRow Oct 22 #22

The other WAS a threat kcr Oct 22 #63

Yes Cirsium Oct 22 #84

Went to library conference planning program where the displacedvermoter Oct 22 #6

Why was Y2K more widely believed than... lame54 Oct 22 #11

because alas... da svenster Oct 22 #52

Got news for you. That threat was real. zonemaster Oct 22 #7

It is also a testament that major threats CAN be averted localroger Oct 22 #13

Sounds trivial but libraries all over the world were displacedvermoter Oct 22 #17

same was true of banks... da svenster Oct 22 #53

Agree -- it could most definitely have been disaster in the making. Luckily the worst that ended up happening Jmb 4 Harris-Walz Oct 22 #18

Thanks for the perspective! I was a teenager at the time and didn't Earthrise Oct 22 #19

I spent all New Years Eve at Walmart HQ to be sure all of sinkingfeeling Oct 22 #9

The catapult of disinformation is unyielding. Duncan Grant Oct 22 #10

Yep. Water, stock up on basics, and get cash. No one I knew believed Earthrise Oct 22 #14

It was a cold fart. nt miyazaki Oct 22 #16

Yep that was ridiculous, the stock market would crash, doc03 Oct 22 #20

Nothing happened because IT programmers spent the last sinkingfeeling Oct 22 #86

I remember President Clinton made it a priority. I worked in a steel mill at the time, they hired extra people doc03 Oct 22 #88

My best memory of 1999 ToxMarz Oct 22 #23

We spent 15 years hearing about the concept of partying like it was 1999 Xavier Breath Oct 22 #78

Yes I do remember ampm Oct 22 #24

There is little glory in preventing a disaster Orangepeel Oct 22 #25

I like that. Collimator Oct 22 #36

We are, as we did then, kozar Oct 22 #26

I loved 1999-2000 duncang Oct 22 #27

it was all a part of the tech et tu Oct 22 #28

The Danger WAS REAL! Jamison59 Oct 22 #30

Thank you! The OP fails to understand WHY nothing of consequence happened! markpkessinger Oct 22 #58

Y2K wasn't a catastrophe because people worked through the issues and fixed them. paulkienitz Oct 22 #31

The hospital lab I worked at canceled all vacations hoosierspud Oct 22 #32

The US Space Forces still haven't caught up.... Mustellus Oct 22 #33

I remember working a lot of overtime so people wouldn't be affected by the problem 0rganism Oct 22 #34

There were a tremendous amount of people working to update software to prevent that problem IronLionZion Oct 22 #35

The success of our Y2K response further highlights the failure of our climate change response 0rganism Oct 22 #37

Sure, or the efforts to save the Ozone layer IronLionZion Oct 22 #50

Well said! LearnedHand Oct 22 #73

We are dealing people and voting, not LeftInTX Oct 22 #83

Ahem. It wasn't the programmers who didn't think. Bernardo de La Paz Oct 22 #38

the issue in the early days was how expensive storage was da svenster Oct 22 #57

Thank you. Your post, and the immediately following response answered niyad Oct 22 #80

I still have cans of freeze-dried food. I also remember this Seattle WTO late 1999. spike jones Oct 22 #39

Please don't forget all the programmers that made that happen. Susan Calvin Oct 22 #40

We actually did lose power for most of the day on Jan 1. Mariana Oct 22 #41

Y2K ? PhilG Oct 22 #42

I distinctly remember a documentary called The Unsung Heroes of Y2K. Susan Calvin Oct 22 #45

it drives me NUTS when people act like nothing happened by fate Skittles Oct 22 #48

Welcome to our DU family. niyad Oct 22 #82

I thought Figarosmom Oct 22 #43

All too well, quite frankly. PoindexterOglethorpe Oct 22 #44

the reason DMV didn't have an issue da svenster Oct 22 #61

That the media are too stupid to have reported this intelligently LearnedHand Oct 22 #74

I was working as a bank teller on the last workday of 1999. Aristus Oct 22 #46

funny switch... da svenster Oct 22 #62

let me tell you something Skittles Oct 22 #47

Ah, yes, the great Y2K hoax. I had a mac at the time, and left it on from niyad Oct 22 #49

Was your mac running COBOL? Ptah Oct 22 #55

I don't remember, although that sounds vaguely familar. Actually, I don't niyad Oct 22 #56

You said, "some scum made millions." Ptah Oct 22 #59

You misunderstand me. I was referring to the charlatans, gurus, snake-oil niyad Oct 22 #79

iOS (or iPadOS) if you have an iPad, or android if it's just about anything else da svenster Oct 22 #65

I do not have an ipad, and I do have that little martian creature whenever niyad Oct 22 #81

it wasn't a HOAX per se Skittles Oct 22 #60

dates were handled differently... da svenster Oct 22 #67

Wow. Talk about taking learning the wrong lesson from history! n/t markpkessinger Oct 22 #68

as the great sage donald roeser once wrote... da svenster Oct 22 #69

The point i wanted to make was, and many made it here, there was a huge effort going to make sure things went as smoothl Srkdqltr Oct 22 #70

My dad did his 1997 through 1999 Navy reserve duties haele Oct 22 #71

Yes, Art Bell stuff. Sneederbunk Oct 22 #77

Hubby is IT for small companies Maeve Oct 22 #85

Well, this is bringing out all the programmers and sysadmins. usonian Oct 22 #87