“When I was a kid Ma Bell... “
I love the look I get when I tell kids I once worked for the only telephone company in America!
I went into factory maintenance when the old equipment was controlled by either delicate mechanical ‘brains’ or huge discrete electronic ones.
Then came the microprocessor and the computer.
When I retired the first question in troubleshooting was “what is the computer thinking?”.
I'm a Bell Brat LOL. My dad worked much of his 45 years in what was called 4-A which was the forerunner to Electronic Switching or ESS. It was the mechanical switching center for long distance in the Knoxville, TN area. I spent lots of evenings there.
His equipment took up two stories of the building which each floors spaces was about the size of the older Walmart stores. It was replaced with two computers that would take up the average living room. My education in electrical trouble shooting began there LOL. The trouble recorder would go off and I'd read the IBM card and know where to go look :>} On nights when it was quiet he'd take me up to the 5th floor where the TV Network switching was done.