I'm almost 69 years old. A boomer. I've been a software engineer since 1980. I built device drivers for CP/M, HDOS 2.0 and OS9 prior to 1983 and moved on to UNIX device drivers including TCP/IP and X.25 L2/L3 communications stacks for UNISYS 1100/92, UNISYS 7000, HP-UX (7.0->9.0) and Linux. The foundations of what you enjoy today has been my career. In 1985, my ham radio buddies left MA/COM LinkaBit and tried to entice me away from my job at Pacific Bell. It was a bad time as I had cancer. The company they started is Qualcomm. I did contract work for them at Wingcast to integrate their chipsets into a new telematics device manufactured in Korea (potential OnStar competitor). The H1B hires failed to deliver the enterprise grade of what I did in the lab at smaller scale.
I have carried an Android phone (Motorola or Samsung) as long as they have been manufactured. I like being able to develop code for my phone...not just limited to being an appliance user. The point is that "boomers" aren't the Luddites you imagine. Many of them built the technology you enjoy today. I'm still building specialized systems for DTRA today including machine learning and AI elements. My only misgiving at this point is that my boss has a long list of work he wants from me and is running out of budget to pay for it in May. If I can't land another gig shortly, I'll simple retire. It will be strange to no longer put in 50 to 70 hour weeks, but you can't do that forever.
“I have carried an Android phone (Motorola or Samsung) as long as they have been manufactured. I like being able to develop code for my phone...not just limited to being an appliance user. The point is that “boomers” aren’t the Luddites you imagine.”
Would you every use banking apps on your Samsung phone? I only do this at home on my windows 11 computer.
I bought a web TV in fall of 1996. I bought a windows 95 computer a year later for internet. The funny thing is, Free Republic worked well with a 56k modem. As well as today and it looks the same. 56k would work today except for all the photos people post today.
Mad props to you, Myrddin.