Accidentally

It was an accident. I swear! I got into Java because my manager had heard a new buzzword: "Java", and she wanted someone to look into it. I just happened to be that someone she chose, so off researching I went. I was just a year out of college. The latest Java version was 1.0.2. Server-side Java applications did not exist. All GUI actions went through the Component.action() method. Applets were ALL the rage. So Applets it had to be. I wrote an Applet corollary to one or our Xwindows apps. The only piece of functionality I added was the ability to change the font type and size for the display. As luck would have it, that was the feature that our customers LOVED! From there I became the Java Guy and several other apps were targeted for Java redesigns. That led to job offers doing even more Java work for much higher pay. Yes, this was me:

Today, I can now claim I have been doing Java full time for over 18 years. I will admit, I'm still learning the new additions introduced in JSE 1.8. I will get there. If for no other reason, then because I will have to fix a bug in code someone wrote using the newest Java features. Or in other words, by accident.

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This blog entry also appears at Quantum Strides.