Re: What do you do in real life?

[Warren Ernst <wernst@gmail.com>]

I'm in the business I'm in today directly from the Apple //e that my
parents got me in 1985 as a Christmas gift while in High School.

I was always into video games and fixing machines, so I assembled it
myself and was playing games and writing reports (first with
AppleWriter, then AppleWorks) immediately. I read magazines like A+
and InCider voraciously (note: foreshadowing). I even bought some
Beagle Bros software, and my father and Beagle founder Bert Kersey
wrote back and forth (via snail-mail) to see how to hook up the then-
new HP LaserJet to his Apple // at work. I was very good at
troubleshooting computer software and hardware, and taught most of my
teachers at school how to get the most out of their Apple //'s.

I went to college at UC San Diego (note: more foreshadowing) with a
used Apple //e in 1988, and while checking out the part-time jobs
available at the student job board, I answered an ad for "Apple II
Tech Support - part time" with "a major Apple II software company." It
never dawned on me that it was (note: TA-DA!!!) Beagle Bros until I
called the phone number on the card and set up my first interview.
Three interviews later, I was being trained by Brad Wilhelmsen (author
of I.O Silver) to answer tech support calls 8 hours a day, two days a
week, covering all of the TimeOut programs, and all of the Beagle
Oldies too.

One local San Diego customer called the lines one day, asking if there
was anyone at Beagle who could come to their house to teach their
family the best ways to use their new GS. My supervisor took their
number and passed it to me, telling me to do it on my own time and
charge them what I felt was fair - he suggested $20 an hour. A week
later, I was visiting my first computer consulting client, who
happened to be a professor at UCSD. Amazingly, I still have this
client, 20 years later, and I see them once a month (though obviously
at a different hourly rate. ;-))

So, what do I do today? I'm in business for myself as a professional
computer consultant, handling Macs, PCs, and networking problems,
software problems of all kinds, and training.

I am also a professional software viewer and computer columnist for
CPU Magazine, and up until a few years ago, PC Magazine too. I guess
all those subscriptions to A+ and InCider made quite an impression on
me.

-Warren Ernst