January 2000,

Dear Mr. Spadafore,

I just wanted to say that I loved your article about Engineering
Your Dream Career. So many of my friends are coming up on 40, or have
even passed 40, and still don't know what they want to do, or how
to find out. I on the other hand, have managed to do just what your
article suggests, several years ago. I have the career of my dreams.

After spending 17 years as a mainframe computer operator, I saw where
mainframes were going (out!), and decided that I needed to change.
After a little looking around and a lot of thinking, I decided that
I wanted to try Unix Systems Administration. One company gave me my
first break, and the rest is history. I've been a Unix Systems
Administrator for 4 1/2 years, and I LOVE IT! I'm not great at it, yet,
but it's everything I ever wanted to do since I was 8 years old and
knew I had to work in computers somehow (and when I was 8, punch cards
were the norm!).

When people ask me what I do, I tell them 'I play with computers all
day, and they pay me for it'. Ain't life grand?

Jane
Unix Systems Administrator
Association for Women in Computing