How the 1980s Shaped My Tech Journey and Career

---

The Nerdy Stuff

What’s the big deal with all this “Nerd” stuff anyways? My interest in computer programming dates back to the early 1980s. I remember using MS-DOS to write my first program in BASIC

I mention this because I find it fascinating how far we’ve come—from:

5 PRINT "HELLO WORLD"
10 END

to this:

// My First C++ Program
include
int main() {
std::cout << “Hello World!”;
return 0;
}

And now to this:

print("Hello, World!")

Look Ma! I’m going to College!

When I got to college I knew right away I wanted to do something in computer. I was working at the student computer lab when I first heard about this HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) I just had to learn more about it. So they are saying I can use this language to create things and put them on the World Wide Web where everybody can see it? Sign me up!

My Passion for Web Programming

That passion for learning about computers and programming languages and creating webpages all those years ago has helped me get to where I am today in my professional career. Without that early introduction to BASIC in the early 1980s, I never would have discovered other programming languages like Visual Basic, SQL, PHP, Ruby, C#, and JavaScript.

Looking back, it’s incredible to think that something as simple as printing “Hello World” on a black screen could spark a lifelong journey. What started as curiosity in the 1980s grew into a career shaped by constant change, new languages, and evolving technologies.

If you measure it by raw technology, the answer is obviously no. But if you measure it by curiosity, creativity, and the excitement of discovery, it’s a harder question to dismiss.

Back then, technology didn’t do the work for you—you had to meet it halfway. You had to think, experiment, and sometimes fail before things worked. And that process made the outcome more meaningful.

And Now The Big Question:

Which brings me back us back around to my original question: Did society peak in the 1980s? (See that blog post here:)

Maybe not in terms of technology—we’ve clearly come a long way. But there’s a case to be made that something important was different back then. In the early days of computing, there was a certain magic in the simplicity. You had to learn, experiment, and build from the ground up. Every small success felt earned. Every “Hello World” meant something.

Today, technology is more powerful, more accessible, and more automated than ever. But that early sense of discovery—the curiosity that drove us to figure things out line by line—is a little harder to come by. Maybe the 1980s weren’t the peak. Maybe they were the spark—the moment we first realized how much was possible. And in many ways, we’re still building on that foundation today.

---

Discussion Question:

What is something you learned when you were younger that has stuck with you today and has helped with creating a career path?