Career Change Horror Story - Or VAX/VMS: The Final Revenge

Changing careers can be a wonderful thing - or it can be a nightmare with long-lasting repercussions. My foolishness in making this particular decision still rankles me, years later. The moral of the story is think, plan and research - I can safely say I ignored all three....

It was one of those instances where I had that 'gut feeling', but the opportunity was just too good to pass up, turning back the clock to a job I had enjoyed. With 20/20 hindsight, I see my mistake in taking the job, and once I took the job, I see the mistakes that kept me from making it a win-win situation.

I had been a technical writer for a number of years, working freelance for a small consulting company, as well writing for a few direct contracts I had gotten by word of mouth. I spent 95% of my time working from home, had to do a bit of traveling which was all expenses paid, and I was earning a decent living.

Unfortunately, one of the contracts was getting to be too much, not the workload or the pay, but the insanity of the working conditions. It was a government contract, and rather than being short-term, it promised to drag on for years. There were two or three really major problem, some typical for the business but taken to the extreme, some unique to working for a government agency, some due to the scope of the project, which was HUGE. And it seemed like I was being given more and more of these 'problem' contracts, because of my experience and my ability to work under pressure.

In a lull from the government contract, I was sent to a small company to discuss a quote for updating their user manual. It was a small programming house, the owner and his partner, four programmers and a saleswoman - they all took turns being the receptionist.

As we were discussing the documentation, I glanced over and saw something that made my heart skip - it was a Great Orange Wall, a complete set of manuals for a VAX/VMS system, the main-stay "main frame" of the now dearly-departed Digital Equipment Corporation. I fondly remembered the years I spent as a COBOL programmer on the VAX as the most enjoyable and rewarding in my career - it was a great system for programmers!

Here is where I made my first mistake - I admitted to being familiar with the VAX and with COBOL, and that I always thought about programming again. The owner immediately adjourned the meeting, and gave me an impromptu interview. I said I didn't think

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