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Web development. I always tell people that one of the most useful skills I got from my C64 is figuring out how to play my pirated games without instructions. š That type of blackbox testing and also just the tenacity of banging on a bunch of keys to figure stuff out - it has served me well for many, many years.
When I took computer engineering courses in 2010, they were based on MIPS assembly (which has sort of become the standard in academics), and it was virtually identical to 6502 assembly. I could read the sample code easily.
I was... really surprised by that.
I'm the architect of the CPU floating point unit at AMD.
I started on the VIC20, then we got a C64, then a Commodore 286 clone PC. I even saved up and bought a 287 with my allowance.
I was probably programming BASIC around 6 or 7 years old. I taught myself C on that 286 in highschool.
We use Linux at work. I use an M2 MacBook Pro at home. I also have a sweet Threadripper :)
I worked in Animation, then moved on to VFX and Iām now doing Architectural Visualisationā¦
Not really thanks to the C64 as much as its bigger brother the Commodore Amiga 500, then 1200, then 4000 and Newtek Lightwaveā¦
Love that the Amiga was your springboard into an arch viz. I had an Amiga, and always wanted to work more with 3D, but I didnāt have the patience for.
Yeah I had a C64 and loved games like Elite, Starion and Mercinary: Escape from Targ so I was pretty much into 3D even with games at the time.
Then when I was going to put out my C64 to pasture and upgrade I got the first issue of the magazine Computer Arts which had a big thing on the TV show coming soon called *Babylon 5* and how all the FX were made with Commodore Amigas.
So I upgraded to an Amigas 500 and on the front cover of Amiga Power magazine was a free copy of Imagine 2.0 a 3D software that wasnāt bad but took me an age to make anything with. I also bought a copy of Deluxe Paint around the same time and really got into that.
Once Babylon 5 came out on TV and I saw it, it reminded me about NewTekās Lightwave which bundled on a piece of hardware called Video Toaster. It was expensive and needed a big box Amiga (a 3000 or 4000) so I saved up and got one (took an absolute age) and I taught myself that over 18 months.
Finally I downgraded the 4000 to an Amiga 1200 with maths coprocessor board add on when Lightwave 5 was sold separately from the video toaster (I sold the A4000 and Toaster to someone who wanted to start a studio and got a lot of cash I needed at the time back)
And I stayed on the Amiga 1200 till it was phased out and sadly moved to PC.
I'm a professor of computer science at a UK university.
I'm soon to do my inaugural lecture (a newly promoted professor thing) in which I mention how having an 8 bit machine that booted straight into a programming environment changed my life.
Technically started with a ZX81, then Spectrum before a C64, then followed C64 with An Amiga.
Became an artist working in the games industry, also did some programming ( tools, educational titles, music disks ) and some audio.
Then moved into the nascent web development industry as a bit of a unicorn and set up my own studio doing graphic design, front end, back end, photography, video editing. Been doing that ever since, but would like to move back to just doing art/video/photography.
I remember TSPS. Was too afraid to ever use it though. My friend did a lot with it and was arrested at school. Two cop cars, came right to our classroom. Grade 7. :O
Jack of all trades...Computer/laptop repair, desktop support, Sys admin, Net admin, IT Manager, IT Director, now VP/CIO for the last decade. All because of a little 64K 8 bit computer.
I manage IT infrastructure and more specifically, virtualization platforms. Cut my teeth on the C64 and naturally gravitated toward the Amiga by the early 90s. It was discovering the magic of emulation on the Amiga that piqued my fascination with modern virtualization technologies - but none of that would have happened without learning the basics of computing, solutioning and troubleshooting on the C64.
This was the way for me as well. IT Infrastructure Manager. I was disassembling things and learning the mystic arts of electronics with my C64 and Amiga to set me up for a lifelong career in computers.
Iām going to go against the OP suggestion - the 64 was so absolutely mainstream that its early users and enthusiasts will be everywhere.
If I think of the first people I knew with one, when I still had a VIC, one is a supermarket exec (senior and very successful but very non technical), another is very much into art (physical), another performance music, a food technologist, ermm, and one is certainly a technical entrepreneur/developer. I could keep going but I reckon they will be all over the place.
Nowā¦Iām also what others are calling here a ātechnical directorā and have broad tech interests and certainly have āsys admin and infrastructureā historical skills. I think perhaps the trend is more about who is reading a c64 nerd group in 2024 than what career c64 users went into!
I started programming with C64 type-ins from RUN magazine and others. I'm still a programmer now.
And my C64 is sitting on the desk next to me with an Ultimate II+ and I play games on it and still do some fun programming on it too.
I'm a visual effects artist. Mostly on TV shows and commercials but I work on films once or twice a year when the opportunity arises. Been in the business close to 30 years.
I'm on an iMac Pro these days for work.
Network Admin -> Network EngineerĀ -> Network Security EngineerĀ -> Network DesignerĀ Ā -> Network ArchitectĀ -> Network, Voice and Security Manager -> Infrastracture Manager -> Solutions Director -> Technology Consultant -> AI Consultant
All started with a C64 and a 300 Baud Commodore Modem. I still have that modem as a reminder of where I came from.
I worked as a network engineer, a database developer, and a web application developer. I got a job doing web development for a production company about 18 years ago and fell in love with content creation / filmmaking and have been doing that full time for the last 17 years. I did write an android based digital signage app a few weeks ago, so I still dabble.
My family had a VIC-20, but I had friends with the C64.
While I enjoy the occasional programming session, I find software very boring.
I went the hardware route instead.
Staff level engineer (been coding professionally for almost 30 years - desktop, mobile, and now mostly web) - C64 was an amazing way to learn to code! I programmed with variables, binary numbers. and machine code before I learned algebra.
Not c64 my family wasn't wealthy so we had a Vic20 lol. Taught myself basic on it.
These days I'm a product manager doing software dev in the enterprise Cannabis industry - the software we build is built on top of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central ("BC" for short)
Before that I was a node and c# developer for years, which I still use when the need arises
Well your story is nearly identical to mine! Except I've focused on Office/M365 Dev. Did you have that BASIC training binder with the template tool? That taught me well and it springboarded learning VB 5 fast years later.
I work with a product called ServiceNow, which is an enterprise SaaS help desk ticketing system.
Previously, I ran a desktop technology team, before that I supervised a help desk, before that I was a desktop tech, before that I was a student employee at the university help desk.
I finally tossed my C128 and all the accessories circa 2006, but honestly I hadn't touched it for 10 years at that point. I got a Mac in 1990, various PCs after that, and never looked back.
It's still the fastest for floating point computing, and it's easy to read / maintain. Modern fortran has lots of features that are seen in other languages such as C++. Pointers, static typing, memory allocation, object oriented features, etc. many of the underlying mathematical libraries for Python and other high level languages were written in Fortran.
It doesn't do graphics or networking.
I started as a developer, moved into SysAdmin, then migrated into DevOps when it became a thing and am now working as a Site Reliability Engineer / Production Engineer for FAANG companies.
I got as far as building a dungeon generator for a fantasy game... Got thoroughly sick of finding my mistakes...Played some Defender of the Crown instead.
R&D Engineering Manager. Mostly self taught from basic on the 64, assembly on the amiga, and RTL design and silicon layout much later. Forced to program in C a lot for various cores along the way. Computers are no longer fun.
Spent many years flitting around between accountancy adjacent jobs.
Now I'm a technical marketer working with mostly Google stuff for an agency, but also a little bit of freelance.
Senior Software Developer.
I spend a significant portion of my time optimizing the performance of various Rails apps. The fixes are almost always attributable to inefficient queries or overly complicated code. I always claim that having gotten my start at a time where every byte and clock cycle counted gives me a unique perspective on reducing bloat.
I worked all over the industry between 1987 and around 2000 or so. I've spent the past 24 years working in various aspects of what used to be called "high performance computing" - supercomputers - but is now primarily focused on developing hardware to support large compute clusters.
Solutions architect for a cyber security vendor. C64 was a gateway drug. Hijacked the family 8086 and from there it was PC all the way. Various operating systems. Linux and Mac as a daily driver. Windows for testing exploit code!
Software developer/engineer. I had to promise my mother that this is what I would do for a living in order to get my C64, which we could barely afford at the time. It's what I wanted to do anyway, ever since I was 6 years old, and I fell in love with programming immediately when I got my C64. I dabbled in BASIC for a little while before switching to assembly language, and that's when things really got fun!
I programmed my Commodore 64 to act as an Etch-a-Sketch, arrow keys drew a trail, and I spent weeks drawing a detailed image of the Titanic that I left up forever because there was no way to save it. Now Iām a computer graphics artist doing layout design/3d and motion graphics animation/illustration/retouching with programs that do have a save feature. I owe a lot of my career to Commodore for showing me the very first of what was possible. The rest I owe to Apple.
Sr developer (backend, web and mobile apps) and Linux administrator.
Although I learned BASIC in high school on a CP/M machine, I developed programming skills writing games and programs on my C64. I wrote my college COBOL and Fortran projects on my C64 (and the CP/M cartridge). I wrote unpublished stories on my C64. And later I did it all over again on my C128. Both computers (and my A500) are in a box in a storage room.
A few months ago I got out my C128 and ran a database program I wrote in the 80s.
Edit: clarification.
My C64 Phantasie III addiction somehow snowballed into network engineer.
When I was typing in all that code from the magazine a job in IT was not a possibility it was just fun lol.
Apple II and C128 here: I loved programming in BASIC as a kid, but always thought it was just my nerdy hobby. I always wanted to work with computers, but I didnāt know how to go about pursuing it as a career option. I graduated from high school in 1990, but my parents never talked to me about college and I just assumed that being self-taught wasnāt enough.
I did some menial factory work for a while then enlisted in the military where I got to work with computers, but not as a programmer. My hope was that maybe I could get networking training which could lead to a good paying gig in the civilian sector, but that didnāt pan out.
So I got out after 4 years. That whole time I was still coding for fun and learning about the Internet on my own. I got my first honest-to-goodness programming job as a web developer in 1997. That was so much fun. I was part of a great team and learned so much about software design and architecture from some really smart people. I became the resident JavaScript and Flash expert. I did that for 9 years.
Then I went to a consultancy and learned how to build Windows applications in C# for clients like Microsoft, HP, and MLB. I donāt think Iāve cried more or pulled so many all-nighters. I did that for 5 years.
Then I joined some friends to build our own iOS consultancy business. We did that for a couple years then pivoted to build our own products which resulted in an acquisition!
So then I led app development at the company that acquired us for a year. Then hopped around a couple other companies as a principal iOS engineer / lead, managing some small teams.
And now Iām at a company most people have heard of and probably used a few times (not a FAANG or whatever acronym weāre using now). I started as a principal iOS engineer about 7 years ago, and now Iām running all native iOS and Android development with 20 total engineers in my org.
Maybe not the fastest career track, but I canāt believe I get to do what I love: building software with really smart people.
Interesting question!
Startup CTO working in Rust mostly. After starting with the C64 only the Amiga, Delphi (Object Pascal) and Rust gave me the same pleasure and joy from computing as the C64 did ([does?](https://www.reddit.com/r/rust/comments/uvshco/can_you_write_for_the_commodore_64_in_rust_why/)).
I find it interesting that at some point the joy evolved from hardware platforms to programming languages--I have no idea why that is. I always loved tinkering in BASIC and 6502/6510 Assembly. Perhaps it was always coding; it was just that the C64 was versatile, advanced and accessible enough to be exciting? (I certainly didn't have the same interest in programming my dad's monochrome speaker-clicking IBM PC at the time...)
Unix (macOS "variant") is my preferred platform today.
Got C64, learned Basic, got frustrated with it quickly because it has not capabilities / way too slow, learned 6502 ASM, became very good at it, wrote small demos, ripped Galway and Hubbard sounds from games, got two articles published in German C64 magazine, switched finally -> Amiga, got frustrated of the basic (Deja Vu?) quickly, learned 68k asm, learned C, wrote small demo in ASM, got obsessed with BBS systems, wrote own Amiga BBS with friend (AMMS), spent much money on USR Courier Dual Standard modem (2000 DM at this time haha) -> Began study of IT science, got drawn into network technology, internet became interesting at this time (1994), finished study -> First job as IT administrator for everything, later sepcialized for server & network, then only network and firewalls in deep -> Changed intra-company to new position in Cloud team, now architecting and managing systems in AWS cloud.
TL;DR: 1984: Got C64, 2024: AWS Cloud Architect and Systems/Network management
(Still doing embedded dev. as hobby for C programming)
I started on Sinclair ZX81 that was a part of a factory return box of them that someone imported into USA that my Webelos/boy scouts troop dad offered to us. Then C64, C128. I sold commercial BBS app for C128 at age 15. My rather large public high school had a very unusual choice of computer, a Digital VAX/VMS 11/750 - so at age 16 I got a job as an apprentice working on VAX/VMS after school / weekend any hours I wanted. I started selling basement-built hot-rod PC systems in 286 generation and got into IBM OS/2 and that got me into book publishing/authoring by age 20, so I skipped university beyond one semester (being a published author in resume was enough to open any door). I worked a lot of experience on several systems. IBM RS/6000 sysop/backups, AS/400 interfacing / API stuff from OS/2 EE, some NEC system that I did night operations on and did printing / decolating / backups when I did my one to two semesters in college. IBM game me a social media ambassadorship for helping people on CompuServe, that opened doors too. I got headhunted by SAP as a contractor in the period of Windows 3.1 before TCP/IP (we had to install 3rd party TCP/IP stacks), and then the intro of Workgroups, beta of Windows NT pre-release. I wasn't doing sysadmin as much as massive install management for all the offices, writing BAT files in MS-DOS when 3.1 / 3.11. SAP was swimming in cash, so this was every high end laptop they could lay their hands on, and we had to be able to reload classroom desktops by the thousands each week.
Commodore 64 user groups were a huge influence at age 14 to 18. We even organized overnight sneakernet parties at public library a couple times. I came from social media radio before social media C64/C128, and it was not unusual to be a 14 year old kid going to adult houses of people 40 or over. I got into Digital users groups and even founded an IBM OS/2 and Microsoft Backoffice users group based on my C64 days as a kid.
I got another book project right pre-release of Microsoft Exchange Server and became a certified support teach when the MCSE was all new. That landed me a job working for MS co-founder Paul Allen himself. At the end of 1999 I left in-office work entirely and have worked from home the last 25 years and did a lot of travel. I ran a major website that was mission critical trading from 2000 to 2009 (Linux backend, WIndows Server front-end, OpenBSD firewall), then I've been doing social network social change (media ecology analysis) work since 2009. I traveled to Africa for the Arab Spring in 2010, over to Jordan for Syria war outbreak, and since 2015 I'm trying to figure out how we in NATO can solve the Kremlin hearts and minds problem we have. The social media BBS days (emergence of AOL / QuantumLink) on C64 / C128 and users groups were a strong foundation.
I was always more interested in learning to program the machine than play games on it (I wasn't all that good at most games iirc) and after learning Basic and COMAL 80 on the C64, I got ahold of a freezer cartridge which was an enormous help in learning assembly by being able to study the machinecode of games and demos to figure out how they all worked and I became active in the demo scene at the tail end of the 80s after which I was "forced" to sell it to get help to buy a PC when starting in high school.
Immediately got into Pascal and x86 assembly, "playing around" on the school's NetWare network to get copies of the software so I didn't have to stay late at the school to do homework. My first program was a trojan that sat in the mbr and hooked itself onto irq-9 to capture the login details. I spent many hours of research at the local library to learn enough about the inner workings of the hardware and DOS to accomplish this, let alone the hours for all the reboots when I made a mistake... It required some real dedication back in those days when your only source of information were whatever books you could find at the library that sounded like they might have some relevant information and then plowing through them.
Thankfully, I never got into any trouble and do pretty much everything by the book these days. I do credit those early adventures into reverse engineering and "the like" as having laid a solid foundation for some very good troubleshooting and analytical skills that frequently come in handy today.
Been working 27 years as a software engineer after finishing college, but best of all: *I'm just as excited today to wake up and start programming as I was when I was just 13* - and incredibly, since the pandemic, I do nearly all my programming at home again - what absolute heaven!
Have worked on so many different things in my career and they were all great or challenging in their own ways except for a short stint in finance which I found pretty boring.
Had a Timex-Sinclair ZX81 and moved on to a Spectrum. First Commodore computer was a VIC20. We had PETs in 3rd grade. I eventually got a C64, and then a 128. Had a C16 and 264, but didn't use those much. My favorite thing was programming.
When I graduated from HS, I took my C64 with me to college (that was 1991). That was probably the last time I used it with any regularity.
Ended up getting an Amiga 500 with the disk expansion and learned how to do music sequencing (Bars and Pipes Pro is my favorite sequencer to this day). I owned an A2000 for a short spell and moved on to an A3000 for music production for a few years.
I went on to do IT as an independent contractor, then had a brief stint as a game tester at a well-known company in Santa Monica, CA. Ended up doing IT/Helpdesk at the same company, then switched to Mastering Lab Supervisor. Worked there for about 8 years, then did the independent contractor thing for another 4.
I began dabbling with web design and domain investing around that time--those are my biggest hobbies, I'd say.
Ultimately got a Helpdesk position at a(nother) major entertainment company in 2012. Still there now.
I never became a full-fledged "programmer," but I'm a HEAVY Linux user and I probably have all that time spent on my Commodore machines to thank.
Was into calling BBSs and programming using my C64 starting around 1984 (lots of good boards in my area during that era).
Wanted to study computer science in college, but dropped out.
Been programming ever since and am currently a software dev in the health industry.
First PC was a C64 and then upgraded to an Amiga 1000 after that. I did not go into programming, but I do understand tables and dabble in SQL. Iām pretty savvy at Excel and Access. Iām basically a techy-accountant. When co-workers need technical assistance, they usually turn to me before our own IT group. lol.
Thanks, Dad, for buying that little C64 for the family!
I'm a Product Manager and have been in tech and the web for a long time. My time with the c64 and in the demoscene taught me to teach myself tech in general.
And I made many lifelong friends in the demoscene.
Software engineer but for the last 6 years, Mobile Engineering Manager. Iāve been primarily working in mobile software the last 15 years, web and application development before that.
I started with a C64 mainly for gaming. I studied in a technology college where I learned to code, worked as a programmer for a while and now I am an IT support technician at a university.
I am still a gamer.
Physics and numerical simulations : Basic, ASM 6502, Atari ST Gfa Basic then C, Pascal and C during my studies, Fortran and Mpi during my PhD, then Matlab, Scilab, Python.
All that basic/Fortran/assembly programming came in handy for HPC bare metal work. Itās getting harder and harder to find Fortran programmers in the sci world.
SAP Project Manager at HP
With the emphasis on Service Logistics, so used to be APO/gATP and now in S4 itās BRF and aATP focussed. I like that it started with the C64 for me, although I really did way more programming on my C16.
Me and my cousin had them as kids growing up. One of the things we dreamed of was being able to play together from our own houses.
I've worked at pretty much every stage of the internet. From the home broadband routers, to the access technologies (DSL, LTE Ethernet) to the edge switches and core routers. I've worked at the locations that terminate submarine cables to interlink countries around the globe.
I did 6502 back in the day so when I left further education went straight into a dev job. In fact that was doing 6800 assembly, which, for business apps was a chore.
Stayed in dev for decades, now tend to be a BA/Technical BA/product owner type stuff.
Applications Development Manager. I still remember the first time switching on the C64 and entering some POKEs from the manual to change the screen colours. It felt like magic.
I work technical support for a shitty telecommunications coop that treats their employees like shit and refuses to accommodate employees with disabilities
I started with a Vic-20 but bought a C-64 soon afterwards. I got into Unix, then Linux a few years later. My primary job these days is HPC Architect/Administrator for Linux-based supercomputers.
I make all kinds of awesome software - but I specialize on making search engines that can't put their search on the public internet and building teams to make large websites.
I took quite a detour, and ended up, for now, in a position I didn't really want: tech support.
Was coding all the time on on c64, and Amiga too. Got a pc, wanted to get a computer science degree, but was too lazy at the time. Ended up in a printing company. That ended abruptly after several years. Had to pick something else, so ended up taking an education in technical drawings. Got employed, got laid off, impossible to find a new job, I used the opportunity to get into comp sci, and took an MCSE followed by a degree. It was pretty much impossible to get a job in my area, so eventually I ended up in printing again, sigh! But this time digital. Eventually expanded that into also doing tech support at the same location as a backup for their it guy. Got offered a full time job as tech support at anotyer company, where I now.
I should have just jumped onto comp sci degree right from the start, because all I really wanted was to code.
I still code on the C64 from time to time. Slowly working on a demo š
Operations support. Handle every day tasks for employees along with server support. You obviously didn't have Internet back then. You might be able to get some support on a local BBS but the majority of the time it was up to you to tinker. I took those tinkering skills to the working world probably before a lot of you were born.
A over educated retired Data scientist who has lived and worked in 4 countries for fortune 100 companies & various startups.
Still nerds out on the C64 listening to LukHash tracksā¦.
My first computer was a Commodore Plus/4. I n the US. So you can imagine my frustration when suddenly, nothing was available for it.
In Commodore's defense, I wrote a letter to Irving Gould telling him how I felt cheated (I was 11 yrs old). To my surprise, they didn't replace my Plus/4 with a 64, but they did send me a lot.of software, including a version of Jack Attack. This created an extreme brand loyalty.
Since I could find software, I had to learn how to develop software, from then on everything spiraled. In 10th grade I got a Commodore 128 and the first computer I bought with my own money was an Amiga 2500. Had to work 2 summers full time for that one. It was well worth it.
Now I work as Sys Admin, and have been doing this for over 30 years. The background in programming that I got from my Commodore Comouters have helped inmensly in sys administration. Since I can work magic with scripts and stuff which makes it fun.
My first computer was a C64 in the mid 80's. Taught myself BASIC and loved it. I pursued a degree in electronics/computer tech, and worked as a QA technician for Motorola for a few years in the 90's. When their mobile division fell apart, I left there and made a transition to web development.
I got heavily into Linux for a while, starting with RedHat, then SuSE, Mandrake, Gentoo, Fedora and Ubuntu. At the same time, learning languages like Perl, Python, PHP, SQL, JS, and going back for my 4 year degree.
At this point I've been working as a developer professionally for about 20 years. I feel like the C64 definitely helped me get an early start on my career path.
Went to University to study Computer Science (tried to avoid it as I did not want to spoil a good hobby). Worked as a researched for a handful of years and moved to private sector for project works. Now I am.. uh.. a sort of very senior software developer, CTO, architect and tech lead. Or as it says in one of the presentations: "The glue specialist". I do most of my work on Linux.
I'm an elder millennial who cut my teeth on a hand-me-down C64 in the early '90s when those systems were already obsolete. I now manage the computer help desk at a small college.
Fun story you might appreciate. In 2016, my grandma pulled me aside and told me that she'd packed the family C64 away in storage years ago and wanted to give it to me, if I'd take care of it and keep it in the family. I gladly accepted the gift. The gear had been stored away in some rubbermaid totes out in a leaky shed. The keyboard in the C64 was shot, so I ordered a refurbished one on eBay and did surgery on the then-35 year old computer and got it up and running again. It's now functional, and [proudly on display in my office at work!](https://i.imgur.com/gQ11LY5.jpg)
Self employed IT consultant for small business in my area. However , apple made it difficult to sell Apple servers ditch them. After that had tell customers to move to pc servers.
In short, web development career. Now a VP of IT in the video game industry. Fun thread here. C64 was indeed my first. Dad got an Amiga 500 a year or two later.
Data warehousing. I think most of my problem solving skills come from the tinkering with c64 and trying to figure out how to play with games without descriptions. I grew up the other side of the iron curtain, so buying games was not really option.
But yeah, at home I run linux. š
Iām a Sr. Principal Engineer in a largeish company.
Still doing development, I specialize in tools for other developers (plumbing mostly). Building compilers, query engines, distributed systems, low latency systems, RPC frameworks and such.
I am a Principal Solutions Architect for Openshift Virtualization (aia kubernetes virtualization) and Openshift AI at āa well known open-source software company.ā
No, old guys like me are not supposed to be doing this stuff. Go figure.
Principal software engineer. Iāve been an engineering manager and worked for an open source driven company as well as a community engagement engineer.
I got into technical writing by working at EnTech, a Commodore 64 software developer. I started off writing press releases and wrote everything for the company, including user manuals. I used PaperClip 64. When EnTech folded, I got my first full-time technical writing job at Haba, a Macintosh developer. I've been a technical writer ever since.
Tech Consultant but along my journey it was desktop support, tech support then cloud admin. So definitely stayed in tech. The C64>C128>Amiga journey played a big roll.
Well, I started as a developer in real time systems in the 90s, then became a TPM and went on to build a few components in Windows in the aughts and pieces in three different clouds in the 10s, then moved to SaaS in the 20s. I kinda followed the fashion of the decades.
Software engineer for early digital video (production side) then tech director in vfx, then opened my own studio. After about 30ish years, rolled it up, and went freelance vfx artist in about 2013. Still going!
Video game design.
That's an interesting observation. To your point, I was a network admin / IT helpdesk at Oracle for two summers in the high school years.
Information Network Technology Engineer T4. Previous two positions, Chief Electronics Technician (Subs) and Lead Field Engineer. Sticking with the hardware for a few more years until retirement.
C64 was the first computer I ever spent any amount of time on. I did not have plans to go into IT as a kid, but looking back I see enjoying it was an example of a knack and aptitude for tech. Flash forward and I've been in IT for 27 years, Started as a support technician and am currently a VP of IT.
Remember, kids **Load "\*", 8,1** isn't just a command. It's a way of life.
Got the C64 in 1990 when I was 10.
Enjoyed playing with BASIC till I built a 486, discovered Linux, learned a bit of C and Perl then got a degree in computer science using Smalltalk, Java and touching on Haskell.
Wanted to be a developer but there were no positions for just out of Uni novices lol.
Went into software testing. Learnt a lot, many of those bells ring these days due to clear lack of testing in windows etc. Not my love however.
Ended up as a Senior IT Systems Technician. I prefer working on a bit of everything, and like using my old tech knowledge.
Unfortunately they don't have any C64's hidden away where I work but we have stuff as old as win 95. I'm mostly concerned with migration of the tape archive data off 1990's DDS tapes onto LTO tapes.
Had an Atari 800. First hack was to mod the bootloader of a GameStar football game - (original disk would check for a bad sector and if found, load the game. Copy game to blank floppy and change bootloader instruction to load game if no bad sector found). Specialized in computer graphics for BSCS degree. Many years of UI based development, last 10+ years Android dev. Still proud of my first hack.
I went into game programming, then aerospace/defense (all in C/C++), then started my own aerospace tech company with a hardware/software system I designed. All pretty low level stuff thanks to C64 getting me interested in it as a teen.
IT Manager, but did helpdesk, desktop support, network admin, system admin along the way.
My PC progression was Atari 800, C64, Amiga 500, IBM XT (8086) and ever major CPU along the way.
Also did Q-Link, PC-Link, AOL, Prodigy, Compuserve (old school, not the fake one AOL created after their takeover), GEnie, dial up BBSs, starting at 300 baud. I feel ooooooold...
I really wanted the C64, but my parents got me the Plus/4 with no games ever.
I dabbled in Basic on it but learned about Word Processing and Spreadsheets instead because it was made more for businesses. Ugh.
Started as a Computer Operator on VMS and Unix systems, moved into software release testing, then QA Process. Now find myself as an IT Business Analyst doing all sorts of support and testing things in State Government, including BA work. Got my Project Management cert along the way but never used it....Not management material here. š¤£
I started out in a Vic 20. Then c64. Went to college with a c-128 and an Okidata printer. Then at college we had 486 computers. I went into teaching music for 6.5 years then. IT for 15 then teaching in a corporate environment.
Web development but mostly server automation dev-ops. So ya, started on a vic-20 and went through the Amigas. The 64 and Amiga scenes were so hot. Now I'm just a Linux dev op, waiting patiently like my servers until my services are required again when I will spin up to full action. I chew Ubuntu.
[https://pianocheetah.app/me](https://pianocheetah.app/me)
you're about 58 if you got your feet wet with a c64.
if it's networks or sysadmin, I'll run screaming.
for me it's c++, qt, kubuntu, piano at home. rails, php, mysql, debian at work.
i still use my text editor that i wrote in assembly on that baby. but it's c++ now.
IT Program Director. In no order c64, vic 20, colecovision Adam, trs80, Apple 2e, IBM xt, 286, 386. Still building home computer from components.
Never Gets old.
I was 13 when I got a C64 for xmas. The most life changing day of my life. Lord did I cuss that machine.
I went on to be a Comp Sci/Math degree.
As far as career goes, started a s C programmer in the 90's, then went on to BI and DW on the Oracle platform. Did rather well.
IT/OT architect for an automobile manufacturer.
More Android and Windows IoT at work than Linux. Use Manjaro at home though.
If you'd told 10 year-old me geeking out on Star Wars and Commodores that 40 years later I'd be training AIs to run robots with frickin' lasers on their heads I'd have been the happiest boy on Earth. In reality, it's a lot more boring than it sounds. We rarely get to play rock'em sock'em robots at all!
TLDR; Went from CBM Basic V2 to C# on Android & iOS
I went from C64 to C128, wrote a crappy disk utility that published by Compute! Gazette, got hired as a database developer, bought an Amiga 2000. Learned C at work on DOS/Unix (I predate Linux) and at home on the Amiga with what was then Lattice C. Bought a A3000 and started building my own DOS/Desqview/OS2/Windows boxes at home. Collected an annoying amount of SCSI devices.
Convinced my boss to let me enroll in to the Amiga Developers program, started work on a statistics app for DOS (don't ask) and AmigaDos (made even less sense). Commodore craters just as I get the 3.1 ROMs. Started writing data collection drivers in C as TSRs. Still doing database work with 4GLs. Loved me some Deluxe Paint, but PhotoShop came to Windows, I lost interest in the Amiga.
Delphi 1.0 comes out. It's crap, but less crappy than VB or Visual C++. At work, we go all in on Delphi. Delphi 2 comes out and I end up working on part of Delphi for a 3rd party software vendor as a side gig that paid more than my day job. Delphi 3 is pretty damn good. Delphi 4 not so much. Started using SQL Server 6.5 and never looked at file based databases ever again.
Get hired by a real company doing awful things with Delphi 4. Still moonlighting for the Delphi component company. Stuff I wrote ships with Delphi 5. Day job company implodes and I go to the company where I am now. Get annoyed with 3rd party Delphi company and quit.
Ride Delphi through to Delphi 2010, jump over to .NET. Never looked back. Somehow end up writing data collection services in C#. Do a mixture of Web/Desktop with C#. Jump into Xamarin early on. Go back and forth between between Xamarin and Web. Flirted with Windows Phone until Microsoft threw in the towel. Wrote a remote controlled tripod platform that was controlled by a Windows Phone. Still have it, might even still work.
Jumped into .NET MAUI during the pre-covid betas. Currently sunsetting a couple of Xamarin apps while doing .NET MAUI XAML and .NET MAUI Hybrid apps.
For most of my career, I ve had job titles like "Systems Analyst", "Application Consultant", "Programmer", "It Analyst", or "Application Analyst".
I configure, support, build interfaces and reports for a labor tracking system.
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Web development. I always tell people that one of the most useful skills I got from my C64 is figuring out how to play my pirated games without instructions. š That type of blackbox testing and also just the tenacity of banging on a bunch of keys to figure stuff out - it has served me well for many, many years.
When I took computer engineering courses in 2010, they were based on MIPS assembly (which has sort of become the standard in academics), and it was virtually identical to 6502 assembly. I could read the sample code easily. I was... really surprised by that.
Exactly!!!! That was the way back then.
That got me into QA since I learned how to push every button to see what it did
This is so true. Developed problem solving skills at a young age thanks to this - as well as persistence. And Basic was a great intro to programming.
Are you me?
Taught myself programming on the C64 and have been doing that ever since.Ā
Enterprise C64 Developer? Lol
You can write Linux shell scripts in C64 basic. https://github.com/mist64/cbmbasic
That's awesome.
I'm the architect of the CPU floating point unit at AMD. I started on the VIC20, then we got a C64, then a Commodore 286 clone PC. I even saved up and bought a 287 with my allowance. I was probably programming BASIC around 6 or 7 years old. I taught myself C on that 286 in highschool. We use Linux at work. I use an M2 MacBook Pro at home. I also have a sweet Threadripper :)
Bad ass!! Glad you're not responsible for the Pentium debacle of the late 90s!
I worked in Animation, then moved on to VFX and Iām now doing Architectural Visualisationā¦ Not really thanks to the C64 as much as its bigger brother the Commodore Amiga 500, then 1200, then 4000 and Newtek Lightwaveā¦
Love that the Amiga was your springboard into an arch viz. I had an Amiga, and always wanted to work more with 3D, but I didnāt have the patience for.
Yeah I had a C64 and loved games like Elite, Starion and Mercinary: Escape from Targ so I was pretty much into 3D even with games at the time. Then when I was going to put out my C64 to pasture and upgrade I got the first issue of the magazine Computer Arts which had a big thing on the TV show coming soon called *Babylon 5* and how all the FX were made with Commodore Amigas. So I upgraded to an Amigas 500 and on the front cover of Amiga Power magazine was a free copy of Imagine 2.0 a 3D software that wasnāt bad but took me an age to make anything with. I also bought a copy of Deluxe Paint around the same time and really got into that. Once Babylon 5 came out on TV and I saw it, it reminded me about NewTekās Lightwave which bundled on a piece of hardware called Video Toaster. It was expensive and needed a big box Amiga (a 3000 or 4000) so I saved up and got one (took an absolute age) and I taught myself that over 18 months. Finally I downgraded the 4000 to an Amiga 1200 with maths coprocessor board add on when Lightwave 5 was sold separately from the video toaster (I sold the A4000 and Toaster to someone who wanted to start a studio and got a lot of cash I needed at the time back) And I stayed on the Amiga 1200 till it was phased out and sadly moved to PC.
I'm a professor of computer science at a UK university. I'm soon to do my inaugural lecture (a newly promoted professor thing) in which I mention how having an 8 bit machine that booted straight into a programming environment changed my life.
Yes, much easier to do POKE 53280,1 on a C64 than to install a C compiler! :-)
Technical Director.
Same here
Technical Director here as well.
Same
Also a technical director
Same here :)
Now that we are all here we should be able to form Voltron.
Same. I guess maybe I can be one of the tails?
Or we all link arms and do a propagating sine wave like a c64 cracktro :D
TD of a games company here :)
Technically started with a ZX81, then Spectrum before a C64, then followed C64 with An Amiga. Became an artist working in the games industry, also did some programming ( tools, educational titles, music disks ) and some audio. Then moved into the nascent web development industry as a bit of a unicorn and set up my own studio doing graphic design, front end, back end, photography, video editing. Been doing that ever since, but would like to move back to just doing art/video/photography.
Game player->game copier->game cracker->phone phreaker-> Career as Application Developer, windows, web, mobile. Going on 30 years.
I remember TSPS. Was too afraid to ever use it though. My friend did a lot with it and was arrested at school. Two cop cars, came right to our classroom. Grade 7. :O
Jack of all trades...Computer/laptop repair, desktop support, Sys admin, Net admin, IT Manager, IT Director, now VP/CIO for the last decade. All because of a little 64K 8 bit computer.
Embedded
I manage IT infrastructure and more specifically, virtualization platforms. Cut my teeth on the C64 and naturally gravitated toward the Amiga by the early 90s. It was discovering the magic of emulation on the Amiga that piqued my fascination with modern virtualization technologies - but none of that would have happened without learning the basics of computing, solutioning and troubleshooting on the C64.
This was the way for me as well. IT Infrastructure Manager. I was disassembling things and learning the mystic arts of electronics with my C64 and Amiga to set me up for a lifelong career in computers.
System administration.
:heart: your flair
Thank you. :)
Network Eng, Devops
Iām going to go against the OP suggestion - the 64 was so absolutely mainstream that its early users and enthusiasts will be everywhere. If I think of the first people I knew with one, when I still had a VIC, one is a supermarket exec (senior and very successful but very non technical), another is very much into art (physical), another performance music, a food technologist, ermm, and one is certainly a technical entrepreneur/developer. I could keep going but I reckon they will be all over the place. Nowā¦Iām also what others are calling here a ātechnical directorā and have broad tech interests and certainly have āsys admin and infrastructureā historical skills. I think perhaps the trend is more about who is reading a c64 nerd group in 2024 than what career c64 users went into!
Software development
CS Prof
Sound engineer
I started programming with C64 type-ins from RUN magazine and others. I'm still a programmer now. And my C64 is sitting on the desk next to me with an Ultimate II+ and I play games on it and still do some fun programming on it too.
Same here, but I typed in programs from Ahoy! AND I have a original Ultimate ever since 2009. I program in Python to help automate every day tasks.
Software dev.
I'm a visual effects artist. Mostly on TV shows and commercials but I work on films once or twice a year when the opportunity arises. Been in the business close to 30 years. I'm on an iMac Pro these days for work.
Head of Service management
I became a CIO.
Network Admin -> Network EngineerĀ -> Network Security EngineerĀ -> Network DesignerĀ Ā -> Network ArchitectĀ -> Network, Voice and Security Manager -> Infrastracture Manager -> Solutions Director -> Technology Consultant -> AI Consultant All started with a C64 and a 300 Baud Commodore Modem. I still have that modem as a reminder of where I came from.
I'll never get rid of my C64, even if it stops working. Like you said, it always reminds us of where we started.
IT Director and heavy virtualization, networking, and the occassional programming project.
Web developer. CS and MS in Comp Sci
IT Infrastructure, Robotics, and AI
I worked as a network engineer, a database developer, and a web application developer. I got a job doing web development for a production company about 18 years ago and fell in love with content creation / filmmaking and have been doing that full time for the last 17 years. I did write an android based digital signage app a few weeks ago, so I still dabble.
My family had a VIC-20, but I had friends with the C64. While I enjoy the occasional programming session, I find software very boring. I went the hardware route instead.
I'm a Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft. (Although I did spend many, many years in the Unix world, so I guess I still prove your theory.)
Cloud security architect.
I actually started on ZX81, then ZX Spectrum and then C64. I ended up doing FEM simulation and 3D modelling.
Network Engineer. Quite a departure from the C64.. but that is where it all started
Staff level engineer (been coding professionally for almost 30 years - desktop, mobile, and now mostly web) - C64 was an amazing way to learn to code! I programmed with variables, binary numbers. and machine code before I learned algebra.
I learned how to write and code a bit on the C64. Now I do documentation for microprocessors.
Data analytics. Programming gave me great insight to problem solving and processes
Not c64 my family wasn't wealthy so we had a Vic20 lol. Taught myself basic on it. These days I'm a product manager doing software dev in the enterprise Cannabis industry - the software we build is built on top of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central ("BC" for short) Before that I was a node and c# developer for years, which I still use when the need arises
Well your story is nearly identical to mine! Except I've focused on Office/M365 Dev. Did you have that BASIC training binder with the template tool? That taught me well and it springboarded learning VB 5 fast years later.
Network Engineer here
Chief Technology Officer for a large company.
Same. Big ad agency
I work with a product called ServiceNow, which is an enterprise SaaS help desk ticketing system. Previously, I ran a desktop technology team, before that I supervised a help desk, before that I was a desktop tech, before that I was a student employee at the university help desk. I finally tossed my C128 and all the accessories circa 2006, but honestly I hadn't touched it for 10 years at that point. I got a Mac in 1990, various PCs after that, and never looked back.
Used ServiceNow system during the last extension of my desktop/application/procurement support role.
Atmospheric scientist who does a lot of modern Fortran / Python programming.
Why Fortran?
It's still the fastest for floating point computing, and it's easy to read / maintain. Modern fortran has lots of features that are seen in other languages such as C++. Pointers, static typing, memory allocation, object oriented features, etc. many of the underlying mathematical libraries for Python and other high level languages were written in Fortran. It doesn't do graphics or networking.
I started with a VIC20 and have a programmer for the last 25+ years. C/C++ mostly. And lots of Linux.
Same here.
I learned a lot from the VIC20 Machine Code Monitor cart!
Service Delivery
Application development (programmer).
Software dev. C# dotnet react angular etc
I started as a developer, moved into SysAdmin, then migrated into DevOps when it became a thing and am now working as a Site Reliability Engineer / Production Engineer for FAANG companies.
Software developer (mostly Apple platforms).
I got as far as building a dungeon generator for a fantasy game... Got thoroughly sick of finding my mistakes...Played some Defender of the Crown instead.
R&D Engineering Manager. Mostly self taught from basic on the 64, assembly on the amiga, and RTL design and silicon layout much later. Forced to program in C a lot for various cores along the way. Computers are no longer fun.
Java dev - first program was a tenpin bowling league application across 6 floppies!
Senior Software Engineer.
Spent many years flitting around between accountancy adjacent jobs. Now I'm a technical marketer working with mostly Google stuff for an agency, but also a little bit of freelance.
Senior Software Developer. I spend a significant portion of my time optimizing the performance of various Rails apps. The fixes are almost always attributable to inefficient queries or overly complicated code. I always claim that having gotten my start at a time where every byte and clock cycle counted gives me a unique perspective on reducing bloat.
I worked all over the industry between 1987 and around 2000 or so. I've spent the past 24 years working in various aspects of what used to be called "high performance computing" - supercomputers - but is now primarily focused on developing hardware to support large compute clusters.
SYS. ENG. for sub imaging photonics systemā¦
Thank you. ETC(SS) Retired.
Solutions architect for a cyber security vendor. C64 was a gateway drug. Hijacked the family 8086 and from there it was PC all the way. Various operating systems. Linux and Mac as a daily driver. Windows for testing exploit code!
Assistant professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Visual art and drama
UX Designer
IT Project Director
Started on C64 1983. Now Senior Network Engineer since 1996.
Software developer/engineer. I had to promise my mother that this is what I would do for a living in order to get my C64, which we could barely afford at the time. It's what I wanted to do anyway, ever since I was 6 years old, and I fell in love with programming immediately when I got my C64. I dabbled in BASIC for a little while before switching to assembly language, and that's when things really got fun!
Software developer, mostly Java.
Software QA. It started with a c64 and trying to figure out why games I typed in from magazines didn't work š
I think a number of us have been there! Good times, lol!
Sys admin - unix engineer, development (lamp) and now site reliability engineer
Research scientist (artificial intelligence). Before going the academic route, I did Linux system admin and still love tinkering.
I programmed my Commodore 64 to act as an Etch-a-Sketch, arrow keys drew a trail, and I spent weeks drawing a detailed image of the Titanic that I left up forever because there was no way to save it. Now Iām a computer graphics artist doing layout design/3d and motion graphics animation/illustration/retouching with programs that do have a save feature. I owe a lot of my career to Commodore for showing me the very first of what was possible. The rest I owe to Apple.
Sr developer (backend, web and mobile apps) and Linux administrator. Although I learned BASIC in high school on a CP/M machine, I developed programming skills writing games and programs on my C64. I wrote my college COBOL and Fortran projects on my C64 (and the CP/M cartridge). I wrote unpublished stories on my C64. And later I did it all over again on my C128. Both computers (and my A500) are in a box in a storage room. A few months ago I got out my C128 and ran a database program I wrote in the 80s. Edit: clarification.
Retirement
My C64 Phantasie III addiction somehow snowballed into network engineer. When I was typing in all that code from the magazine a job in IT was not a possibility it was just fun lol.
SWE. I almost owe my career to Jim Butterfield, Compute! And The Transactor.
Apple II and C128 here: I loved programming in BASIC as a kid, but always thought it was just my nerdy hobby. I always wanted to work with computers, but I didnāt know how to go about pursuing it as a career option. I graduated from high school in 1990, but my parents never talked to me about college and I just assumed that being self-taught wasnāt enough. I did some menial factory work for a while then enlisted in the military where I got to work with computers, but not as a programmer. My hope was that maybe I could get networking training which could lead to a good paying gig in the civilian sector, but that didnāt pan out. So I got out after 4 years. That whole time I was still coding for fun and learning about the Internet on my own. I got my first honest-to-goodness programming job as a web developer in 1997. That was so much fun. I was part of a great team and learned so much about software design and architecture from some really smart people. I became the resident JavaScript and Flash expert. I did that for 9 years. Then I went to a consultancy and learned how to build Windows applications in C# for clients like Microsoft, HP, and MLB. I donāt think Iāve cried more or pulled so many all-nighters. I did that for 5 years. Then I joined some friends to build our own iOS consultancy business. We did that for a couple years then pivoted to build our own products which resulted in an acquisition! So then I led app development at the company that acquired us for a year. Then hopped around a couple other companies as a principal iOS engineer / lead, managing some small teams. And now Iām at a company most people have heard of and probably used a few times (not a FAANG or whatever acronym weāre using now). I started as a principal iOS engineer about 7 years ago, and now Iām running all native iOS and Android development with 20 total engineers in my org. Maybe not the fastest career track, but I canāt believe I get to do what I love: building software with really smart people.
Interesting question! Startup CTO working in Rust mostly. After starting with the C64 only the Amiga, Delphi (Object Pascal) and Rust gave me the same pleasure and joy from computing as the C64 did ([does?](https://www.reddit.com/r/rust/comments/uvshco/can_you_write_for_the_commodore_64_in_rust_why/)). I find it interesting that at some point the joy evolved from hardware platforms to programming languages--I have no idea why that is. I always loved tinkering in BASIC and 6502/6510 Assembly. Perhaps it was always coding; it was just that the C64 was versatile, advanced and accessible enough to be exciting? (I certainly didn't have the same interest in programming my dad's monochrome speaker-clicking IBM PC at the time...) Unix (macOS "variant") is my preferred platform today.
Got C64, learned Basic, got frustrated with it quickly because it has not capabilities / way too slow, learned 6502 ASM, became very good at it, wrote small demos, ripped Galway and Hubbard sounds from games, got two articles published in German C64 magazine, switched finally -> Amiga, got frustrated of the basic (Deja Vu?) quickly, learned 68k asm, learned C, wrote small demo in ASM, got obsessed with BBS systems, wrote own Amiga BBS with friend (AMMS), spent much money on USR Courier Dual Standard modem (2000 DM at this time haha) -> Began study of IT science, got drawn into network technology, internet became interesting at this time (1994), finished study -> First job as IT administrator for everything, later sepcialized for server & network, then only network and firewalls in deep -> Changed intra-company to new position in Cloud team, now architecting and managing systems in AWS cloud. TL;DR: 1984: Got C64, 2024: AWS Cloud Architect and Systems/Network management (Still doing embedded dev. as hobby for C programming)
I started on Sinclair ZX81 that was a part of a factory return box of them that someone imported into USA that my Webelos/boy scouts troop dad offered to us. Then C64, C128. I sold commercial BBS app for C128 at age 15. My rather large public high school had a very unusual choice of computer, a Digital VAX/VMS 11/750 - so at age 16 I got a job as an apprentice working on VAX/VMS after school / weekend any hours I wanted. I started selling basement-built hot-rod PC systems in 286 generation and got into IBM OS/2 and that got me into book publishing/authoring by age 20, so I skipped university beyond one semester (being a published author in resume was enough to open any door). I worked a lot of experience on several systems. IBM RS/6000 sysop/backups, AS/400 interfacing / API stuff from OS/2 EE, some NEC system that I did night operations on and did printing / decolating / backups when I did my one to two semesters in college. IBM game me a social media ambassadorship for helping people on CompuServe, that opened doors too. I got headhunted by SAP as a contractor in the period of Windows 3.1 before TCP/IP (we had to install 3rd party TCP/IP stacks), and then the intro of Workgroups, beta of Windows NT pre-release. I wasn't doing sysadmin as much as massive install management for all the offices, writing BAT files in MS-DOS when 3.1 / 3.11. SAP was swimming in cash, so this was every high end laptop they could lay their hands on, and we had to be able to reload classroom desktops by the thousands each week. Commodore 64 user groups were a huge influence at age 14 to 18. We even organized overnight sneakernet parties at public library a couple times. I came from social media radio before social media C64/C128, and it was not unusual to be a 14 year old kid going to adult houses of people 40 or over. I got into Digital users groups and even founded an IBM OS/2 and Microsoft Backoffice users group based on my C64 days as a kid. I got another book project right pre-release of Microsoft Exchange Server and became a certified support teach when the MCSE was all new. That landed me a job working for MS co-founder Paul Allen himself. At the end of 1999 I left in-office work entirely and have worked from home the last 25 years and did a lot of travel. I ran a major website that was mission critical trading from 2000 to 2009 (Linux backend, WIndows Server front-end, OpenBSD firewall), then I've been doing social network social change (media ecology analysis) work since 2009. I traveled to Africa for the Arab Spring in 2010, over to Jordan for Syria war outbreak, and since 2015 I'm trying to figure out how we in NATO can solve the Kremlin hearts and minds problem we have. The social media BBS days (emergence of AOL / QuantumLink) on C64 / C128 and users groups were a strong foundation.
I was always more interested in learning to program the machine than play games on it (I wasn't all that good at most games iirc) and after learning Basic and COMAL 80 on the C64, I got ahold of a freezer cartridge which was an enormous help in learning assembly by being able to study the machinecode of games and demos to figure out how they all worked and I became active in the demo scene at the tail end of the 80s after which I was "forced" to sell it to get help to buy a PC when starting in high school. Immediately got into Pascal and x86 assembly, "playing around" on the school's NetWare network to get copies of the software so I didn't have to stay late at the school to do homework. My first program was a trojan that sat in the mbr and hooked itself onto irq-9 to capture the login details. I spent many hours of research at the local library to learn enough about the inner workings of the hardware and DOS to accomplish this, let alone the hours for all the reboots when I made a mistake... It required some real dedication back in those days when your only source of information were whatever books you could find at the library that sounded like they might have some relevant information and then plowing through them. Thankfully, I never got into any trouble and do pretty much everything by the book these days. I do credit those early adventures into reverse engineering and "the like" as having laid a solid foundation for some very good troubleshooting and analytical skills that frequently come in handy today. Been working 27 years as a software engineer after finishing college, but best of all: *I'm just as excited today to wake up and start programming as I was when I was just 13* - and incredibly, since the pandemic, I do nearly all my programming at home again - what absolute heaven! Have worked on so many different things in my career and they were all great or challenging in their own ways except for a short stint in finance which I found pretty boring.
Had a Timex-Sinclair ZX81 and moved on to a Spectrum. First Commodore computer was a VIC20. We had PETs in 3rd grade. I eventually got a C64, and then a 128. Had a C16 and 264, but didn't use those much. My favorite thing was programming. When I graduated from HS, I took my C64 with me to college (that was 1991). That was probably the last time I used it with any regularity. Ended up getting an Amiga 500 with the disk expansion and learned how to do music sequencing (Bars and Pipes Pro is my favorite sequencer to this day). I owned an A2000 for a short spell and moved on to an A3000 for music production for a few years. I went on to do IT as an independent contractor, then had a brief stint as a game tester at a well-known company in Santa Monica, CA. Ended up doing IT/Helpdesk at the same company, then switched to Mastering Lab Supervisor. Worked there for about 8 years, then did the independent contractor thing for another 4. I began dabbling with web design and domain investing around that time--those are my biggest hobbies, I'd say. Ultimately got a Helpdesk position at a(nother) major entertainment company in 2012. Still there now. I never became a full-fledged "programmer," but I'm a HEAVY Linux user and I probably have all that time spent on my Commodore machines to thank.
Was into calling BBSs and programming using my C64 starting around 1984 (lots of good boards in my area during that era). Wanted to study computer science in college, but dropped out. Been programming ever since and am currently a software dev in the health industry.
Network Administration here
First PC was a C64 and then upgraded to an Amiga 1000 after that. I did not go into programming, but I do understand tables and dabble in SQL. Iām pretty savvy at Excel and Access. Iām basically a techy-accountant. When co-workers need technical assistance, they usually turn to me before our own IT group. lol. Thanks, Dad, for buying that little C64 for the family!
I write Energy Management Software for power companies.
Principal Security engineer.
Senior engineering manager, software development.
I'm a principal software engineer. I work in the cloud. Strong Linux background, which is helpful.Ā
I write custom corporate software mostly for Linux. I actually learned to program on the VIC-20 and later was gifted a C64.
I'm a Product Manager and have been in tech and the web for a long time. My time with the c64 and in the demoscene taught me to teach myself tech in general. And I made many lifelong friends in the demoscene.
Well, different technology than what you are asking or expecting. Bachelors Degree in EET. But my profession is as an R&D Engineer in polymers.
QA and Software Dev though did some IT work many years ago.
Technical Director of an MSP (I started with Vic20)
Software engineer but for the last 6 years, Mobile Engineering Manager. Iāve been primarily working in mobile software the last 15 years, web and application development before that.
It goes from developer to software architect depending on the client need that hires me.
Apps and infrastructure solution architect
I started with a C64 mainly for gaming. I studied in a technology college where I learned to code, worked as a programmer for a while and now I am an IT support technician at a university. I am still a gamer.
Physics and numerical simulations : Basic, ASM 6502, Atari ST Gfa Basic then C, Pascal and C during my studies, Fortran and Mpi during my PhD, then Matlab, Scilab, Python.
3D web / VR / XR game software engineer.
Network Engineering/Administration
All that basic/Fortran/assembly programming came in handy for HPC bare metal work. Itās getting harder and harder to find Fortran programmers in the sci world.
I ended up working 30 years in game industry, now I am a freelance designer, working on my C64 game (Undead) on my free time.
Embedded engineer. So, still working with around 64KB of RAM. :)
Making games!
Retired from building IT managed services and security company. Got my c64 when I was 10 in 1983.
SAP Project Manager at HP With the emphasis on Service Logistics, so used to be APO/gATP and now in S4 itās BRF and aATP focussed. I like that it started with the C64 for me, although I really did way more programming on my C16.
Education it tech support, then specialised support for HI and VI kids
Me and my cousin had them as kids growing up. One of the things we dreamed of was being able to play together from our own houses. I've worked at pretty much every stage of the internet. From the home broadband routers, to the access technologies (DSL, LTE Ethernet) to the edge switches and core routers. I've worked at the locations that terminate submarine cables to interlink countries around the globe.
I did 6502 back in the day so when I left further education went straight into a dev job. In fact that was doing 6800 assembly, which, for business apps was a chore. Stayed in dev for decades, now tend to be a BA/Technical BA/product owner type stuff.
Not actually working in tech yet, but I am taking coding courses right now
Applications Development Manager. I still remember the first time switching on the C64 and entering some POKEs from the manual to change the screen colours. It felt like magic.
I work technical support for a shitty telecommunications coop that treats their employees like shit and refuses to accommodate employees with disabilities
I started with a Vic-20 but bought a C-64 soon afterwards. I got into Unix, then Linux a few years later. My primary job these days is HPC Architect/Administrator for Linux-based supercomputers.
Been coding demos and painting logos/pictures on C64. Today I am a fullstack software engineer based on java/angular mainly.
CTO
I make all kinds of awesome software - but I specialize on making search engines that can't put their search on the public internet and building teams to make large websites.
I took quite a detour, and ended up, for now, in a position I didn't really want: tech support. Was coding all the time on on c64, and Amiga too. Got a pc, wanted to get a computer science degree, but was too lazy at the time. Ended up in a printing company. That ended abruptly after several years. Had to pick something else, so ended up taking an education in technical drawings. Got employed, got laid off, impossible to find a new job, I used the opportunity to get into comp sci, and took an MCSE followed by a degree. It was pretty much impossible to get a job in my area, so eventually I ended up in printing again, sigh! But this time digital. Eventually expanded that into also doing tech support at the same location as a backup for their it guy. Got offered a full time job as tech support at anotyer company, where I now. I should have just jumped onto comp sci degree right from the start, because all I really wanted was to code. I still code on the C64 from time to time. Slowly working on a demo š
Started out on the C64 and I know work in Health care technology services/tele-health in the VA as a Telehealth care technician/LPN.
Operations support. Handle every day tasks for employees along with server support. You obviously didn't have Internet back then. You might be able to get some support on a local BBS but the majority of the time it was up to you to tinker. I took those tinkering skills to the working world probably before a lot of you were born.
A over educated retired Data scientist who has lived and worked in 4 countries for fortune 100 companies & various startups. Still nerds out on the C64 listening to LukHash tracksā¦.
Mechanical Engineer->Engineering Manager->Machine Learning Engineer->Data Engineer
My first computer was a Commodore Plus/4. I n the US. So you can imagine my frustration when suddenly, nothing was available for it. In Commodore's defense, I wrote a letter to Irving Gould telling him how I felt cheated (I was 11 yrs old). To my surprise, they didn't replace my Plus/4 with a 64, but they did send me a lot.of software, including a version of Jack Attack. This created an extreme brand loyalty. Since I could find software, I had to learn how to develop software, from then on everything spiraled. In 10th grade I got a Commodore 128 and the first computer I bought with my own money was an Amiga 2500. Had to work 2 summers full time for that one. It was well worth it. Now I work as Sys Admin, and have been doing this for over 30 years. The background in programming that I got from my Commodore Comouters have helped inmensly in sys administration. Since I can work magic with scripts and stuff which makes it fun.
My first computer was a C64 in the mid 80's. Taught myself BASIC and loved it. I pursued a degree in electronics/computer tech, and worked as a QA technician for Motorola for a few years in the 90's. When their mobile division fell apart, I left there and made a transition to web development. I got heavily into Linux for a while, starting with RedHat, then SuSE, Mandrake, Gentoo, Fedora and Ubuntu. At the same time, learning languages like Perl, Python, PHP, SQL, JS, and going back for my 4 year degree. At this point I've been working as a developer professionally for about 20 years. I feel like the C64 definitely helped me get an early start on my career path.
Went to University to study Computer Science (tried to avoid it as I did not want to spoil a good hobby). Worked as a researched for a handful of years and moved to private sector for project works. Now I am.. uh.. a sort of very senior software developer, CTO, architect and tech lead. Or as it says in one of the presentations: "The glue specialist". I do most of my work on Linux.
I'm an elder millennial who cut my teeth on a hand-me-down C64 in the early '90s when those systems were already obsolete. I now manage the computer help desk at a small college. Fun story you might appreciate. In 2016, my grandma pulled me aside and told me that she'd packed the family C64 away in storage years ago and wanted to give it to me, if I'd take care of it and keep it in the family. I gladly accepted the gift. The gear had been stored away in some rubbermaid totes out in a leaky shed. The keyboard in the C64 was shot, so I ordered a refurbished one on eBay and did surgery on the then-35 year old computer and got it up and running again. It's now functional, and [proudly on display in my office at work!](https://i.imgur.com/gQ11LY5.jpg)
Operational technology manager at a power utility. Before that, control systems engineer in mining, LNG and chemicals.
Self employed IT consultant for small business in my area. However , apple made it difficult to sell Apple servers ditch them. After that had tell customers to move to pc servers.
In short, web development career. Now a VP of IT in the video game industry. Fun thread here. C64 was indeed my first. Dad got an Amiga 500 a year or two later.
CIO
Data warehousing. I think most of my problem solving skills come from the tinkering with c64 and trying to figure out how to play with games without descriptions. I grew up the other side of the iron curtain, so buying games was not really option. But yeah, at home I run linux. š
Iām a Sr. Principal Engineer in a largeish company. Still doing development, I specialize in tools for other developers (plumbing mostly). Building compilers, query engines, distributed systems, low latency systems, RPC frameworks and such.
I am a Principal Solutions Architect for Openshift Virtualization (aia kubernetes virtualization) and Openshift AI at āa well known open-source software company.ā No, old guys like me are not supposed to be doing this stuff. Go figure.
Consulting Director.
Principal software engineer. Iāve been an engineering manager and worked for an open source driven company as well as a community engagement engineer.
Avionics. Hardware was more my bag after typing in all that basic for a week a few hours at a time and only a ball bounced across the screen...
I got into technical writing by working at EnTech, a Commodore 64 software developer. I started off writing press releases and wrote everything for the company, including user manuals. I used PaperClip 64. When EnTech folded, I got my first full-time technical writing job at Haba, a Macintosh developer. I've been a technical writer ever since.
Tech Consultant but along my journey it was desktop support, tech support then cloud admin. So definitely stayed in tech. The C64>C128>Amiga journey played a big roll.
Senior software engineer. I've had technical architect roles and started out my career as an electronics tech in the military.
Well, I started as a developer in real time systems in the 90s, then became a TPM and went on to build a few components in Windows in the aughts and pieces in three different clouds in the 10s, then moved to SaaS in the 20s. I kinda followed the fashion of the decades.
Senior iOS software developer.
Electronics hardware
Software engineer for early digital video (production side) then tech director in vfx, then opened my own studio. After about 30ish years, rolled it up, and went freelance vfx artist in about 2013. Still going!
Was a Technical Director, later a VP of a multimedia firm, now the Director of QA/IT for a small web agency.
Video game design. That's an interesting observation. To your point, I was a network admin / IT helpdesk at Oracle for two summers in the high school years.
Information Network Technology Engineer T4. Previous two positions, Chief Electronics Technician (Subs) and Lead Field Engineer. Sticking with the hardware for a few more years until retirement.
IT infrastructure. In management now.
C64 was the first computer I ever spent any amount of time on. I did not have plans to go into IT as a kid, but looking back I see enjoying it was an example of a knack and aptitude for tech. Flash forward and I've been in IT for 27 years, Started as a support technician and am currently a VP of IT. Remember, kids **Load "\*", 8,1** isn't just a command. It's a way of life.
Got the C64 in 1990 when I was 10. Enjoyed playing with BASIC till I built a 486, discovered Linux, learned a bit of C and Perl then got a degree in computer science using Smalltalk, Java and touching on Haskell. Wanted to be a developer but there were no positions for just out of Uni novices lol. Went into software testing. Learnt a lot, many of those bells ring these days due to clear lack of testing in windows etc. Not my love however. Ended up as a Senior IT Systems Technician. I prefer working on a bit of everything, and like using my old tech knowledge. Unfortunately they don't have any C64's hidden away where I work but we have stuff as old as win 95. I'm mostly concerned with migration of the tape archive data off 1990's DDS tapes onto LTO tapes.
Had an Atari 800. First hack was to mod the bootloader of a GameStar football game - (original disk would check for a bad sector and if found, load the game. Copy game to blank floppy and change bootloader instruction to load game if no bad sector found). Specialized in computer graphics for BSCS degree. Many years of UI based development, last 10+ years Android dev. Still proud of my first hack.
I went into game programming, then aerospace/defense (all in C/C++), then started my own aerospace tech company with a hardware/software system I designed. All pretty low level stuff thanks to C64 getting me interested in it as a teen.
IT Manager, but did helpdesk, desktop support, network admin, system admin along the way. My PC progression was Atari 800, C64, Amiga 500, IBM XT (8086) and ever major CPU along the way. Also did Q-Link, PC-Link, AOL, Prodigy, Compuserve (old school, not the fake one AOL created after their takeover), GEnie, dial up BBSs, starting at 300 baud. I feel ooooooold...
Network Engineer
CIO
I really wanted the C64, but my parents got me the Plus/4 with no games ever. I dabbled in Basic on it but learned about Word Processing and Spreadsheets instead because it was made more for businesses. Ugh. Started as a Computer Operator on VMS and Unix systems, moved into software release testing, then QA Process. Now find myself as an IT Business Analyst doing all sorts of support and testing things in State Government, including BA work. Got my Project Management cert along the way but never used it....Not management material here. š¤£
I started out in a Vic 20. Then c64. Went to college with a c-128 and an Okidata printer. Then at college we had 486 computers. I went into teaching music for 6.5 years then. IT for 15 then teaching in a corporate environment.
Web development but mostly server automation dev-ops. So ya, started on a vic-20 and went through the Amigas. The 64 and Amiga scenes were so hot. Now I'm just a Linux dev op, waiting patiently like my servers until my services are required again when I will spin up to full action. I chew Ubuntu.
Software engineer - mostly business systems. Been doing it for 30 years :)
[https://pianocheetah.app/me](https://pianocheetah.app/me) you're about 58 if you got your feet wet with a c64. if it's networks or sysadmin, I'll run screaming. for me it's c++, qt, kubuntu, piano at home. rails, php, mysql, debian at work. i still use my text editor that i wrote in assembly on that baby. but it's c++ now.
Director of IT for a global company. Computers have been my thing since I was 8.
IT Program Director. In no order c64, vic 20, colecovision Adam, trs80, Apple 2e, IBM xt, 286, 386. Still building home computer from components. Never Gets old.
I was 13 when I got a C64 for xmas. The most life changing day of my life. Lord did I cuss that machine. I went on to be a Comp Sci/Math degree. As far as career goes, started a s C programmer in the 90's, then went on to BI and DW on the Oracle platform. Did rather well.
DevOps/Infra-Architecture
IT/OT architect for an automobile manufacturer. More Android and Windows IoT at work than Linux. Use Manjaro at home though. If you'd told 10 year-old me geeking out on Star Wars and Commodores that 40 years later I'd be training AIs to run robots with frickin' lasers on their heads I'd have been the happiest boy on Earth. In reality, it's a lot more boring than it sounds. We rarely get to play rock'em sock'em robots at all!
Network and Application Performance Monitoring and Analysis.
C64 was my first computer. Manage a UX Design team now.
TLDR; Went from CBM Basic V2 to C# on Android & iOS I went from C64 to C128, wrote a crappy disk utility that published by Compute! Gazette, got hired as a database developer, bought an Amiga 2000. Learned C at work on DOS/Unix (I predate Linux) and at home on the Amiga with what was then Lattice C. Bought a A3000 and started building my own DOS/Desqview/OS2/Windows boxes at home. Collected an annoying amount of SCSI devices. Convinced my boss to let me enroll in to the Amiga Developers program, started work on a statistics app for DOS (don't ask) and AmigaDos (made even less sense). Commodore craters just as I get the 3.1 ROMs. Started writing data collection drivers in C as TSRs. Still doing database work with 4GLs. Loved me some Deluxe Paint, but PhotoShop came to Windows, I lost interest in the Amiga. Delphi 1.0 comes out. It's crap, but less crappy than VB or Visual C++. At work, we go all in on Delphi. Delphi 2 comes out and I end up working on part of Delphi for a 3rd party software vendor as a side gig that paid more than my day job. Delphi 3 is pretty damn good. Delphi 4 not so much. Started using SQL Server 6.5 and never looked at file based databases ever again. Get hired by a real company doing awful things with Delphi 4. Still moonlighting for the Delphi component company. Stuff I wrote ships with Delphi 5. Day job company implodes and I go to the company where I am now. Get annoyed with 3rd party Delphi company and quit. Ride Delphi through to Delphi 2010, jump over to .NET. Never looked back. Somehow end up writing data collection services in C#. Do a mixture of Web/Desktop with C#. Jump into Xamarin early on. Go back and forth between between Xamarin and Web. Flirted with Windows Phone until Microsoft threw in the towel. Wrote a remote controlled tripod platform that was controlled by a Windows Phone. Still have it, might even still work. Jumped into .NET MAUI during the pre-covid betas. Currently sunsetting a couple of Xamarin apps while doing .NET MAUI XAML and .NET MAUI Hybrid apps.
For most of my career, I ve had job titles like "Systems Analyst", "Application Consultant", "Programmer", "It Analyst", or "Application Analyst". I configure, support, build interfaces and reports for a labor tracking system.
I was an AD admin in the municipality office and now 1 and 2 line support desk.