Brilliant! A real trip down memory lane that means we are probably of a very similar age. I did Vic-20, C64 and the programming I did was mainly debugging the programs I spent hours typing in from Your Computer and the like!

My interest in Databases came from a Database that was in the official Commodore magazine which was written for a PET but with only slight adaptation ran well on my C64 and I used for trainspotting and my magazine collection.

I also did COBOL at night school in Leeds at Leeds Polytechnic when I was an apprectice with BT. Two years of classes and I never used it in anger!

AT BT, I turned to Hardware and network design as in the 80's, everything was starting to turn digital with Kilostream and Megastream and private Wide area Networks. The only 'programming' I ever did again was setting up the multiplexors on the networks.

Then I got bored and walked from IT and BT in 95 and never looked back although I do read stuff here now that people like you and @themarkymark post and the other Devs post, and I do find it really interesting but it's like a century apart from me and I seriously doubt I'd ever have had the patience or intelligence to have continued through the incredible learning process that IT folks from my time must have had to go through. Back in the 80s, I was on some manufacturer's, or inhouse training course on an almost weekly basis.

Every respect to you sir! and happy to see see you're keeping the old ways going. I'd love to see you write an article on what, if anything, you learned back in the day that helped you, or still helps you in the IT business today.

Best wishes :-)