I suddenly thought of writing about my experiences with computers. At first when I was 10 (in 1997) I joined a computer class which was primarily owned by Rev.Millar (who is from USA). At the very beginning there were very few of us. I can remember there were only 5 machines, and only 3 of them were capable of running MS Windows. Other 2 were used for DOS, PASCAL and GW Basic programming.

One was a Compaq a fully branded machine with the dial up Internet connection and the other was Asus (If I remember correctly). Both were P1 machines. But the Compaq was faster than the other one. I don’t remember the third one but it had a weird black and white monitor. Lotus was installed on that. Those 3 were capable of running Windows 95. Other two were with big keyboards and each key was popping out one inch above the key board.

On the first day of the class we were taught the components of the system. And for few weeks it was DOS commands. Perfect when you really install DOS 6.2, I can still say it’s perfect.

It was a very hilarious time when I first started using the mouse. I can still remember the fun. On the first day, just to point the Start button I took around 2 minutes. :D. Then we improved learning Windows then Office 97. Then the GW Basic programming. I still remember some codes in GW Basic. 🙂

Soon my father bought me a computer. I got one when I was 11. (in 1998) It was a nice and a fast machine when compared to the ones in my class. It was P2 550 MHz, 64 Mb RAM, 8 GB HDD with 16 Mb VGA, CD ROM drive. The OS was Windows 98. For me it was decent enough to run my favorite games. Street Fighter, MK4, Doom, Sky Rover were few among them. (I still miss a game a like Street Fighter; Guy was my favorite character with dual kick combo powers :D).

I used to repair my machine and reassemble it by my own. Some times I used to format it 3 time a day. Crazy !@# ( I can’t even dream about formatting my lap now). I used to write batch files to delete the .sys and .dll files in the System32. I even went and copied them in the nearby Internet Café  using a floppy disk. (On that time one 1.44Mb, 3.5” Imation floppy disk was Rs.45.00).

After 2 years we sold that machine and bought another one. It was my dream machine. It was with 17” LG Flat Studio Works monitor. P3 800MHz ~ 1000MHz. 128 Mb 333MHz RAM, 20 GB HDD, 64 Mb VGA, 52X CD ROM Drive, Creative Sound Card with external speakers and the package includes HP 610C Deskjet Color printer and Vugeo Color Scanner with 300dpi.

It was WOW.

I got everything I needed from a machine. I still remember my mom was upset about that why my dad spends much on these gaming tools. 🙂 For her computer is another version of PlayStation.

Then my gaming trends were upgraded. The Gunship and the Unreal Gold were the top games on that time. Other than that Vitro Cop from SEGA. (real bullshit game, but no choice).

When I got selected to the University my family bought me a laptop.

She fixed to me closely and averagely spends around 6 hours a day with me. I again regained all the stuff and programming after coming here. I just love my laptop now. So far she made me feel nice and great and she will do in the future as well.

I write this article based on some hypothetical thinking; I got during my AI lecture. I have been having this idea for sometime and I have shared this with some of my friends as well. You may not agree with me sometimes, but what I say is my opinion.

There were days; I can remember when I was in my first year first semester, (very curious about the campus life) some industry people were saying that Srilanka needs 5000 IT professionals per year. And the supply is only below 3000. Wow it was a good news for any fresh graduate to hear such a news about his field of study. But what happened after some time was ‘Economic Crisis’. I really say I still do not have a proper accurate idea about that. (people were saying USA bubble burst, inflation and lot of things)

But what I heard and saw in real life is ‘Cost cutting’ I remember that Virtusa fired around 30 people in one single day, that time. Then things went like that in all most all the companies. And now I can see and hear from some of my senior guys who have got good job positions with attractive salary in last couple of months. 🙂

So what is to do with today’s lecture ? Today my lecturer told about that Srilanka is producing less than 100 of graduates who have depth knowledge in computer science and mathematics.  He also told he did a survey on that. I know personally that he’s having an idea that the IT faculty’s syllabus should be changed.

Really what I think is an IT guy from the UOM IT faculty is not meant to be a developer or a tech nut. If you clearly see the syllabus designed in way to give broad aspect of the field and the technical skills are subset of that.

So I feel an IT faculty guy should have to be designer or a business analyst rather than a developer. An IT guy from a UOM is meant to be an architect of the system rather than a developer. He is not a web developer he meant to  be the web analyst . All these need technical skills, but we are not supposed to be the developers. 

But what I see in in real life is completely different. People are meant to be like developers. I don’t say we can directly be the architects of a company, but we are made for those positions. And I think we are not made for extreme programming like OS and hardware device drivers. There are people who can go to that level but we are not meant to that.