1972 Computer Merit Badge Requirements

The Scout Handbook in use when I joined was the eighth edition from 1972. I think this is the infamous “rat bite” book from the seventies. Not much was good in the seventies. I shared the requirements for the Computer Merit Badge with a excellent software engineer who holds a MS in Computer Science, and who also happens to be my wife. “That’s a lot for 1972!”, she said. She was impressed.

Here what a Scout had to do:

1. Do the following:

(a) Give a short history of computers. Describe the major parts of a computer system. Give four different uses of computers.

(b) Describe the differences between analog and digital computers. Tell the use of each.

(c) Explain some differences between special- and general-purpose machines.

2. Do the following:

(a) Tell what a program is, and how it is developed.

(b) Explain the difference between an assembler and a compiler. Tell where each might be used. Describe a source and an object program.

(c) Use a flowchart diagram to show the steps needed to set up a camp.

3. Do ONE of the following:

(a) Prepare flowcharts to find out the average attendance and dues paid at the last five troop meetings.

(b) Prepare flowcharts to work out a simple arithmetic problem. Explain to your counselor how this program could be stored in a computer. Tell how it could be used again.

4. Do the following:

(a) Name four input/output devices for computers. Explain the use of two of them in a system.

(b) Explain the Hollerith code. Show how your name and address would be punched on a card.

5. Tell the meaning of six of the following:
a. memory
b. bits
c. on-line
d. bytes
e. microsecond
f. address
g. channel
h. interrupt
i. register
j. console
k. central processing unit

6. Tell the meaning and use of 12 of the following:

a. business data processing
b. information retrieval
c. simulation
d. scientific processing
e. floating point
f. truncation
g. fixed point
h. accuracy
i. input
j. record
k. output
l. file
m. software
n. instruction
o. hardware
p. indexing
q. loop
r. subroutine
s. real time
t. time sharing
u. cybernetics

7. Visit a computer installation. Study how it works.

8. Explain what each of the following does:

a. design engineer, customer engineer, programmer, analyst, operator, salesman
b. Read two pieces of information about computers. Describe what you read.
c. Describe jobs in the computer field.

Could you earn this merit badge today?

Other events from 1972 include:

• Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs invented the C programming language
• Intel developed their first processor, the 4004.
• Atari releases the first commercial video game, Pong 11/29/72
• The compact disc is invented in the United States.
• Cray Research Inc. is founded.

The 2006 version of the requirements can be found on the US Scouting Service Project.

Now THIS is cool (If you like techie gadgets!)

My eleven-year-old son saw this and said, “I want one!” All I could say is, “Me too!”

And a tip of the ol’ NotJobs fez to Patrick Madrid for the find!

Memorial Day 2009

All gave some…
Some gave all.

I spent last Saturday with my kid’s scout unit helping put flags on the graves at Fort Logan National Cemetery. It was a reminder of those who have sacrificed for our country.

Two stories in the old Rocky Mountain News capture some of the details about those who gave all and are buried at Fort Logan:

• Silent eulogies whispered in stone
• Wake for an Indian warrior

Thanks to them for their service.

Wake for an Indian warrior

1987 Computer Salary Survey

After graduating from college, I set out on the job hunt. One of the companies interviewing me at the time was Source EDP Personnel Services. Source EDP provided IT consulting services, and billed themselves as “the world’s largest recruiting firm devoted exclusively to the computer profession”. As part of their offering, they shared their 1987 Computer Salary Survey and Career Planning Guide. After I got the another offer, I stuck the salary survey in a file, where it stayed until last week.

The first graphic image in the publication is of a stack of greenbar paper with large dollar signs in ASCII art.  But, even though the data is old, it can still offer a useful comparison to today’s technology salaries. We’ve come  a long way!

Here’s the meat of the survey for non-management positions:

I. Non-Management	Annual Compensation ($000)
(salary according to length of time in the profession)	15th Percentile	Median	85th Percentile
Commercial Programmers & Programmer/Analysts
1 year – 2 years	18.5	22.5	26.5
2 years – 5 years	23.5	27.8	32.0
Over 5 years	28.0	33.0	39.0
Engineering/Scientific Programmers & Programmer/Analysts
1 year – 2 years	19.6	25.0	28.5
2 years – 5 years	25.5	30.0	35.0
Over 5 years	31.0	38.0	46.0
Personal Computer/Microprocessor Programmers & Analysts
1 year – 2 years	18.0	22.0	27.0
2 years – 5 years	22.0	28.0	33.0
Over 5 years	28.4	35.0	42.0
Systems (Software) Programmers
1 year – 2 years	23.4	27.2	31.0
2 years – 5 years	27.7	33.0	37.5
5 years – 7 years	32.0	38.0	45.0
Over 7 years	36.0	42.0	50.0
Software Engineers
1 year – 2 years	22.0	27.0	30.1
2 years – 5 years	27.5	32.	37.0
5 years – 7 years	31.5	38.0	44.0
Over 7 years	37.2	44.5	53.1
Data Base Analysts/Data Management Specialists
1 year – 2 years	22.0	26.0	31.5
2 years – 5 years	26.0	35.0	42.0
5 years – 7 years	34.0	40.0	48.2
Over 7 years	37.2	44.5	53.1
Communications Analysts/Technical Specialists
1 year – 2 years	22.0	26.0	30.0
2 years – 5 years	28.9	37.0	47.0
Over 5 years	33.6	43.0	51.2
Information Center/Office Automation/Decision Support Specialists
1 year – 2 years	18.5	24.1	27.1
2 years – 5 years	23.5	30.0	36.0
Over 5 years	29.5	37.5	45.0
EDP Auditors
1 year – 2 years	22.0	25.0	29.0
2 years – 5 years	26.5	31.0	37.3
5 years – 7 years	30.7	36.0	46.2
Over 7 years	35.0	42.0	51.0
Technical Writers & Editors
1 year – 2 years	17.5	1100	27.5
2 years – 5 years	23.0	28.0	33.0
5 years – 7 years	26.0	31.0	38.0
Over 7 years	27.0	34.0	41.0
Senior Analysts, Project Leaders & Consultants
2 years – 5 years	27.0	33.0	39.6
5 years – 7 years	32.5	37.7	44.5
Over 7 years	36.0	42.0	50.0
Computer Operators
1 year – 2 years	14.0	18.0	20.0
2 years – 5 years	17.0	21.0	25.0
Over 5 years	20.0	25.6	31.5

Source EDP was purchased by Romac International, and later became Kforce Technology Staffing. Kforce still offers a salary survey and career guide. Download the latest version in PDF format from here.
http://www.kforce.com/files/documents/2008_Tech_Job_Seeker_SS.pdf

Unemployment

Back from the Pinewood Derby!

Wow! We survived our Pinewood Derby last Saturday, and all-in-all it went smoothly. 29 boys raced, and the final rankings were decided by less than .12 seconds.

I’m getting a lot of Google search hits on “pinewood+ derby”, which must frustrate folks looking for tips. To help these customers, here are a few of my favorite Pinewood Derby links:

• The US Scouting Project’s Pinewood Page
  
• The Ultimate Pinewood Site
• Young and Pope “Partial Perfect-N Chart Generator”
• HowStuffWorks “How do I make a pinewood derby car go faster?”

Finally: You’re welcome to review the notes from Pack 216′s Pinewood design seminar.
My 2005 Design Clinic Presentation. [Powerpoint, pps=4,624KB] I suggest a “Save As…”

Click the Ferrari above for a great example of Pinewood Art.

Let me know if these are useful, or if you have others.

NotJobs: The Best of 2007 (or not)

I can’t say that the following posts are the best of my writing on this blog, but they are the posts that seem to attract the most attention. These five postings (in no particular order) have been showing up in many Internet searches, and therefore got most of the traffic in 2007.

How Not to Get a Job at Wieden + Kennedy
http://notjobs.wordpress.com/2007/04/22/how-not-to-get-a-job-at-wieden-kennedy/

How Not to Get a Job: Fake Your Credentials
http://notjobs.wordpress.com/2007/05/18/faking-your-credentials-and-disparate-impact/

Myths – Headhunters get jobs for candidates
http://notjobs.wordpress.com/2007/08/28/myths-headhunters-get-jobs-for-candidates/

Tips: Longhorn cover letters-bad, better, best
http://notjobs.wordpress.com/2007/10/28/tips-longhorn-cover-letters-bad-better-best/

Man fired for posting ‘Dilbert’ comparing boss to drunken lemur
http://notjobs.wordpress.com/2007/12/23/man-fired-for-posting-dilbert-comparing-boss-to-drunken-lemur/

On to a great 2008!

Merry Christmas!

Linus says it best:

Today’s the Day: GO NAVY!

“There is no bowl game at stake here. There is no coalition poll, no number one ranking. No Heisman Trophy is at stake here. This is bigger than all that.”

– Brent Musburger,
as quoted in “A Civil War” by John Feinstein

Today is the Army-Navy game, this year in Baltimore. In memory of Admiral Tom B. Hill, USNA grad and my maternal great-uncle:

GO NAVY!

Update 1:23PM MST: Great Game, Navy! 38-3, and six in a row.

Thoughts after a Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and none of the 15 people at our table yesterday went away hungry. We had a great feast: turkey with trimmings, potatoes both sweet and white, carrots in horseradish, green bean casserole, and home-made pumpkin pie made from home-grown pumpkins.

After the meal (and several bottles of a fine Gewürztraminer), this meal prompted an interesting discussion on, “What separates us from the lower orders?”

It is getting harder and harder to hang a unique trait on our species. Beavers engineer, and crows, vultures and dolphins use tools. Bees dance, cockatoos drum, and whales sing. Elephants can communicate across long distances, and otters play. Aristotle said that Man is the only animal that laughs, but chimps, gorillas, and orangutans are known to crack up, especially if tickled. The research of Dian Fossey and Jane Goodall shows that the higher primates wage war and commit murder.

So what makes homo sapiens different from the other species on the third planet out from an average star in the Sagittarius arm of the Milky Way galaxy?

Man is the only animal that cooks.