Adam Johnson submitted this entry from his Mom (pictured here with his kids):
I was not a grandmother when I became a Systems Engineer with IBM in the 1960’s, the decade that IBM first began to hire female systems engineers. At first, I hard wired large panels to program small computers. Then I went on to work and lead projects on large scale IBM computers. In 1999, I worked on several Y2K (definitely not a hoax) large scale projects in Columbus, Ohio. I had to modify code in many languages (some extinct!) to produce viable code for use when the century changed. In one project for the electric company, people would have been injured or killed without the changes. In 2000, I studied to become a tax accountant and enrolled agent. In 2006, I studied and became a volunteer master gardener for the CSU extension service. Currently I use a smart phone, personal computer and nook reader, create Excel spreadsheets, and prepare complicated tax forms for myself, friends and family.