James Bennett:  

Joined the USAF in fall of '62 (that was planned before graduation); spent almost 1.5 yrs in Texas, 2 years in Myrtle Beach, SC, then last 10 months on Shemya, in the Aleutian Islands (can you say: "Deadliest Catch"?). Right after discharge from USAF, joined IBM, where I worked for 22 yrs, first in Field Engineering, then 7 yrs in sales, before moving to Atlanta. Remarried while in Atlanta, and had two children. IBM moved me to SoFla (Boca Raton) in fall of '83; been here ever since, living in Delray Beach. After leaving IBM in '88 was involved with several start-ups (only one still around is Citrix). Became adjunct faculty at Florida Atlantic University, teaching evening computer courses. Also taught for a computer training company, Florida Dept of Transportation, Broward Community College and Palm Beach Community College. Interesting irony of teaching at PBCC was that here I was, a HS grad, teaching courses to faculty, PhD's in mathematics! What a kick! Was hired in Sept '98 by a software company that sells billing sw to telecom companies, as their first technical instructor. As I'm still there, my responsibilities have evolved from just being a technical instructor to being a sales engineer, supporting the sales efforts from a technical presentation and demo perspective. In the 12+ years I've been there have seen the company's fortunes go from boom to bust, growing from 86 people when I started to almost 600 people, then plummeting during the dot com bubble burst. Survived 5 layof...Expand for more