Quit a Well-paying Senior Electronics Position for a Trainee Job?

Charles was a senior electronics technician working for an aviation company in Southern California back in the early 70s. It was an interesting job diagnosing aircraft navigation computer problems, then repairing them or having other technicians repair them.

One day he received a mysterious phone call on the job. It was from someone, unbeknownst to him, asking him if he wanted a computer programmer trainee job.

The gist of the conversation was for Charles to just go on the interview and he’d get the job. Was this a joke or what?  Who was this person calling? Why would Charles, who had a nice, fairly high paying job quit for a trainee position in a totally different field?

Thinking about it, on the surface it seemed like a bad proposition if the idea had any merit at all. Even if it were true and not a prank call, why would Charles, in his early 30s, give up a prime electronics technician position for a trainee job in a relatively new field of programming?

That should be an easy decision even if the caller was just playing him for a fool. The idea of quitting a good job with an excellent chance to advance to an engineer didn’t seem reasonable. Was there was something Charles was overlooking?  

Charles had a very Unusual Background

About a year and a half before, Charles had quit his job as a computer operator for an optical engineering company in Pasadena, California. There he ran computer jobs for over 200 engineers on the company’s powerful IBM mainframe scientific computer. Computer operators operating those big IBM mainframe computers were good, well-paying jobs in those days.

A highlight of that job was running computer analysis of some of the rocks brought back from the moon.

Another was Charles designing that company’s brochure. It illustrated how zoom lenses were designed. That was the business the company was in. Zoom lenses, which are common today in cameras and other optical instruments, were new in those days. It took the most powerful IBM computers to design them.

An additional bonus of that job was being able to talk with engineers in many different fields. Charles always wanted to be an electronic engineer.

Better get that BA Degree Now

Unfortunately, the last class he needed in college in order to graduate was only offered in the daytime. That class was in American Studies.

It was not offered on a regular basis. That had meant either continue working and put off graduating from California State University indefinitely or quitting that job.

That had been an easy decision. So Charles had reluctantly quit that job in order to take that final class, graduate, and get his BA degree.

That Mysterious Phone Call

Back to that mysterious phone call. Charles had a lot of questions while listening to the man on the phone. Was there some scheme behind that person’s call?

How did the caller know Charles was even interested in being a programmer? During the conversation the mystery caller indicated he was a headhunter (the type that finds jobs for people).

He seemed positive Charles would get the job if he went on the job interview. It was for a computer programmer trainee position with one of the largest insurance companies in America.

Charles sort of promised he’d go to the interview the next day. Driving home, he pondered the implications of switching fields.

He’d be starting over at the bottom if he did get that hyped up, slam-dunk sounding job. Upon arriving at his apartment he drove his bright red Corvette up the steep driveway and parked in his parking stall.

Charles was No Stranger to Computers and Programming

Charles never mentioned to that caller that he knew anything about programming or computers. However, it turned out that Charles had given up looking for a programming job some eight months previous, having no luck in finding one.

He had gone back to electronics which was his passion. What a coincidence, that strange call for a programming position.

Charles did know how to program in FORTRAN and COBOL but never mentioned that. Nor did Charles mention he had an AA degree in Computer Science.

Something just didn’t seem right. Out of the clear blue sky he’d get a phone call, on his job no less, about a programming job some eight months after looking a year and a half and failing to find such a job.

Charles’ Past had been Anything but Normal

As it turned out; for eighteen months after he graduated from college Charles had looked for a programming job with no luck finding one. Although programming was hot in those days numerous interviews for programming jobs had yielded nothing.

Every job position wanted paid programming experience. Knowing COBOL programming, which all those jobs were asking for didn’t help.

He had finally given up getting that elusive programming job and gone back into electronics which he knew well and had paid experience in.

Charles had a Secret Few Knew About 

Charles had a secret. One that tided him over, as it turned out, for 25 years. That secret allowed him to easily go many months without working even while looking for that elusive programmer job.

Although initially he didn’t have any luck finding that programming job he was seeking, he nevertheless was doing quite well moneywise.

His secret was one most people would probably think was crazy to pursue. If not that, they might laugh and think it impossible to make money doing it. If so, they were very wrong.

What was that secret of Charles? 

It all started back about a year and a half before he left his computer operator job to finish his last class in college.

Charles had a burning desire to find out if one could actually make a living betting on thoroughbred horseracing.

His father had been betting on horses ever since Charles could remember. Charles didn’t know if his father came out ahead in his betting. However, he figured he must have since he did it for so long.

He never heard his mother complain and they never seemed to be short of money. His father never had a high paying job but always seemed to have money to bet the horses.

Charles’s secret was betting on Thoroughbred horseraces. He could make a profit on such bets. Profits were not easy, however, but challenging and worthwhile.

Could a Person make a living betting on Horses?

Charles had made it a mission to find out if one could make a living betting on horses. Living about a half hour from Santa Anita racetrack made it an easy first step to find out. It was one of the three racetracks for Thoroughbred horseracing in Southern California.

He had been there an untold number of times when attending Pasadena City College. He‘d go to the top of the bleachers at Santa Anita Race Track in nearby Arcadia and do his homework while watching the races.

He never bet a lot in those days, but was testing racing systems, methods of picking horses and ways of betting. However, after graduating and not being able to find that elusive programming job, he started betting a lot more money.

During racing season at Santa Anita he would go there to bet on the races. When racing was at Hollywood Park, in Inglewood, California he’d drive there once in a while on the weekends to actually watch the races and bet.

On weekdays he’d go for early morning betting. Being there at Hollywood Park at 7 am sharp insured he could place his bets right away. Then he’d drive back to work in Rosemead where his technician job was.

Most Systems didn’t Work or make a Profit

Charles tested many racing systems with actual money. His goal was to find a winning system he could rely on. Most systems didn’t work or make a profit. But handicapping the races worked well for him.

He had to be very selective in the races he bet, however, otherwise even that was not profitable. Charles found the best way for him to profit with small bets was to bet horses that were longshots. That way he could bet much smaller amounts of money and it would still be worthwhile.

Very few races, however, presented a betting opportunity. So to compensate for that Charles often went to a bookie to place his bets. Bookies were illegal, but some people used them anyway. That included Charles when he found bets that were longshots running at tracks in other parts of the United States.

The main thing about using bookies was their odds cutoff of 8-1 odds. So if the horse won at 30-1 odds and paid $62 for a $2 bet the bookie would only pay you $18.

Charles was a Good Handicapper but it was very Time Consuming

Although Charles was a good handicapper it was very time consuming. Also the most logical contender often won the race but with odds too low to be consistently profitable. There weren’t many races most days where he could make more than two or three solid bets.

To make decent money he had to bet a lot of money which was impractical in those early betting years. The other way he could come out ahead was by using racing angles and betting three horses to win in specific races.

Those races had to have the three horses go off at odds such that if any one of the three horses won he would still be a winner. Instead of handicapping the race he’d be using racing angles to pick three contenders in a race.

In a thoroughbred race there are about 120 factors that influence a horse race. Most of those can be ignored. But about a dozen are Important and can often determine the winner without handicapping the horses in the race.

Dutching with Three

Betting multiple horses to win in a race is called dutching. It is not as accurate as handicapping a race. However, due to the higher odds that such horses go off at, it is still possible to come out a winner.

Out of all the methods Charles tried or tested, and there were many, “Dutching with Three” was his favorite.  He used it the most if the odds of the contenders allowed it.

That was only when the favorite in the race went off at 5-2 odds or greater and the other two horses met some specific rules and odds criteria. He’d then bet all three horses to win proportional to their odds. Note that the favorite in a race is always the horse with the lowest odds.

Betting horses those eighteen months while looking for a programming job paid off well. Often he made more money betting horses than if he had a programming job.

Charles decided to go on that Fateful Job Interview

Back to that phone conversation and upcoming job interview. Charles finally decided he had nothing to lose by going to that job interview. Serious or not, that headhunter’s conversation could lead to a different future.

Should he get lucky and get the job, it could possibly open up more opportunities in the future. Either way, getting that trainee job or not was maybe not so trivial a matter as it first seemed. A new job might offer new opportunities.

Although he already had a good job with great potential to move into electronic engineering, getting that programming position also offered Charles future potential.

Computers were the up-an-coming thing since big corporations had started using them. The field of computing was new and evolving. More opportunities might exist in the near future.

Off to that Programming Job Interview

Charles went on that interview. There were no surprises and all went smoothly. At the end of the interview to his great surprise he was offered that programmer trainee job.

He gave notice that next day where he worked and about three weeks later started his new job as a programmer trainee.

As it turned out there were hundreds of people that had applied for those few positions. They had taken tests and competed with hundreds of other people for one of the trainee positions.

Of those who applied only about a dozen people were hired with Charles being one of them.

Something was Strange about getting that Job

Charles never had to take a test like the others. Charles never found out why he got the job but didn’t have to compete with the other applicants.

But after talking with people after he had been there a while he came to the conclusion that he was hired because he was a minority, a Black person.

Of the dozen or so people hired with him there was one other Black person, a young lady. She had no experience in anything related to computers and had been an art major in college. She even had no desire to be a programmer but was convinced to go on the interview.

Putting two and two together, Charles had done a little research. He came to the conclusion he and that girl got hired mainly because they were minorities.

It so happened that big corporations at that time were pressured by the government to hire minorities. Minorities at that time were mainly Blacks and Mexicans. Regardless, Charles was thankful he got that hard to get job.

Going on that Interview changed his Life

That simple, but questionable decision to go on that fateful job interview ended up changing Charles’s life for the better. Two planned short term job switches afterwards enabled him to double his salary and barely qualify to buy his first house.

Charles wanted to learn online programming while it was new. So a short time later he ended up with another new job and going to IBM training for online programming.  

A year later he left that job along with a fellow programmer to start their own import/export business. Six months later Charles headed off on a trip to Hong Kong for their business he and that fellow programmer had started.

More Adventures for Charles Followed

That set off a long series of adventures for Charles. It included getting married in Hong Kong two years later on another trip there to one of the Filipino ladies he had met there previously.

He continued his racing research and betting for a total of 25 years taking profits all along the way. When AI (Artificial Intelligence) came along he and a friend did a lot of research using it for selecting horse betting situations.

Unfortunately AI was new in those years unlike now. He found that unless one was a skilled handicapper AI was not quite good enough to make a person a consistent winner. That’s probably not the case now since AI is radically improved.

Charles ended up making computer programming his second career after electronics and eventually retired in 2007. On his final job he broke his record of keeping any job longer than 30 months. He kept his last job exactly ten years, just long enough to retire.

Retired and now Online with many Websites

Since then Charles has made the internet and online activities his new passion. He has had over 80 websites he has put up on some of his hundreds of domain names.

He has hired people from all over the world to write articles for his sites. That’s in addition to probably writing a thousand articles himself for his many websites over the years.

One never knows the future. But in Charles’ case that one, long thought over decision, to actually go on that programmer trainee job interview ended up changing his life forever in so many ways.  

Some Final Thoughts

Charles never found out who that mysterious headhunter was that called him on his job back in the 70s or how he found out about him. But he is thankful he did and pointed him to a life changing job and opportunity.

His partner in his horseracing research and betting passed away in 1995 so Charles finally ended that 25 year research project after his death. It’s unlikely he will do any more research. There is, however, one very promising longshot horseracing system Charles wrote using mystic information that needs testing.

Charles is currently working on a new DogSploot website while still adding new posts to his main Yolky blog and to an ever expanding TravelESP website. Look out for when the Covid-19 Pandemic is over. Charles and his staff in the Philippines have their work cut out for them.