Jack Esbin
In 1967 I accepted a position as the Assistant Director of the Computer Center at the University of Iowa, while also taking graduate courses in Computer Science there. Gerry Weeg, who was both my boss in the computer center and my Computer Science advisor, told me that I should absolutelyjoin ACM if I intended to continue in my profession. When I looked at the ACM Special Interest Group options then available, I noticed that there wasone devoted to the issues of computing centers, so I joined SIGUCCS as well. That was the smartest decision of my entire career.
I soon met people in SIGUCCS who were not only nationally known in the field
(in those days, some were pioneers in the profession), but who were friendly
and more than willing to share both ideas and information they had gathered,
not to mention discussing problems of mutual concern. Over the years I
personally grew in knowledge and experience, and I attribute much of that to
the sound advice and mentoring I received from those SIGUCCS contacts.
Today, exactly the same kind of mentoring and support is available through
SIGUCCS. In fact, the general topics discussed have changed surprisingly
little, even though the technology and approaches to problem solutions have
matured so significantly. I cannot conceive of a successful career in our
field without membership in SIGUCCS. Try it, and you'll be so happy that
you did.