A new person joined our project late in the game. We were getting close to the time when the project was going to end. This guy was tasked with helping us close out the project correctly. Apparently he had experience in this from other projects ending in our company.At first all I heard was that the guy had just come off from sick leave. I assumed he was a fellow that did not have a project to charge to, so we were a holding place for him. Later I found out that he had 40 years of experience with the company. I thought I was an old timer after I received my 5 year service award.
Then at one meeting someone asked the guy why, after 40 years of service, he continued to work at the company instead of retiring. He confessed that he wanted to retire. And I think he had already started to initiate it. However he now had cancer. And he needed to be working to have the insurance to cover the expensive medical treatment he needed.
And we usually think we have it bad having to work to pay the mortgage. This guy was literally working for his life. This reminds me of another gentleman who worked for this same company. However that story is also an unpleasant one. So I will get back to posts more specific to software maintenance if I can.
