A CEO proposes an equipment facelift rather than learning more about the IT hardware In the late 1990s, I worked for an online discount brokerage that was a relatively new division of a larger, publicly traded company. My background was mechanical engineering, but I always did some sort of software development since I entered college. This job marked my “official” transition from a mechanical engineer to the world of IT.I worked with some of the most technically knowledgeable people I’ve ever met. And with the nature of the work and the pressures of the financial industry, we needed to play as hard as we worked just to keep our sanity. Our entertainment was usually provided by someone on the IT staff. But on one occasion especially, unbeknownst to him, the CEO provided the entertainment.Since this was a discount brokerage, the office décor was pretty basic. Yes, the executives had nice offices, but nothing too extravagant. Not that I’m biased or anything, but the most impressive thing to see in our office was the computer room — the computing capabilities being the company’s strategic advantage. When the CEO stopped by our area, he usually brought some visitors and gave them a tour of the computer room. I’m sure he made some significant accomplishments in his life, but embracing IT was not one of them.We were primarily a Sun shop. Our main trading system was made by the now-defunct Sequent Computer Systems. The Sun boxes were in blue racks, but the Sequent system had a beige enclosure. The problem was that the air conditioning equipment and UPSes were also beige, and the CEO couldn’t tell the difference between the Sequent from the air conditioning equipment and UPSes. Apparently, this was a source of embarrassment for him when he brought visitors in for a tour.So this CEO in his infinite wisdom felt that all the computer equipment should be the same color. He requested that we have the Sequent enclosure painted blue to match the racks in the computer room. We contacted Sequent about this strange request, but they weren’t able to help us. Our only choice was to order an enclosure from Sequent and have it shipped to a painting company first. It would be shipped it to us after it met our new standard color requirement. Sure, the machine would have been powered down and the enclosure replaced during a maintenance window, but is a new paint job really worth the risk?For a variety of reasons, I left the company soon after this request. Data Management