November, 2009
by Denise P. Kalm
Denise Kalm has 30 years experience in IT including application programming, enterprise systems management and performance management/capacity planning at Pacific Telephone and Bank of America. She moved to vendor land in 2000, spending 5 ½ years with BMC on the EPA product line, then recently became the senior product marketing manager for enterprise job scheduling products at CA, Inc., formerly Cybermation. She is a regional officer of CMG, has held many volunteer positions within that organization and is a frequent contributing author. Prior to entering the IT profession, she was a biochemical geneticist. Her hobbies include flying, Jazzercise, writing and scuba diving. Her book, Lifestorm, on the Oakland Hills fire, is available on Amazon. She is an executive and personal coach as well, offering phone and in-person coaching.
About the Author
Denise P. Kalm, CA, Inc. formerly Cybermation
Let's reconnect with old friends and colleagues through these interviews. Steve Samson was a Senior Technical Consultant, Candle Corporation focused on OS/390 and z/OS performance management. He was known as a speaker, consultant and author on mainframes and systems management topics. We knew him from his wonderful CMG presentations and his participation as an active volunteer.
Measure IT: All of us remember you doing so much for CMG. Tell us about your roles in the organization.
Steve Samson: I started off as an author and presenter, starting in about 1986 and continuing almost until my retirement in 2003. Some of my best CMG memories are of the split sessions that Bill Mullen and I shared. We disagreed about many things, but I think we each learned much from each other.
I became editor of CMG Transactions in the 1995-96 timeframe, and was elected to the CMG Board in 1996 with responsibility for publications. I served on the Board until 1998.
I continued as editor until the Transactions was redirected.
MIT: Are you retired now? What are you up to?
SS: I retired from Candle Corporation after twenty years' service, at the end of 2003. With that retirement, I left the world of mainframes, except to complete the softcopy edition of my book, MVS Performance Management: z/OS Version 1 Edition. I continue to lurk on the IBM-MAIN newsgroup and occasionally answer a question or join a discussion.
With the end of my travels I was able to devote much more time to playing Duplicate Bridge, finally making Life Master in 2007. I served as President of our bridge club and have served as Club Manager for several years.
I also volunteer with the AARP-IRS TCE program, preparing Federal and state income taxes for seniors and low to middle income people. I find this work very satisfying; we're getting ready now for the new season, my sixth.
MIT: How is your current life choice working out for you?
SS: I like my life a lot. Summer in the desert is a bit hard to take but the approach we follow is to stay inside and pay the electric bill.
MIT: What are your biggest challenges now?
SS: Finding a reliable bridge partner.
MIT: What's happening with you personally (family, hobbies, avocations, pets)?
SS: We are now the proud grandparents of two, Elisheva and Ari. Because they live in San Francisco, we can only see them a couple of times a year and stay in touch with weekly phone calls and occasional Webcam sessions.
My hobbies are mostly playing bridge and reading, and I get all of those I want. I also enjoy solving people's PC problems and especially performance problems. (Big surprise!)
Our current pet is a three year old Shih Tzu hooligan named Chewy. We got him when he was nine months old and realized how he got his name. We left his toys in a wicker basket his first night with us. Next morning, no wicker basket.
MIT: What, if anything, do you miss about the IT days?
SS: Not much; a large part of my expertise was made obsolete by the growth and acceptance of Workload Manager and other autonomic computing initiatives. The challenges of taming Windows systems are enough for me now.
MIT: Any regrets about not being intensely active in IT now? Anything you wish you could have done during your IT days?
SS: Not many regrets, except for losing touch with a lot of interesting people.
MIT: If you couldn't have been in IT, what would you have done with your life?
SS: Good question-probably some kind of mundane engineering field.
MIT: Any thoughts as to where you would like to see CMG going in the future?
SS: Harness the experience of CMG members to push for improved education in math and the sciences, either as a lobbying group or by recruiting and supporting volunteers.
Readers: If you know any former CMG member who has moved on from IT or has otherwise reinvented themselves, please let the editors know so we can reconnect. We all have a very long work life and sometimes, making that move is the best thing you can do.