The question is why did a young woman who had just left school with plans to go to university to study Computer Science end up working in a restaurant business which effectively changed the course of her future?
Wilma was working part time in the restaurant during the holidays after leaving school, to save up some money before university. It was an extremely exciting time in Aberdeen as the offshore oil business boomed and many high-end restaurants and hotels opened. Wilma was able to turn her hand to most things they asked her to do in the restaurant, from waiting on tables to doing payroll. They bought a Commodore Pet computer to help them analyse their sales and Wilma got involved with that too. I realise many of you will be saying a Commodore Pet? It was one of the very early personal computers and they are now collectable.
She loved the whole buzz of the place and Aberdeen was very much the place to be. This probably explains why she decided to take a gap year and took on the role of front of house for the restaurant.
As the year came to an end Wilma made the decision to put her newly acquired skills in business and computing to work rather than going to university. She got a job in London with a company called Package Programs of London PLC, on the administrative side. Her skills allowed her to get involved in all sorts of IT projects.
She was made responsible for the review and subsequent decision of which word processing solution the company should implement. A forward-thinking Wilma chose MultiMate on the brand new IBM PC with twin floppy disks. Leading edge stuff!
PPL started to sell this solution and sent Wilma off to become a qualified IBM engineer to ensure they could provide technical support. I know for a fact there were very few women IBM engineers in the early 1980s. Later on they started selling Novel Network solutions and Wilma again became a qualified network engineer.
This was the start of an amazing career which has encompassed providing services and service solutions for both applications and infrastructure. Wilma was often at the leading edge of technologies, as well as managing inherited solutions which require infinite care and support in order to keep the business going. Wilma’s career has also covered a wide variety of organisations from financial institutions, IT companies, publishing, pest control, oil and gas and ULEZ. She has had a truly global career, with teams providing support 24/7 around the world and latterly working in America for a couple of years.
Now retired she is back in her beloved Aberdeenshire, living in the countryside, with her two dogs, running a Fishery which has lots of new challenges.
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