Hello, my name is Robert H. Randolph, BA Mathematics, 1959 from UMKC, formerly the University of Kansas City. After graduation on Sunday, May 31, 1959, I took the slow train to Los Angeles, California to seek my fortune. The only job alternative in Kansas City at the time for an African-American with a degree was the U.S. Postal Service.
On the other hand, California seemed like the land of golden opportunity. After one and a half years of unemployment and underemployment (a brief stint as a dishwasher), I took a computer programming course at Los Angeles City College. The cost was $2.50. Later that Fall, I got my first professional job as a Math Analyst in a control systems engineering group at Douglas Aircraft Company.
I came back to my old job at Douglas, after a ten-month stint on active duty in the army during the Berlin Crisis in 1961. Several months later I was laid off. Four weeks later I took a job as a computer programmer in the Apollo Programming Department. Two years later I moved to Seattle, Washington to work at the Boeing Company. Initially, I worked on a task force of senior programmers implementing a key phase of the Lunar Orbiter Project. This project led to the first maps of the moon's surface in preparation for the first moon landing in 1969. From there I went to work in Digital Equipment Corporation's Seattle office. In that job I had the opportunity to supply Bill Gates some computer instruction manuals that helped him better understand interactive computer systems.
After a promotion to Digital's Senior Management, I left Digital and later returned to work at its Boston headquarters as a Senior Product Manager in its Large Computer Group. Now I am semi-retired: enjoying a new career as an author (recently published memoirs, "Rich White Folks" - Life and times in Kansas City, at Lincoln High School, and at UMKC, in the 1940's and 50's.), I have spent the latter part of my career as an International Computer Industry Analyst and Consultant.
The words of Dr. Maria Castellani have been the linchpin of my long and varied career (and life). Dr. Castellani often regaled our small group of Mathematics students with the mantra - "Mathematics is a way of thinking."
[See excerpts from Robert's book on his UKC mathematics experiencehere.
Robert H. Randolph