Does your computer make you a geek?

SAN FRANCISCO (JP): Working for hours and hours before the computer makes you a bespectacled geek without any fashion taste, no social life, no girlfriend or boyfriend - you are nothing but a boring nerd.

Right? Wrong!

Computer-based workers are as neat and trendy as other professionals. They work hard, but also play hard.

Just take a look at Larry Ellison, the big boss of Oracle. This 56-year-old bachelor has a glamorous lifestyle like a Hollywood movie star - maybe better. He loves sailing, and playing golf and tennis, and enjoys playing around with sexy women. He wanted to buy a US$20 million MiG, but ran afoul of the U.S. customs. He already owns a US$38 million Gulfstream jet even though he is not allowed to fly it over the city after 11 p.m.

"The neighbors complain that it's too noisy," said Marty Ward, the product line manager of Veritas software developer.

"He (Ellison) lives in a Hollywood-like atmosphere and they are now trying to make movies about him," Ward added.

Not many computer moguls lead lives like Ellison, who wears $3,000 suits and reportedly has berated Bill Gates, saying that his late mother had attempted to get him to change his clothes more often.

IT workers want to have fun, too. Gone are the days when computer people were portrayed as old-fashioned, lonely, dull people whose best friend was a machine.

And the big bucks they earn allow them to lead a good life. In Silicon Valley, the annual starting salary of a computer science graduate is about $80,000, according to an IT worker. As a comparison, a newly graduated architect earns about $2,500 a month.

"Some still call us 'geek', but we take the word as a compliment," Ward told The Jakarta Post at his exhibition booth during the Oracle OpenWorld 2000.

He seems proud of the label 'geek' as it now has a different connotation -- no longer negative, but positive.

Ward works in front of his computer about 40 hours a week, including about two hours a day at home.

"I have two boys and I still have time to have fun with my family," said the friendly man, who likes mountain climbing.

Steve Gustafson, CRM Segment Manager of IBM Web Server, admitted that some computer scientists are real geeks.

"But there are very few. These people are those who invent new concepts and thus they need to do a lot of thinking," he said. "Their social skills are not as good as their computer skills."

In the past, people used to regard computer scientists as nerds because the technology was hard to understand. As they could not follow them, they felt bored and got the idea that those involved in the field were dull.

"If you don't understand something, you will think that it is boring," Gustafson said.

When the computer began to be heavily used in business in the 1960s, it was a bulky machine that was complicated and hard to operate. Now, in addition to the desktop, there are laptops and even palm notes which are as small as your wallet. And even children do not have difficulty operating those sophisticated things.

There are now between 150 million and 200 million PCs and the number will keep going up as more people and businesses become dependent on computers.

As a result, there is an increasing demand for IT workers which remains unfulfilled. Mike Ruettgers of EMC Corporation said that there is an acute global IT labor shortage.

"In the U.S., 50 percent of the job vacancies are unfilled, in Europe, it is 80 percent," he said.

Even though IT workers is one of the hottest professions -- and one of the best-paid ones, there is at least one computer scientist who prefers to pursue a totally different career. Scott Meltzer, 38, plunged himself in the comedy industry instead.

During the exhibition at the Oracle WorldOpen, he was seen juggling to entertain visitors at a booth belonging to a software firm. Juggling balls and some other objects along with his partner who is a graduate in social studies and English from Copenhagen, Katerine Spang-Hanssen, Meltzer fluently talked about the usefulness of the software.

"I really like to be on stage. I want to make a living and have fun," he said after the show was over.

Does he think IT workers are geeks?

"Some might be geeks. But they are a great audience." (sim)