I started working in IT in the mid‑90s, when cell phones still hadn’t reached every social group. Back then, field technicians used pagers. When we received a message, we had to find the nearest landline. We then called the office to ask for more information. Laptops were anything but portable—heavy bricks with limited features. Some models already came with modems, but they depended on a landline connection. WiFi? What’s that? At the time, checking something on the Internet was only possible at home or at the office. Information was still scarce and hard to find. We relied on thick technical manuals to understand how things worked. It was common to see technicians in data centers flipping through huge books whose information was already outdated. Even so, we always found a way to get things done—often through trial and error until things finally worked.

Email was already part of daily communication, but attachments had to be tiny. There were no cloud drives. Larger files had to be transported on diskettes, CDs, or the brand‑new 4.7GB DVDs. USB drives didn’t exist yet. There were no calendars or video‑conference meetings. The first instant‑messaging apps arrived at the end of the century—ICQ, Messenger, or Skype, which was later acquired by Microsoft. Computers and servers were installed using sets of 50 diskettes. If one diskette was damaged, the entire installation failed. Downloading a file from the Internet could take 300 trillion years (there’s evidence). The 90s were a lot of fun.

Now, 30 years later, we have corporate email and calendars packed with meetings. Tasks to finish in the project manager. Multiple laptops and phones with more power than the best server of that era. Cloud computing enabling massive capabilities. Ten different messaging apps. Satellite Internet available 24/7 in the most remote place on Earth. Biometric devices tracking our stress levels. Online surveillance cameras. The Internet of Things. Sensors, monitors, mobile apps, and technology everywhere. And of course, we can’t forget AI, which is changing the way society lives and thinks.

My job hasn’t changed much because of technology—but technology has changed a lot since I began in this job.