Boomers and Mechanical Engineers only - nostalgia warning !

[okie john]

My theory of why I could type minutes literally almost as fast as the conversation went in meetings was so many years on a mechanical typewriter.

I learned to type on one that was powered by a nearby stream. I’m regularly told to mute if I’m taking notes on conference calls.

Apparently I sound like stampeding horses.


Okie John

[feudist]

I have never learned to type.
I never touched a keyboard until my late 30s when I bought my first computer in 1998.
I gave myself Trigger Finger in my actual trigger finger banging one fingered on a keyboard with a bad "b" key when I was on a burglary task force.
So now I switch the one finger around.
I'd be crippled(er) trying to use one of those.

[BobM]

Reminds me of one of the best, and most memorable pieces of advice my father ever gave me.

I Was preparing my schedule for senior year of high school. My French teacher wanted me to take French three. My father looked at me over the dinner table and said, " you will never use French a single day of your life. You need to take typing. Your handwriting sucks " ( the handwriting sucks part was absolutely true).

At the time neither of us had any idea of the upcoming computer revolution.

Boy was he right!

I was able to get into a typing class my senior year of high school. It was a big help when I got into law enforcement

[ccmdfd]

The quick red fox jumped over the lazy brown dog.

The quick red fox jumped over the lazy brown dog.

The quick red fox jumped over the lazy brown dog.

[Duelist]

I learned how to type on an electric daisy wheel typewriter in junior high. I type faster now than I did then.

It was a fun class: there were lots of girls in it. None of them were interested in me, of course. I was tiny and awkward and shy.

[Joe in PNG]

Yep- the required freshman typing class has probably been the most useful thing I picked up through all the years- though college drafting was also pretty useful.
And that was back when computers were still mostly black & white.

[Coyotesfan97]

I was able to get into a typing class my senior year of high school. It was a big help when I got into law enforcement

I took typing in high school too. It really helped in college and LE.

[Paul D]

I took a typing class in junior high and driver's ed in high school.

Those skills I use and cherish every day.

French....not so much.

[revchuck38]

In my high school, typing was reserved for kids going into the workforce after graduation. College-bound kids like me had to learn on their own. Term papers would have been less of a pain if I had been able to use more than two fingers.

[mtnbkr]

Reminds me of one of the best, and most memorable pieces of advice my father ever gave me.

I Was preparing my schedule for senior year of high school. My French teacher wanted me to take French three. My father looked at me over the dinner table and said, " you will never use French a single day of your life. You need to take typing. Your handwriting sucks " ( the handwriting sucks part was absolutely true).

At the time neither of us had any idea of the upcoming computer revolution.

Boy was he right!

I took French in HS (and typing, so didn't miss out on that).

Your dad was right.

I have French colleagues and even a French direct report, but their English is better than my French.

I should have taken Spanish. I could use it at work and here around home every day. But we didn't see that coming back in the late 80s.

Chris