Leaving Banking - but not for too long

For some time I had been developing an interest in computers and had read

many books on their operation and programming - this was of course the time

of the huge mainframe with the programming capacity of a present day washing

machine. I was getting very bored with this head office lark and was talking

to one of my cousins one day about the problem. He worked for a company

called Mullards - then a global producer of electronic valves and

transistors. He suggested that they might have a vacancy for a trainee in

their computer department so off I went for an interview. I got stuck with

the classic bait and switch technique as in 'we can't offer you job in the

computer department yet but if you join us, we will try and transfer you

later'. So, having resigned from the bank in late October 1962, off I went

to Mullards, who were in Beddington - a short bus ride from home.

This new job was frankly a con. I was placed in the Costing department as a

junior clerk and was being trained to calculate the cost of producing

transistors on a monthly basis. There were so many exceptions and special

calculations and they were only done once a month that it would have taken

me years to grasp the intricacies. I was also reliably informed that the

computer department only ever employed trained people so there was little

likelihood of me getting a transfer. All of a sudden, a job in a bank looked

like a very good idea again.