I am computer consultant for some years and was coming to "informatique" more than fifteen years ago as system programmer... I think my backgroung as a mathematics teacher was helping me in this.
My firts job was mostly installing databases on mini-computers, transferring form one big bull machine to an other one and assisting programmers with the problems they had in wrinting and distributing applications for hospitals.
Then I was going to "Norsk Data", a computer manifacturer known as the CERN machines builder. There, I was technical support for Databases and Office automation for Middle Europe, and later Responsible for Edication and giving courses in OS, DB, RT, and so on.
My next and last job as Employee was with a statistical office in Switzerland, as boss of their "computers group" and mostly to develop a stastistical database... but they were not having the money to make it.
Now, as computer consultant near Geneva, I develop alone DB solutions with Access, SQL Server and VB, but with a strong emphasys on classes, components and "meta-construction". This is to say that I am finding what I am searching for mostly in Uni and High school publications, still waiting the "commercial computer milieu" to grow up. But, as I have to "gain my life" making computer applications, I have also to go through a lot of small problems and turnarrounds in the real products, as all the people in EE...!