When new hires seemed ready, they would go on a site visit with either myself or an experienced member of the group. The idea was the new person would participate in the technical work of a live field installation, and then conduct the training sessions with assistance from the experienced staffer.
The closer the customer was to the office the better, to keep travel expenses for two as low as possible. There were quite a few local customers back then, and those were ideal.
I preferred to trust an experienced member of the group, rather than going myself. It encouraged teamwork, while giving staffers who showed potential an opportunity to take a supervisory role.
The timeframe I’m talking about, by the way, was 1987, at the peak of the minicomputer era. In those days, an installation typically took an entire workweek, including travel. Leaving on a Monday and returning that Friday was the norm, with the more distant destinations requiring Sunday departures. Toronto? Leave Boston on a Monday morning. Seattle? Leave Sunday.
My group was always first in the installation schedule to go onsite at a customer. After the training visit a new staffer would fly solo and work alone. We were a System group, and we very rarely traveled with someone from an Application group in the company. This is an important point in Ted’s story, as will be explained later.
The upshot was that Ted did all right on his training visit. He managed the software installation and testing with minimal supervision, and he was a natural at conducting the training sessions. My boss and I were pleased with our new hire, and I forgot about my “little warning bell.”