I started using UNIX in 1981 or so. I was working part-time in the Department of Radiology, Division of Radiobiology at The Ohio State University. Thanks to the insight and leadership of the principal investigator on the project (Dr. Stephen D’Ambrosio) we had some Fortune 32:16 microcomputers running a combination of UNIX V7 and 4.1BSD.
It was a system ahead of its time. I think I might have written my first C program on that system; I remember plenty of telephone calls with my brother Bob who lived in Seattle at the time. He was always a good listener.
I went on to use UNIX the rest of my career. What happens to us is always strictly a matter of luck in some way. Becoming involved with software development and computers in the late 70s and early 80s was a winning lottery ticket for me, and one of many I would receive over the course of my life.
John Sambrook 