I am a nerd, my entire life. And that’s okay. I like the DC and Marvel Universe, I like Star Wars and Star Trek. It made my day when Mark Hamill liked a tweet that I replied on his account.
Even though I’ve been an IT guy my entire career, being into IT is not the definition of a nerd. Although, most IT folks I know are nerds. I do have to say that after working for thirty years as everything from an Applications Developer to a Project Manager. When I retired and tried to take a part time job with Hershey Entertainment, I did three jobs in a year and never felt comfortable in any. With my resume on Indeed I was offered an interview for a Software Management Analyst. I interviewed one day and was offered the job the next. Initially, it was a six month offer, I’ve been doing that job for the past three and a half years, it feels comfortable.
I’ve had friends and family look at me skeptically because while watching any Star Wars movie I can recite dialog with Luke, Han, or Vader. I’ve seen every Marvel movie and was absolutely giddy before the Spiderman, Far from Home movie that I bought tickets for two weeks in advance for opening night. When I was a kid, I could only afford to buy a comic book occasionally, when I did, I bought my two favorites, Spiderman, and Captain America. I wanted to be both of them, sort of Captain Spider.
Because I am a nerd, I love what DC, Marvel, Star Wars and Star Trek represents. This is how I see myself and a lot of folks as nerds. We are the people that the world seems to shit on. We are the ones that wait our turn in line. We are the ones that show up for work everyday and do our jobs without seeking attention. We say please and thank you, we never make a “Karen” scene. We tolerate other people’s loud and obnoxious behavior. We are sympathetic to the waiter or waitress and if everything isn’t perfect, we stay quiet and accept they did their best.
We are also the ones that get passed over for promotions. After thirty years of working IT because the bold and obnoxious thought I was too old for IT, they determined that I needed to retire. Now in my job as an IT Contractor I was told I needed to prove my worth, my first year working I found savings at more than ten times my salary.
If you stayed with me, and I appreciate that, this is why I love DC, Marvel, Star Wars and Star Trek. In their universe good always wins. The mild-mannered reporter stops the bold and obnoxious. Ray defeats Palpatine and peace and freedom is restored. In the end Thanos is defeated. There is no one more virtuous than Steve Rodgers.
For people like me who wait my turn and follow all the rules just to see those scheme for an advantage win the game. We don’t aspire for superpowers to rule over others, we want them to make life fair for those like us.
Mike Settino 