I started in 1998 with VB 4.0. I know 6.0 was out, but the firm I was working for didn't want to invest in a licence.

I was excited, when I finally got my hands on VB 6.0. Intellisense was just plain awesome. I dabbled in it a bit and moved to ASP and IIS. This was around 2000. Also moved from file based databases like Access to a more robust MS SQL Server 7.0

I worked for .COM, which went bust. The bright side was I had added Java & a small bit of Unix Scripting to my skills.

The next job I held was for developing applications for a big bank. This was where I was forced to learn and adapt to processes. Estimations played a big part. Something that I had rarely done during the .COM days. First we were asked to estimate and then our project managers committed to those estimates. The estimates became deadlines and that resulted in late nights and a lot of caffeine.

Programming now is a lot more process oriented than it was in the earlier days. In the earlier days, you were given a task and you completed it when you could complete it. Today, you are expected to give an estimate, even before you start on a task. There's a lot more emphasis on documentation, which was not the case earlier. Job security has been tossed out in favor of a process based organization.