Welcome to episode 255 of the Nerd Journey Podcast [@NerdJourney]! We’re John White (@vJourneyman) and Nick Korte (@NetworkNerd_) – two technology professionals with backgrounds in IT Operations and Sales Engineering on a mission to help others accelerate career progression and increase job satisfaction by bringing listeners the advice we wish we’d been given earlier in our careers. In today’s episode we share part 2 of an interview with Larry Roberts, discussing Larry’s experience as part of the IT group and his work on ERP system implementation, the cultural changes affecting him as a result of corporate acquisitions, his personal struggles with alcohol, and the story of his path to recovery and resilience. Original Recording Date: 11-11-2023 Larry Roberts is a budding entrepreneur and owner of Red Hat Media. Red Hat Media focuses on podcasting, building better brands through podcasting, and building better podcasts through leveraging AI tools. If you missed part one of our discussion with Larry, check out Episode 254. Topics – ERP and Implementation Experience, Acquisitions and the Struggles of Working in IT, A Changing Culture, Side Hustles, Getting Lost, Warning Signs and Recovery * Mentioned in the intro * We forgot to mention during the interview that ERP stands for enterprise resource planning. This is a business software with modules that integrate functions such as accounting, order entry, purchasing, warehouse operations, and perhaps transportation management into a single package. 3:36 – ERP and Implementation Experience * Larry was brought into the fold very early in the ERP system implementation process. This was around 2000 or 2001. * Larry feels like they had purchased the JD Edwards software already. * There were discussions on the version they would use (one that was an experience more like using Windows and one that was more of a green screen terminal experience). * Larry believes the decision had already been made to use the green screen version (JD Edwards World) of the application. * John says one of his first jobs was a search for an ERP system application. * John remembers being involved in determining if his company was going to choose the version with the GUI version or the green screen version. * The green screen versions of the software usually ran on a mainframe and were extremely fast, having a number of keyboard shortcuts users would need to learn. It was a high ramp up time to get proficient, but once trained people could do everything without needing to use a mouse. * The Windows versions looked prettier but were slower to use (lots of mouse clicks needed). * Larry says the team went with the green screen version of the JD Edwards software due to the very customized versions of WMS (warehouse management systems), and this was also a big RPG Programming shop. The company wanted the customizability on the back end. * Larry tells us he never really understood this decision, feeling like there was customization at each facility to match the way that facility did things instead of facilities adapting their processes to the way the system worked.