What It's Like to Work at U.S. Space and Rocket Center

Computerworld -

Interviewee: Larry Levaas, information systems manager
Company: U.S. Space and Rocket Center, home to Space Camp, the Aviation Challenge program, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and other space and aeronautics history exhibits. The center is operated as an agency of the Alabama state government.
Location: Huntsville, Ala.
Number of IT employees: Four people support all administrative systems. A separate eight-person information technology staff supports the workstations and simulation software used for Space Camp and the Aviation Challenge.
Number of employees (end users): About 300 in Huntsville. The Huntsville IT staff also supports remote sites in Titusville, Fla. (the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame), Merced, Calif., and Mountain View, Calif., where there are other Space Camp and Aviation Challenge locations.
Mission-critical systems: An AS/400-based reservations system and call center, a Windows NT-based network for ticketing and food service point-of-sale systems plus a membership system and a Novell Inc. NetWare-based network for accounting, payroll and merchandise point-of-sale systems.
Upcoming IT projects: Upgrading the current online camp registration form to a real-time, online reservations system.
It seems your environment is somewhat more low-tech than one might expect. "My department has only existed since April 1997. For four years before that, it was just me - I started here in 1991 as an accountant, and when they decided to upgrade that system from an IBM System/36, they put me in charge." He had implemented an accounting system network while in the Army.
Compensation and bonuses: "Because we're a state agency, we're not allowed to give bonuses per se, but when the system is working right, we get annual performance-appraisal pay raises. It's difficult to be competitive on salary. I lost two people this year who left for higher-paying positions. I tried to get them more money . . . but management's position was that we can't barter."
IT training: "It has been my policy to get people out for training once a year."
Dress code: "We don't require coats and ties, but we don't wear jeans either. Camp counselors wear NASA jumpsuits, and the Space Camp IT staff wears Space and Rocket Center T-shirt and shorts."
Workday: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Come on. Really? "I come in early because I'm an early bird. And we're all four on call. . . . We don't normally work weekends, but the exhibits are open all year except for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and every so often, something happens with the [point-of-sale] systems that requires attention. I expect we'll put in some extra hours with the