[theDaveB]

I started my first programming job, well trainee programmer in September 1989. Five people applied for the job and I ended up taking my TV and Atari ST to the interview to show them some stuff I had written in STOS Basic.

Got the job and started with dBase II on Concurrent DOS.

[SulphurSmell]

I am surprised I had to scroll this far to find a dBase reference. I am the same vintage as OP, and yeah... back in the day dBase was the key to riches...at least as a contract dev. I remember spending A Lot of Money on the big box of dBase IV when it was released...all the diskettes and manuals. Around that time there was much talk about migrating from dBase databases (those .dbf files) to the magic of "SQL" which at the time meant nothing to me. Needless to say dBase IV cratered, and the industry went elsewhere. Good times!

[fjfaase]

I also have some fond memories of writing a 'smart' algorithm in STOS Basic for generating Madelbrot fractals. And is still took hours to fill the screen.