Mark Welker is a mechanical engineer who began working for International Business Machines (IBM) at the IBM Space Guidance Center in Owego, New York, in 1963. He transferred to IBM's new site in Boulder in 1966, worked in the tape drive and printer divisions, and held various positions in engineering, product management, business services, and market intelligence over the course of his 43-year career at IBM. He discusses changes at IBM over four decades, including women in engineering and alcohol policies in the workplace; mentions other high-tech companies in Boulder and Denver; and talks about the impact of IBM on the community. He briefly describes social life and family life in Boulder, plus the elements that make Boulder a desirable place to live, from the 1960s-1990s.
Topics discussed include: alcohol in the workplace, Amazon, Ball Brothers, Boulder (1960s), Boulder (1970s), Boulder (1980s), Boulder (1990s), Boulder (2000s), computer engineering, computer industry, disk drives, Gardner Denver, IBM Owego Space Guidance Center, IBM, International Business Machines, magnetic tape drives, manufacturing engineering, market intelligence, Martin Marietta, Miniscribe, National Bureau of Standards, NCAR, Owego (New York), printers, Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant, Salesforce.com, Storage Technology Corporation (STC), women in engineering.