From a 2015 email exchange with Ron DJ Plummer:
I wasn't involved in the earliest UNIX days though I worked with many of the iconic figures from those days.
My first technology job was with 1Bell Telephone Laboratories in Piscataway, NJ in 1980 in a C and UNIX development group, as part of a 500 programmer initiative to build a software system to inventory and manage all telephone company physical plant and outside plant assets - even down to copper wire pairs running to the home.
Our development effort resulted in the successful implementation of the UNIX OS on top of a 2UNIVAC mainframe.
My academic training prior to that had been at Rutgers University College of Engineering as an electrical engineer with a focus on computer systems.
The development group I was a member of included PhD's from various disciplines - software, statistics, psychology, industrial engineering and electrical engineering (me).
The experience was primarily an extension of our academic experiences (colloquiums, research papers, collaboration) with the exception of sort of focused milestones and deadlines as opposed to the folks who worked in basic research.
This time was the best work experience I remember to this day and the most significant factor in the evolution of my interest in technology.
As a member of technical staff, each member of the group served multiple roles and contributed where their expertise and experience best fit.
I was a systems/network administrator and programmer during those years.
Bell Labs had already been part of the early ARPANET and Internet by the time I arrived.
My first experience with a pre-cursor to the Internet was at Rutgers a couple of years earlier working on and with the 3Plato System
I have been on the Internet since 1980 and to this day am involved in very large distributed technology projects utilizing the Internet.
Cousin of Gold, Episode 2: DJ Plummer's Technical Background