Staley joined Cargill in 1969 following a summer internship as a data processor in 1966. At the time, the nature of the data processor was not revealed. He spends one episode working with Chandler as an entry-level data processor. The central processor (315 Data Processor) weighed about . In despair, the data processor commits suicide. In 1976, he joined the Marines as an Automated Data Processor. Its primary task is to operate the EVN MkIV VLBI Data Processor (correlator). A central controller (the resource manager) resides in the Data Processor (DP).