Perhaps as interesting to look at from an outsiders point of view. Relatively late to the internet party.
Got started in computing at the university, back when time share was a brilliant new technology. University machine was a Burroughs 6600 and the time share was definitely not ready for prime time. It was much more efficient to punch card decks and submit batch jobs since: A: The terminals were all either 150 baud or 300 baud teletype consoles, B: The system crashed several times an hour.
Later, at a large DOD contractor, was dimly aware of the internet, but only a few researchers actually had accounts and access. Built my own Z80 based computers to do my own computing since corporation had not yet seen the value in engineers with access to computing power outside of the context of large simulations or batch computation. Didn't find much value in the 300 baud telephone based networks so depended more on sneakernet at various venues to exchange software. Might have been different if I lived in the boonies, but at that time in Southern California there were many, many contacts for software and data.
Finally graduated to AOL and higher speed modems in the late 1980s. I had by then provided key family members with my castoff Z80 based computers so now there was a use for email, and a need for interfaces that non-engineers could deal with. AOL was priced right (the multiple user names per account didn't have to be in the same city so the whole family only used one account) and had local dial up access just about everywhere.
At about the same time work started providing a desktop computer per workgroup (about 10 or 15 engineers) and a decent speed internet connection. Web became a little bit useful, but it wasn't an environment to sit around chatting.
Another year or two and due to my senior staff position I get my own desktop computer (a DEC Rainbow) and the entire corporation goes onto DEC's proprietary network. Lots of work done, but it isn't really the internet.
It wasn't until the mid to late-1990s when high speed connections came to the home, and a few corporate mergers normalized the work computing environment to a more compatible standard that I got any use out of the world wide web.
To me, the truly modern era began when vendors starting putting their data sheets/catalogs and price lists on the web. My recollection was that this started a little before 2000 and wasn't mature for several years.