Re: Advancing from Unix Sysadmin to Programmer
From: Gary Armstrong (garyarm_remThis_at_testedgeinc.com)
Date: 05/21/04
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Date: Fri, 21 May 2004 07:17:06 -0700
Martin McMahon wrote:
> Hello there.
>
> I am a 33 year old Unix System Admin and am currently at a stage
> in my career where I have identified a change is needed in my career.
>
> I am nearly finished (one year left) a B.Sc. in Information Technology
> and have approx. 8 years of solid Unix System Admin experience behind
> me. I am also proficient in Shell Programming, Perl and reasonably
> proficient in C. I do not have experience in OO programming, but am
> practising at home on personal projects.
>
> I would be very grateful if there is someone out there who could
> answer this question for me, or who has gone through the same scenario.
> My question is:
>
> Is it possible at this stage of my life to transfer (by whatever
> means) to a purely programming role, considering my age,
> experience and education?
>
> Any experiences, opinions and criticisms are all appreciated.
> I realise some may say that Unix Sysadmins *are* programmers,
> but I do not believe that to be the case - we are more like
> mechanics who maintain what has been designed and occasionally
> repair or tack on certain additions of our own.
>
Uhhmmm, if I had to guess that's what most programmers do. I'd bet there
are more maintaining and adding on, then inventing.
> Finally for anyone who might believe I'm being rash -
> I did not suddenly decide this, but have been thinking and mulling
> this over in my head for over a year now. A conversation I had with
> my boss recently (by far the best and open minded manager I have
> ever worked for) is what enabled me to realise I needed to make a
> decision.
In my opinion, the coding experience isn't the major factor. Gaining the
domain experience is what takes time. Understanding how and what the
program should do is what will make you and your programs good. If you
code with no input to the spec, what fun is that( I think the term is
code pig )?
Just my $.02
Gary
BTW: I do both. I'm the only sysadmin and programmer at my company. The
computing environment and the programs used in production are mine.
Obviously we b small. 8^)
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