I suspect that I am a good few years later than most people in arriving at this point, but I hope that I’m not the only one who has struggled to make the decision: admin or dev? Do I turn my geekery talents to being a system administrator (or a variant, like network admins) or do I try and progress as a developer.
So - Dear Lazyweb…… what helped you make your decision?
Admin?
I’ve always enjoyed working with computers, and, like most geeks, find myself doing, and enjoying, a bit of both. I love working, in particular, in a *nix environment, and I’ve done some support work. I continue to do some of the maintenance on the church office systems. However, there are 2 major drawbacks. Firstly, getting a *nix job is hard, and I’m much more likely to find myself working in a Windows environment. Secondly, I am aware of the vast amount of knowledge I don’t have, and I worry that I wouldn’t be able to handle all the new stuff.
Dev?
I began programming with my Dad’s Amstrad CPC464 22 years ago. I’ve continued the passion through the years, and I continue to write, and contribute to, bits of software, particularly in Python. I’ve got my name in the credits of one bit of software (Jokosher, although I feel a bit of a fraud, given the amount of code I actually contributed) and I’ve got a new piece of software due out in a couple of months. Part of my actual job involves developing in various languages. However, the majority of dev jobs are in Java, which I don’t really want to learn if I don’t have to, and I am worried that I wouldn’t be able to cope with projects other than basic scripting. (And basic scripting skills tend to lend themselves nicely to admin jobs, rather than dev jobs…..)
Pearls of wisdom gratefully received.
mrBen
Enjoy.
