Re: [SAGE] Programmers as.. sysadmins..

[Jonathan Crompton <sage-members@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dustin Puryear wrote:

> So, my question: Have you found, in your experience, that programmers 
> make bad sysadmins? I have. I'm not saying that all programmers are bad 
> sysadmins, or that PAST programmers make bad CURRENT sysadmins, but that 
> CURRENT programmers almost always make bad CURRENT sysadmins, even if 
> small settings.

I think programmers and sys admins have very similar skill sets but
slightly different personality traits.  Both need to be able to
abstract problems, express concepts in code, and debug the broken.
But a sys admin is happier in an interrupt driven environment keeping
several balls in the air, whereas a programmer tends to be serially monogamous
with their projects.  That said, I'm from the old school and think programmers
need to understand what their code is doing to the operating environment, and
admins need to be able to code the repetitive.

Jonathan, sysadmin
(My other half's a programmer)