Christophe Kalt wrote:
Hi Shaun! On Jan 30, Shaun T. Erickson wrote: | sage@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote: |>Hi, |> |>I haven't seen very many good sysadmins. |>I haven't seen very many good programmers. |>Of those that I have seen, the good sysadmins were also good programmers. | | So, are you saying that sysadmins who are not programmers are not good | sysadmins? Sure, they can be good, but in my opinion& experience, they'll never be as good as sysadmins who are also good programmers. That's why i don't even bother interviewing candidates who can't program at all.
Interesting. In my experience, sysadmins who become good programmers tend to change jobs and quit being sysadmins. If you're looking for programming talent, sysadmins can be a good pool to select from, but if you're looking for someone who'll be content to remain a sysadmin, then you don't want someone who excels at programming.
On the other hand, someone who has good familiarity with low-level system programming concepts tends to have a better understanding of how systems are put together and how to troubleshoot when they go wrong.
I was going to make a comment about laziness but perhaps the better word is efficiency - someone who recognizes repetitive tasks and tends to script them may be viewed as motivated by laziness. But it's definitely a bit of a programmer mindset, and it's definitely an advantage for a sysadmin.
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