Sysadmin switch to developer?

[ghostlines]

I've been a sysadmin for a while and System & Network Engineering was my major at college. At college I learned programming but didn't pick it as my major because it was more difficult than programming. I didn't want to take any risk at not completing college. During my sysadmin days I've scripted a few things at home and for work.

During the end of my last job I did a lot of scripting to automate stuff and enjoyed it. I like solving interesting problems. I'm now switching from sysadmin to a developer job. At the new company they use macs and some open source software which I prefer and didn't have at my last job.

I like the idea of working on the same type of machine I use at home(mac) and using an open source OS on the server side(linux). I 'dislike' windows and couldn't find a Linux sysadmin job, but did find what seems to be a cool developer job that I'll begin soon.

While browsing the net I was looking up skills and habits of what makes a good programmer. And it has me slightly doubting if my above motives are right for choosing this job. I don't want to be the odd one out at the new company.

What are your guys thoughts?

 

[wct097]

As a developer all I can offer is some general advice. Stop getting hung up on "open source" and "dislike of Windows". That severely limits your job opportunities and career development. I'm not saying you can't be successful by shunning Windows and only working with Macs (same as Windows in relation to "open source") and open source OSes... just that you're severely limiting yourself when the overwhelming majority of business uses Windows. I've worked with a number of technologies that I dislike. Some of them pay pretty well..... Teradata for example.

Don't worry about "skills and habits" that some website defines as making a "good programmer". It's a career where you constantly hone, refine, and improve your skills. Nobody expects a junior or entry level developer to be superman. Your best bet, in my opinion, is to do more listening than talking and to learn from the people you're working with. When I came out of college, I thought I was a hotshot. I learned more in the first year in my first job than I have in my combined 16+ years of school.

 

[ghostlines]

Thanks for the good advice! I guess I can work with stuff I dislike, but gave the preference to this new job cuz it uses tech that I prefer.

Good point that they won't be expecting a genius, and still are giving me a shot. So I'll try and pick up as much as I can and make sure I don't just coast and keep on improving.