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<div style="">I disagree! Flame flame flame! ;)<br>
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More seriously, if you are interested in kernel or embedded development, C is fine. There are other languages you'll want to pick up later, but it's not a bad starting point. Just understand that it's very niche and you will experience career flexibility
limitation if you choose to focus there.<br>
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<div style="font-size: 13px;"><font size="3"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Josh More</span></font> | Senior Security Consultant - CISSP, GIAC-GSLC Gold, GIAC-GCIH<br>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Alliance Technologies</span> | <a href="http://www.AllianceTechnologies.net" style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">
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<div style="direction: ltr;" id="divRpF974481"><font color="#000000" size="2" face="Tahoma"><b>From:</b> cialug-bounces@cialug.org [cialug-bounces@cialug.org] on behalf of Matthew Nuzum [newz@bearfruit.org]<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, July 20, 2011 13:37<br>
<b>To:</b> Central Iowa Linux Users Group<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Cialug] Cialug Beginnings<br>
</font><br>
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<p>C is becoming a niche skill these days. It implies only three industries I know of: driver/kernel development, embedded development (we're arguably in the post C world here too) and algorithm/library/high performance computing world. At the least, many have
moved on to c++.</p>
<p>I'm getting back to opinionated ground, but I don't usually encourage people to start out with old technology. The stuff that's bleeding edge today will be entering mainstream in 3-4 years and be in demand.</p>
<p>C as a language represents all that is archaic and old. At least use something object oriented. C++, Java, C# and Go are examples.<br>
</p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Jul 20, 2011 11:38 AM, "Pawel" <<a href="mailto:pdarowski@gmail.com" target="_blank">pdarowski@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution">
> So a hiring manager would like to hear about some personal projects? Perhaps<br>
> one good example of an overcome challenge? I guess it would paint a decent<br>
> picture of the applicant's self-motivation and ability to seek answers.<br>
> <br>
> Thanks for all your input. I'm beginning to see that the biggest challenge<br>
> of development [in my eyes] is having a vision or finding that interesting<br>
> problem that needs solving. Once it's found, the rest is research and<br>
> determination.<br>
> <br>
> Two more quick question while I still have the floor! :) How important are<br>
> certifications in the real world? And please, what is the "industry<br>
> standard" for C certificates? I'm having an impossible time finding a C<br>
> cert... And my instructors don't really know of any.<br>
> <br>
> <br>
> See you around,<br>
> <br>
> Pawel Darowski<br>
> <a href="mailto:PDarowski@gmail.com" target="_blank">PDarowski@gmail.com</a><br>
> <br>
> On Wed, Jul 20, 2011 at 9:44 AM, Matthew Nuzum <<a href="mailto:newz@bearfruit.org" target="_blank">newz@bearfruit.org</a>> wrote:<br>
> <br>
>> On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 5:03 PM, Pawel <<a href="mailto:pdarowski@gmail.com" target="_blank">pdarowski@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
>><br>
>>><br>
>>> Since I cannot attend meetings for quite some time, perhaps the IRC<br>
>>> channel would be a good place to start taking advantage of the knowledge<br>
>>> that already exists in this group. My question is: how did some of you start<br>
>>> your careers as Linux professionals? My goal is to use Linux in my<br>
>>> professional life from Day 1.<br>
>>><br>
>><br>
>> I too am usually unable to make it to the meetings. I do about one per<br>
>> year. However I still feel reasonably involved with the group by<br>
>> participating on the list.<br>
>><br>
>><br>
>>><br>
>>> Any tips, stories, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.<br>
>>> Thank you,<br>
>>><br>
>><br>
>> The common thread among the people I've met through this group is that<br>
>> we're tinkerers. Find some fascinating problem or challenge and dig into it.<br>
>> Back in "the day" the most interesting linux problem was figuring out how to<br>
>> get it to actually install. This one has been pretty soundly dealt with now<br>
>> though. :-)<br>
>><br>
>> (in my case I owned only about 5 working floppies and lived off campus at<br>
>> ISU (near towers) and had to ride my bike to Durham to download 5 slackware<br>
>> disks, then ride back home to complete the next phase of the install -<br>
>> which, btw, is slower than a 14.4k modem)<br>
>><br>
>> Some people are financially motivated - they want to run PHP or Ruby or a<br>
>> server and make websites for money. A huge number of people I've dealt with<br>
>> are into Games and want to make their own. You'll not find a more diverse<br>
>> set of development tools than is available in Linux (check out PyGame). Yet<br>
>> others are into robotics or hardware hacking which is yet again very well<br>
>> suited for Linux. A few people use Linux to hook up to their TV to record<br>
>> and watch TV shows.<br>
>><br>
>> By the way, this kind of activity looks great to potential employers. They<br>
>> really like to see people who are problem solves and are self-motivated to<br>
>> learn new skills and explore new ways of doing things.<br>
>><br>
>> I will say that there are three trends to keep in mind as you're looking<br>
>> for interesting challenges:<br>
>><br>
>> 1. We're in an increasingly heterogeneous environment - windows, mac os,<br>
>> linux, ipads and more all need to talk to each other<br>
>> 2. The web is either the most important application deployment platform<br>
>> now, or is right up there (this ties into the prev point)<br>
>> 3. Mobile is huge (and the number one mobile platform in the world runs<br>
>> Linux)<br>
>><br>
>> (You asked for opinions...)<br>
>><br>
>> --<br>
>> Matthew Nuzum<br>
>> newz2000 on freenode, skype, linkedin and twitter<br>
>><br>
>> ♫ You're never fully dressed without a smile! ♫<br>
>><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>> _______________________________________________<br>
>> Cialug mailing list<br>
>> <a href="mailto:Cialug@cialug.org" target="_blank">Cialug@cialug.org</a><br>
>> <a href="http://cialug.org/mailman/listinfo/cialug" target="_blank">http://cialug.org/mailman/listinfo/cialug</a><br>
>><br>
>><br>
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