[Cialug] Cialug Beginnings

[Josh More]

I disagree!  Flame flame flame!  ;)


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.



Josh More | Senior Security Consultant - CISSP, GIAC-GSLC Gold, GIAC-GCIH
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________________________________
From: cialug-bounces at cialug.org [cialug-bounces at cialug.org] on behalf of Matthew Nuzum [newz at bearfruit.org]
Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 13:37
To: Central Iowa Linux Users Group
Subject: Re: [Cialug] Cialug Beginnings


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++.

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.

C as a language represents all that is archaic and old. At least use something object oriented. C++, Java, C# and Go are examples.

On Jul 20, 2011 11:38 AM, "Pawel" <pdarowski at gmail.com<mailto:pdarowski at gmail.com>> wrote:
> So a hiring manager would like to hear about some personal projects? Perhaps
> one good example of an overcome challenge? I guess it would paint a decent
> picture of the applicant's self-motivation and ability to seek answers.
>
> Thanks for all your input. I'm beginning to see that the biggest challenge
> of development [in my eyes] is having a vision or finding that interesting
> problem that needs solving. Once it's found, the rest is research and
> determination.
>
> Two more quick question while I still have the floor! :) How important are
> certifications in the real world? And please, what is the "industry
> standard" for C certificates? I'm having an impossible time finding a C
> cert... And my instructors don't really know of any.
>
>
> See you around,
>
> Pawel Darowski
> PDarowski at gmail.com<mailto:PDarowski at gmail.com>
>
> On Wed, Jul 20, 2011 at 9:44 AM, Matthew Nuzum <newz at bearfruit.org<mailto:newz at bearfruit.org>> wrote:
>
>> On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 5:03 PM, Pawel <pdarowski at gmail.com<mailto:pdarowski at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Since I cannot attend meetings for quite some time, perhaps the IRC
>>> channel would be a good place to start taking advantage of the knowledge
>>> that already exists in this group. My question is: how did some of you start
>>> your careers as Linux professionals? My goal is to use Linux in my
>>> professional life from Day 1.
>>>
>>
>> I too am usually unable to make it to the meetings. I do about one per
>> year. However I still feel reasonably involved with the group by
>> participating on the list.
>>
>>
>>>
>>> Any tips, stories, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>>> Thank you,
>>>
>>
>> The common thread among the people I've met through this group is that
>> we're tinkerers. Find some fascinating problem or challenge and dig into it.
>> Back in "the day" the most interesting linux problem was figuring out how to
>> get it to actually install. This one has been pretty soundly dealt with now
>> though. :-)
>>
>> (in my case I owned only about 5 working floppies and lived off campus at
>> ISU (near towers) and had to ride my bike to Durham to download 5 slackware
>> disks, then ride back home to complete the next phase of the install -
>> which, btw, is slower than a 14.4k modem)
>>
>> Some people are financially motivated - they want to run PHP or Ruby or a
>> server and make websites for money. A huge number of people I've dealt with
>> are into Games and want to make their own. You'll not find a more diverse
>> set of development tools than is available in Linux (check out PyGame). Yet
>> others are into robotics or hardware hacking which is yet again very well
>> suited for Linux. A few people use Linux to hook up to their TV to record
>> and watch TV shows.
>>
>> By the way, this kind of activity looks great to potential employers. They
>> really like to see people who are problem solves and are self-motivated to
>> learn new skills and explore new ways of doing things.
>>
>> I will say that there are three trends to keep in mind as you're looking
>> for interesting challenges:
>>
>> 1. We're in an increasingly heterogeneous environment - windows, mac os,
>> linux, ipads and more all need to talk to each other
>> 2. The web is either the most important application deployment platform
>> now, or is right up there (this ties into the prev point)
>> 3. Mobile is huge (and the number one mobile platform in the world runs
>> Linux)
>>
>> (You asked for opinions...)
>>
>> --
>> Matthew Nuzum
>> newz2000 on freenode, skype, linkedin and twitter
>>
>> ♫ You're never fully dressed without a smile! ♫
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Cialug mailing list
>> Cialug at cialug.org<mailto:Cialug at cialug.org>
>> http://cialug.org/mailman/listinfo/cialug
>>
>>
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