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Ask HN: As a senior systems administrator, should I get into programming?

1 points by rdudek ↗ HN
Hello everyone. Let me start off with a little background about myself. I used to do a lot of freelance IT work and now I'm working as a system administrator for a major healthcare provider. I've been doing this for very long time and I feel like I really want to move on and do other things.

I am 32 year old college dropout that basically self thought myself computer repair, software, system management, web design, etc. I like learning new things. I have a loving wife and an autistic 3 year old child that I love very much. I always feel like I want to do more and to better provide for my family.

During my spare time, I try to read up on things and learn as much as I can. I've been dabbling with C# on and off for a couple of years, nothing serious. I do have some C++ background from college.

I've been reading HN for many years now and sometimes I see topics that basically suggest getting into programming field, you really need to be a younger person since older folks seem to get passed by. Is this still true today? Should I completely delve into the world of programming or should I stay away from it?

4 comments

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smt88
One of my companies recently hired a 58-year-old who had majored in electrical engineering, worked as a project manager for decades, and then wrote a few iOS apps in his spare time before applying to jobs as a developer.

It turned out that he was absolutely terrible at coding, but my point is that we gave him the job regardless of age and unrelated experience. Since he had been working for so long, we paid him a much better salary than an entry-level person might have gotten.

My suggestion is to write code in your free time, complete some real (hopefully interesting projects), commit to a few open-source projects, and then give you resume to some recruiters.

rdudek
Thanks for the info. I may have to look into some open-source projects and maybe make a few of my own and release it out to public.
dozzie
As a senior systems administrator? I'm surprised you're senior at all if you don't have any programming skills. You can't tell how the system works if you've never written a program that interacts with OS. Moreover, operatios is a field with still much, much to do; I often find myself writing missing stuff (I'm a sysadmin myself).

Funny enough, being sysadmin I'm not seen as a programmer, so I'm not tied to any technology my employer is attached to and I can use any programming language I find appropriate (Python, Perl, Ruby, Erlang, C, you name it). A freedom that is rarely found among regular programmers.

rdudek
Why does that surprise you? I do a lot through powershell. I oversee and manage our Active Directory, Exchange, Citrix, and System Center Configuration Manager. We're a Microsoft shop.