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Ask HN: How to transition from Windows to Unix

7 points by abdd0e78 ↗ HN
Hello, I'm a business intelligence consultant and know that I got my current employment because of my knowledge of and skills in the Microsoft software stack. The problem is, I have some real issues with Microsoft as a company and with their software. I'm a UNIX guy at heart, having learned CS on DEC UNIX and currently have the most fun using and developing on FreeBSD systems. The issue is that once I gain experience using MS software, more jobs open up to me because of this experience so it makes it even harder to switch, not to mention the fact that a LOT of businesses are stuck in the windows mindset. Is there any hope? BI is a specific category of the industry but I'd like replies to be general for application development (.NET) types also.

6 comments

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david_shaw
There are two paths before you:

The soft transition process would be installing Ubuntu or Linux Mint, which are distributions that lack a lot of the "hard core" command line configuration that drives away a lot of UNIX neophytes. These distros are geared towards the end user, and the transition should be soft -- some of the programs you use normally (Word) won't be there, but replacements (LibreOffice) are at your fingertips.

The I-want-to-learn-right-now path would involve installing a more technical distribution like Gentoo, FreeBSD, or (my personal favorite) ArchLinux and learning from the ground up. Based on your post it seems that you just want to get out of the Windows bandwagon rather than learn the intricacies of Linux, so this might not be the easiest option for you.

Either way, the *nix family welcomes you with open arms!

abdd0e78
I am not a UNIX noob. I've been using FreeBSD on and off for 10 years, and have developed in C++ on Unix systems on my own for about the same amount of time (have done Perl also and some Ruby too) so that is not the issue. The issue is 1) no "hard" experience working on these systems and 2) how to make what experience I do have seem applicable to businesses that do use UNIX which by the way, seems very limited after becoming aware of all the jobs we get for the MS stack. Also, for some reason my employer specifically targets MS users so that makes it even more difficult in my current position.
bmelton
Perhaps getting some technical accomplishments in Solaris or one of the 'bigger' nixes (HP/UX, AIX, et al) will give you an easier way to illustrate your nix experience to potential employers?
jimbo32
I was in the same boat. I did a dual boot of winxp and ubuntu on my laptop. I think thats the best way. As time went on I found myself using the Windows boot less and less. Now, a year later, at most 5% of the time on windows.
pasbesoin
Or VirtualBox (or VMWare). (There's nothing novel in this suggestion, but since it hasn't been mentioned here, yet.)

If you can use it in your current work environment, you can start shifting work items over and see how it goes / (re)learn a "UNIXy" way. Having real goals, and payoffs, is a big motivator.

oomkiller
IMO, OS X is the easiest path to getting familiar with UNIX. I think it captures most of the good parts of Linux/FreeBSD, but without a lot of bad ones (like bad/no graphics/wifi drivers, etc).