[150592] in North American Network Operators' Group
RE: Programmers with network engineering skills
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Holmes,David A)
Mon Feb 27 22:27:18 2012
From: "Holmes,David A" <dholmes@mwdh2o.com>
To: Daniel Schauenberg <d@unwiredcouch.com>, Randy Bush <randy@psg.com>
Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2012 19:26:18 -0800
In-Reply-To: <6C01638B-9F05-487A-952B-6FCB1601114C@unwiredcouch.com>
Cc: North American Network Operators' Group <nanog@nanog.org>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
Yes, a theoretical understanding of algorithms is a common element in progr=
amming and networking. But the thread seems to assume that highly capable p=
rogrammers/network engineers are mere serfs, unable to forge their own dest=
iny, at the beck and call of whomever they work for, instead of independent=
beings who are doing what they are doing because they like it and choose t=
o continue doing so, even at the expense of foregoing substantial financial=
gain.
-----Original Message-----
From: Daniel Schauenberg [mailto:d@unwiredcouch.com]
Sent: Monday, February 27, 2012 7:09 PM
To: Randy Bush
Cc: Holmes,David A; North American Network Operators' Group
Subject: Re: Programmers with network engineering skills
> a real programmer can be productive in networking tools in a matter of a
> month or two. i have seen it multiple times.
>
> a networker can become a useful real progammer in a year or three.
Thank you! I always wonder when someone distinguishes between a networker a=
nd a programmer as if they came from completely different worlds. I find th=
ese fields to be highly related. They are algorithmic at the core and you n=
eed a good understanding of architecture and design to successfully make th=
e concepts work. If you have ever tried to find a bug in a badly structured=
network, you should be able to understand that implementing all of your ap=
plication's use cases in one module is not a good idea. After implementing =
a good serialization scheme for your class data, network protocols are not =
that strange anymore (I know I'm exaggerating on simple examples here, but =
I hope the idea comes across).
My point is, if someone has a good understanding of applying architectural =
patterns to a problem and isolating error causes while debugging, it should=
n't matter if he wrote mostly software the last years or if she administere=
d a large scale network. A good sysadmin can learn to write software and a =
good programmer can learn to love the datacenter.
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