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Transitioning From Windows to Linux Development?
truthsearch asks: "I've been a professional Visual Basic developer for 6 years, working on two and three tier systems and also web applications. Two years ago I tried Linux and went from being a fan of Windows to an aspiring developer of Linux (or at least Unix) applications. My company has just announced their complete acceptance of moving everyone to .NET and so I want to leave ASAP. I'm even willing to take a pay cut to leave Microsoft software development. So if I were to not contribute to OSS or take time off to get my masters (in CS of course), what's the best way to transition from professional Microsoft platform development to Linux? Are many companies hiring Microsoft developers with little Linux experience to assist in corporate migration? With online postings requiring 3-5 years Linux/C++/Java experience how's a Windows developer supposed to transition? Is my only solution to stick it out here while I contribute to OSS for the experience?"
I've been a professional Visual Basic developer for 6 years, working on two and three tier systems and also web applications.
Man I feel sorry for you, their gonna have a field day with this one. b
Why not fork?
I had to stop counting all the cold-call (or cold email) job offers i got from that to be a linux developer for some company or other. Of course, this was back in the go-go years, when companies spent millions of dollars on sock puppets, but i still get one or two job interview offers a month to be a "linux programmer."
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
I would reccomend learning something like Java because of it's cross-platform abilities which would mean that a transition from windows to linux would be much easier.
The other option is to get books, lots and lots of books on Linux C++ programming.
You answered your question yourself. Get experience with working OSS software, code some stuff. Submit some patches to either the FreeBSD or Linux kernel, and you should be set.
Just make sure that you keep up to date, even if you have to learn C# (.NET), it'll be still good on your resume. Heck, theres C# library's for UNIX now, if you have been reading slashdot.
And, I'd recommend keeping your current job, once you have sufficent knowledge. Then go looking for another one.
Free means no restrictions, ironic the FSF's GPL forces restrictions, isn't it? What's your definition of free?
Questions:
#1. Do you want to work on OSS systems and with OSS toolkits (writing a web application in PHP running on Redhat 8.0 and Apache 2.0) or do you want to write OSS code (writing a web application licensed under [BSD | GPL]).
If your goal is to write software licensed under an open-source license, you will have a large uphill battle to find work.
#2. Are you sure your newfound passion is worth giving up your job over in this economy? Better to write windows code during the day, so you can afford to write linux code at night.
Slowly ebbing into linux is a good way to go, it will let you built up an understanding and ensure you are set on this decision.
Recommendations:
If you really want to break into the OSS software development market, you need to bear in mind a few things.
#1. It is like any other market, your network of personal relationships you have developed over the past six years will be your basis, where you start looking. As always the buddy-network is the best possible way to find a job you might actually enjoy.
#2. OSS is often as much about community as software, get involved. The best place to probably get involved is your local LUG. At you LUG you have a chance to meet like minded individuals.
#3. Write some code that has your name on it, so that when asked to produce demos/examples of your work you can show them your (GPL | BSD) licensed code. If you write software that happens to help your local LUG you get a bonus point.
#4. Remember that you might be able to create a new job, rather than fill an existing opening. Converting a company to linux, and developing new systems is a large task for even a small (100-200 employees) business. But a rewarding one.
Create any kind of multiplatform (windows/linux) apps.
Use a WAY better RAD tool than VB (I used VB for a while).
Learn and use a full-featured OO language.
As a bonus, you can even generate .NET applications, if you need.
I use it since its first version (well, since Turbo Pascal 3.0, actually), and, altough it's not the tool I use most in daily job (I deal with Macs a lot), it's simply the best RAD tool I've seen. Try a free download. After all, you're the kind of guy they're targeting now.
> moving everyone to .NET and so I want to leave ASAP
So you stuck it out with crappy VB6 all these years for the sheer enjoyment of it, and now that they're finally moving to a half-way decent platform, you're bailing?
In a word, no. Especially in this economy. I suggest you do Linux development on the side, and then claim on your resume that you did it for work. In a year or two, someone may hire you.
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
Learn to scam the headhunter system and it don't matter if all you know is GW BASIC.
Just because your employer is moving to .NET doesn't mean you can't do some development on Linux using MONO. It seems ironic to me that in may ways .NET un-shackles windows developers from the windows platform more than previous Microsoft development technologies did.
Also, why not try and affect change from within your own company, rather than going somewhere else? If there is an existing open equivalent to something you're thinking of using then make the case for that. Also investigate languages like Java, Python and Perl which can run on multiple platforms. They all have large developer communities and mature libraries for doing lots of different things.
It would seem to me that sticking out the transition to .Net and working on Linux on the side would be the best way to make the transition.
.Net, your VB skills are soon going to be hard to market, and you don't have any real Linux skills just yet.
With
If you stick it out, you will have a much better skillset to show the market.
Why run from .NET? Pretty soon* you can develop in .NET for the linux plaform
*I am aware that it is already working, but it's not quite there yet
I'm not sure how you'd do that other than ask. I work for Lockheed Martin Air Traffic Management. We do unix development, and in fact as part of a leadership development program, I'm currently working on porting a Windows-based testing app to cross-platform (read: Java GUI and ANSI C backends on Linux). I'm not sure how much we're hiring, but it certainly isn't obvious from the job description (Software Engineering) that you could end up doing development in linux.
Qt from trolltech (www.trolltech.com) is a better solution (IMHO).
If you feel like trying it, just go to trolltech and download the free edition.
As a previous poster said, albeit sarcastically, it seems odd that you've put up with Visual Basic with its numerous flaws and 'lock in' attitude for so many years you're now looking to bail out when the development platform your company has chosen has improved dramatically.
My personal opinion is that .NET is a great development environment. As a long standing C/C++/Java developer (I hate to admit to VB in public), it's taken me a very short time to get to grips with the Framework - the language you use is largely irrelevent, but I have to admit I went for C# - which is the major bulk of any learning effort required in getting up to speed with .NET
Other posters have also pointed out that there are Open Source efforts underway to port .NET to Linux (Mono and DotGNU
) as well as the much publicised Rotor implementations for FreeBSD and Mac OSX.Make no mistake; the Redmond behemoth is not going to let .NET just curl up and die. If I were you, I'd use it as a stepping stone to your Open Source ideals. Ahh, how delicious is *that* irony?
Life is like a sewer; what you get out of it depends on what you put into it...
A serious question: How can someone really consider themselves a professional programmer - particular one that's been coding for 6 years - but has stuck to one language and one OS.
I'm not trolling, just thinking from an employers point of view. Wouldn't you be suspicious of someone who doesn't branch out a little more? I personally would wonder where there motivation and proffesional curiosity is.. Or do employers like that sort of thing?
What is a two or three tier system?
Can anyone help me out here?
A lot of development these days does not require very much OS specific development. C# is actually an elegant language from what I've seen, and has a lot of similarites (and even improvements IMO) to java. The .net framework also seems to mirror many of the java frameworks. Perhaps your best bet is to take the opportunity your company is giving you to learn C# and .NET - and use that as your transition. Being a c++ unix developer, it seems to me that there are a lot more Java/J2EE or C#/.net jobs out there than platform specific c++ positions (much to my dismay :). Take on linux as a pet project, it doesn't need to be your career.
There are a ton of cross-platform tools that will let you develop for Windows and Linux platforms. Personally, I use wxWindows, but you should also look at Kylix, QT, MONO, etc.
Can I have the job your leaving? I'll take a pay cut, but not because I love MS, but because I like to eat and stay in warm places.
Read aloud the passages here here and don't be despondant my son. Saint Ignucius hath provided fo thou.
Economic Left/Right: -0.62
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.69
Keep ypur job, learn C#.net, then quit and transition to Linux, which has C# libs, etc.
Like everyone else has said, stay where you are and learn some marketable skills before you move (sorry but VB6 is the past not the future) .Net might not be the ideal job for you but you certainly can learn alot from it. Learn OO principles doing C# which you can then aply to Java or C++, when it comes right down to it, it doesn't really matter what platform you develop on to get these basic skills.
Once you have the skills then you can be more choosy about your job, afterall I would assume your number one goal is to make a living.
I've been professionally writing Unix/Linux code for over 10 years, and also have written a lot of OSS. And I've been unemployed for nearly 4 months. That experience doesn't seem to be doing me much good at the moment.
.NET), or for Java with database experience. So stay where you are so you can get the .NET experience, and join an open-source project for fun. You'll have the best of both worlds (and believe me, ANY tech. job is better than no job).
It seems like the main jobs I see now are either for Window programmers (esp.
You can't learn new system, especially a superior one, by using tools that are from your old system -- even if they are developed recently. To learn Unix you need to study its design, tools and techniques, not use some monstrosity made to support applications made for Windows under Unix. So forget about Mono, Winelib and Java, learn C (plain C, by K&R book), networking (by UNP book), write something, participate in the development of something that you need, and then you will be able to choose what to do next.
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.