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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?"
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.
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.
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.
Maybe after 6 years he knows what he's talking about. Expertise is worth money. Personally, I strive for it. I worked with a man who worked with the same system all his working life. He built the OS and designed the programming language used to control it. If you made a mobile phone call during the 1990s there was a 50% chance you used that system. I am happy to refer to him as a professional programmer.