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Rediscovering Your Inner Code Geek?

Posted by Cliff on from the tarnishing-off-the-old-coder-inside dept.

tachijuan asks: "I'm an old time hand in the PC world (started with trash-80 in late 70's). Along the way I've gone from the geek in school with the only computer to a CS degree to a position as a senior systems administrator at a major university to industry. And that's where I went to the dark side and became not a geek. About 10 years ago, the corporate rat race caught me and now I'm an exec at a midsize company. After 10 years of no code, it seems like I've never worked on anything serious (still do Perl, PHP, shell, etc scripting at home). Now, I feel the need to change this. How does an old UNIX coder/SysAdmin turned professional corporate cog get back into coding? I've looked at all sorts of languages (C#, C++, Delphi, VB(eh gads), Squeak, IO, etc.) but my problem is that I have unlearned most of the S in CS and the learning curve for the API's to both UNIX and Windows has become...daunting. Short of going back to school, what would you soon to be fellow geeks recommend as a good kick start?"

4 of 58 comments (clear)

  1. Easy... by rasteri · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just screw up really bad. They'll have you writing code again in a week...

  2. Obligatory by wan-fu · · Score: 4, Funny

    It should be pretty easy to get back into the business of coding. Will you want your ticket for New Delhi or Calcutta?

  3. Get involved with an open source project... by heldlikesound · · Score: 2, Funny

    Find a project written in a language you are interested in, join the mailing list, etc and learn the ropes... Then, when the need for a new method in class or something arises, rise to the challenge!

    Also, not sure if this was a requirement back in the day, but you need to be eating a least one full 14" pizza a day and drinking a 2-liter of Coke each night...

    --


    Cloud City Digital: DVD Production at its cheapest/finest
  4. It's too late for you by dheltzel · · Score: 2, Funny
    You've been under the influence of the dark side for too long. Any code you write now will look like a memo defending a management decision -- pretty and fluffy, but utterly devoid of meaning.

    Really, it's better for everyone if you don't try to bail now. You'll thank me later, when you come back to your senses (at the next company-paid seminar at a nice resort).

    Going into management is like getting married, it's easier to get into than out of

    (additional analogies to marriage left as an exercise for the reader)