I noticed that Jeff Hicks called me out on his blog for the Scripting/SysAdmin Meme, so I figured I would follow through with the chain and answer the questions here:
How old were you when you started using computers?
I was about 15.
What was your first machine?
The first computer that I used was probably a Cromemco multi-user system in High School or the original Apple computer. The first computer I owned was an Atari 800 that I got for Christmas in 1978 :).
What was the first real script you wrote?
Hmm. Well, my first language was BASIC–not sure that is really a scripting language but it approximated that on the Atari. But in terms of real scripting languages it was probably DOS batch.
What scripting languages have you used?
DOS batch, Fastlane FINAL, Perl, VBScript, JScript, PowerShell. Probably missing a couple in there.
What was your first professional sysadmin gig?
My first job out of college, as I struggled to be a bike racer, was part-time warehouse guy and part-time computer guy for a small computer leasing company. I did some basic maintenance and Paradox development. My first real sys admin. job was for an environmental consulting company. When I started, they had a Sun TOPS network based on Appletalk!!
If you knew then what you know now, would have started in IT?
Excellent question. Not sure. IT has changed a lot, there is a lot of things I don’t like about it. I think I might have spent more time in dev. if I knew then what I know now.
If there is one thing you learned along the way that you would tell new sysadmins, what would it be?
What worked for me may not work for others, but I made a conscious decision to reach out and help people. This started with the early winnt-bhs mailing list on Compuserve in the mid-90s and continues today. I think this business is all about spreading the knowledge, because there is so much to learn. So, if you want to advance your own career, help others as you learn. It brings many side benefits, including gaining a reputation that might lead to more interesting things than just fixing broken printers :).
What’s the most fun you’ve ever had scripting?
Scripting is one of those things that I did out of necessity, but I can remember a perl script that I had to write to change thousands of machines from static IP to dynamic. I was particularly proud of that at the time. I think now I get the most kick out of developing PowerShell cmdlets. Fun stuff.
Who am I calling out?
Sysadmin/Scripting Meme Update
I talked about it a bit when we recorded Episode 55 (soon to be released), but the Sysadmin Meme has really taken off. Admins and scripters from all areas are responding and calling out their associates… I’ll update this as I see come acros…