SysAdmins, scripters, developers and memes

So, I’ve been called out on this latest meme posting by /\/\o\/\/ and although I usually just ignore these things,

As with any curious developer, I had to trace this thing back to it’s root cause … it turns out this started as a Software Development thing, and it was altered into a sort of SysAdmin thing.

So, since I’m putting up with this in the first place, I think I’ll go back to that original developer-oriented list of questions, if you don’t mind.

How old were you when you started programming?

I got my first computer shortly after my family moved back to the USA from Costa Rica, just in time for 9th grade … before that I’d never seen a computer better than my Atari 6400 game machine.

How did you get started in programming?

I bought that “computer” second-hand — it was an Atari 800XL, and it came with a cartridge for Atari BASIC, and a stack of magazines with code in them. That’s pretty much all there is to it, I was hooked.

What was your first language?

BASIC. First Atari, then QW, then … well, Visual Basic Script, believe it or not.

What was the first real program you wrote?

You mean BlackJack for the Atari doesn’t count? I guess the first real program I wrote was one I wrote at work to randomize test cases …

What languages have you used since you started programming?

Basic, Visual Basic, C/C++, C#, Java, Perl, PHP, a bunch of automation languages like batch and shell scripts, VB script and VB for Applications, MS Test Basic, Rational’s SQABasic, AutoIt, AutoHotkey, ScriptIt, and a slew of web languages like JavaScript, VB Script, HTML, XML ... and of course, lets not forget SQL (although I kind-of wish I could).

What was your first professional programming gig?

Not counting a few tiny web-sites I did in college … my first programming job was at Xerox, where I started out doing software testing, started automating the testing, and then moved to writing and maintaining apps, web sites etc.

If you knew then what you know now, would you have started programming?

Absolutely. I love what I do, and I love that I work in a job where every year there’s new languages, new tools, new challenges, and new and more clever solutions.

If there is one thing you learned along the way that you would tell new developers, what would it be?

There’s really only three kinds of programmers: Web developers, Database developers, System developers. Take a database class and a web-design class early on and figure out what you want to be — then work hard to make sure you don’t end up being the wrong kind of programmer

What’s the most fun you’ve ever had … programming?

I think I’d have to say that the memory that stands out the most was working on the open source project GeoShell … it’s mostly died off now (although I’m still threatening to ressurect it later this year), but at it’s height it was a near ideal interaction of passionate users, laid back developers, and cool software that made everyone ask: “whoah, what’s that you’re running?”

I guess I should call someone else out, right? That’s how these silly posts become memes. How about Lee Holmes, Jachymko and Mark Schill …

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