Wish me luck; new career path

[PacketMan]

Back in the early 1990s I was studying MCSE, Linux, and internetworking. I then decided I really should focus on something and become an expert at it. Since I had a telecom background I decided that focusing on internetworking would be a logical and natural evolution. So I did that, and I have no regrets. But I see the explosion of development going on, on the server side of the business, and I've wondered how would my career be today if I had chosen to focus on Microsoft, or Linux back then. Of course I realize had I done that I probably would be still wondering how would my career be today if I had chosen to focus on internetworking.

Well, starting next week that wondering will be replace by reality. I accepted a new position with my employer, working in a different group of staff. While my new job will still be mostly internetworking, I will be also be growing into the world of Linux servers, applications/programs, virtualization, security, and software defined networking. FreeBSD is not used at my place of employment, but my preaching about it has made a couple senior guys curious for sure. While I will respect the business decisions being made by those around me, I will encourage the use of FreeBSD where/when I think appropriate. I'm really looking for to this new path, and can't help but wonder who I will become in a few years time.

I did want to thank you folks for (a) being a very supportive, and friendly group, and (b) causing in me the desire to latch onto more than I previously had (if that makes sense).

Thanks again,
P.M.

 

[tingo]

Best of luck with your new career! Many people are curious and want to learn all the time; this is how a person grows, IMHO.

 

[robroy]

PacketMan, congratulations on your new job. One nice way to shoehorn FreeBSD in to a company's to over-perform at one's role, and quietly and politely present systems based on FreeBSD as cheaper alternatives to Linux. This lets the employer choose between A) a FreeBSD-based solution that's up, rolling and documented today, or B) an assignment to begin looking in to doing it with Linux.

You get what I mean; if the employer's getting something partially "for free" due to your deep hobby background and familiarity with it, that benefit alone will often win them over. They'll think, "Well, we normally use Linux but we're in a big hurry right now, and we could just go with this for a while." Then your working system, being relatively problem-free, won't attract attention, and everybody will be way too worried about other problems to ever re-visit it. Of course, without enough tact one could also royally annoy co-workers with this approach hahaha. Good luck to you PacketMan.