Programmers with network engineering skills

Mon Feb 27 22:33:27 UTC 2012

Le lundi 27 février 2012 à 14:14 -0800, Owen DeLong a écrit :
> On Feb 27, 2012, at 12:31 PM, david raistrick wrote:
> 
> > On Mon, 27 Feb 2012, Owen DeLong wrote:
> > 
> >> I think you're more likely to find a network engineer with (possibly limited)
> >> programming skills.
> > 
> > While I'll agree about the more likely, if I needed a coder who had a firm grasp of networking I'd rather teach a good coder networking, than try to teach the art and magic of good development to a network guy.
> > 
> 
> Well, I won't call myself a hard-core coder, but, I think I have a reasonable grasp on the art and magic of good development. What I mostly lack is speed and efficiency in the language of choice for whatever project. I can write good code, it just takes me longer than it would take a hard-core coder.
> 
> OTOH, having done both, I would say that I think you are not necessarily correct about which direction of teaching is harder. Yes, if you start with a network engineer that knows nothing about writing code or doesn't understand the principles of good coding, you're probably right. However, starting with a network engineer that can write decent code slowly, I think you will get a better result in most cases than if you try to teach network engineering to a hard-core coder that has only a minimal understanding of networking.
> 
> > I think it really comes down to which you need: a hardcore network engineer/architect who can hack up code, or a hardcore developer who has or can obtain enough of a grasp of networking fundementals and specifics to build you the software you need him to develop.
> > 
> 
> I'm guessing that someone who needed a hard-core developer that could grasp fundamentals would have grabbed an existing coder and handed him a copy of Comer.
> 
> The fact that this person posted to NANOG instead implies to me that he needs someone that has a better grasp than just the fundamentals.
> 
> Of course I am speculating about that and I could be wrong.
> 
> > The ones who already know both ends extremely well are going to be -very- hard to find, but finding one who can learn enough of the other to accomplish what you need shouldn't be hard at all.
> > 
> 
> Depends on what you need. However, I think it's faster to go from limited coding skills with a good basis in the fundamentals to usable development than to go from limited networking skills to a firm grasp on how networks behave in the real world. To the best of my knowledge, nothing but experience will teach you the latter. Even with 20+ years experience networks do still occasionally manage to surprise me.
> 
> > ...d (who is not exactly the former though I've played one for TV, and not at all the later)
> 
> I am admittedly lost given the three choices as to which constitutes former or latter at this point.
> 
> 1.	Strong coder with limited networking
> 2.	Strong networker with limited coding
> 3.	Strong in both

It's all about KISS, to appreciate sound abstraction, in other words.

Cheers,
mh

> 
> Owen
> Who is a strong network engineer
> Who has been a professional software engineer (though many years ago and my skills are rusty
> 	and out of date)
> 
> 