developer be a good administrator too : mandatory?

[Matthew Seaman]

On 14/04/2014 04:10, Mayuresh Kathe wrote:
> i am re-training to be a software developer, because, i've
> realized that it is what i love to do.
> 
> the question that's popping up in my mind is;
> "is it necessary for a freebsd developer (c89) to also be a
> great system administrator?".

The c89 standard is pretty old hat nowadays -- most new FreeBSD code
assumes c99 if not more recent.  Still, it's no big deal to update
yourself on C coding standards.

> the rationale i've heard is that if you can't handle your
> own freebsd system, how are you going to get productive!

FreeBSD developers need to be able to manage their own systems to the
extent that they can install or upgrade the systems they are working on,
so they can test out the changes they make.  Whether this counts as
being a 'great system administrator' lies in the eye of the beholder.

Of course, the primary direct consumers of the FreeBSD 'product' are
mostly systems administrators (whether that is part of their job
description or not).  So you have to know quite a lot about their needs
and requirements in order to write great software for them.

	Cheers,

	Matthew

-- 
Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil.
PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey


-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 1036 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
URL: <http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-questions/attachments/20140414/815e4617/attachment.sig>