How many of you networking/system admin people are into programming?

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AMD_Gamer

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How many of you that are into Networking and system administration are into programming and think it is a valuable skill to have? I know basic C and how programming works but I think there is too much stuff in the networking world to learn to get into programming to the point where you can make any use of it. Like if you are looking to get into Cisco and MS certs do you even worry about programming?
 
Out of necessity I've learned how to program in the major languages. C#, Java, vbscript, bash, dos, php, tsql ( and the other various SQLs ) are the ones I use most often, but I'm comfortable enough with programming to pick up any other language as needed.

The more you know, the better you can be at your job. If you have an interest, explore it.
 
I am not "into" programming, but i am forced to use scripting on a
regualr basis: Powershell / DOS, vbScript, *nix shell scripts.

I only see value in it ... makes you more efficient.
 
Netwerkz101 said:
I am not "into" programming, but i am forced to use scripting on a
regualr basis: Powershell / DOS, vbScript, *nix shell scripts.

I only see value in it ... makes you more efficient.
Click to expand...

of course scripting would be needed, but I am talking about knowing something like C or C++ and being able to make use of it, like make actual programs and stuff and like put it on your resume.
 
AMD_Gamer said:
of course scripting would be needed, but I am talking about knowing something like C or C++ and being able to make use of it, like make actual programs and stuff and like put it on your resume.
Click to expand...

Ah. In that case. No for me as I am in a mid-size environment
with a team of programming types that handle true programming (languages).

Since you spoke of resumes ....

If _you_ are the "I.T. Department" aka jack of all trades,
then I can see it being necessary. Small environments usually need this.

In the larger corporations, they usually have teams of experts: Networking,
Storage, Server OS, Programming, Support/Help Desk, etc.
 
Netwerkz101 said:
Ah. In that case. No for me as I am in a mid-size environment
with a team of programming types that handle true programming (languages).

Since you spoke of resumes ....

If _you_ are the "I.T. Department" aka jack of all trades,
then I can see it being necessary. Small environments usually need this.

In the larger corporations, they usually have teams of experts: Networking,
Storage, Server OS, Programming, Support/Help Desk, etc.
Click to expand...
The last part is true, and while admins in larger orgs don't *need* programming, it's extremely useful to have.

Hell, just recently, this lowly windows admin schooled the developer team on a number of programming problems. Just because you have a programming division doesn't mean you have any programmers.
 
As a UNIX (mostly FreeBSD) systems administrator, my motto is:

"Automate what bores you on sight!".

As a result, I write a lot of scripts and automation tools. Mostly in bourne shell, some perl, and occasional ruby or python.
 
just some Unix shell scripting back in the day... can't say I've ever needed much more than that really
 
I'm into programming as a hobby but it serves zero purpose as far as corporate IT goes. Everyone outsources programming and it's usually very frowned upon to code anything and sometimes there are even contract restrictions and other red tape to prevent it. It's too bad, because outsourcing programming usually costs more, and makes support less accessible. At least in all the environments I've seen, I'm sure some are different.
 
Christopher said:
As a UNIX (mostly FreeBSD) systems administrator, my motto is:

"Automate what bores you on sight!".

As a result, I write a lot of scripts and automation tools. Mostly in bourne shell, some perl, and occasional ruby or python.
Click to expand...

I'm the same way. It sickens me all the manual stuff where I work but when I suggest any form of automation it gets shot down with some political reason.
 
I write only what I have to make stuff work its mainly just script and the such but I have a project coming up where I'm going to have to write lots of code
 
Python
C
Some perl
shell script

Im a network engineer for large ISP
 
AMD_Gamer said:
How do you apply that those to your job as a Network Engineer?
Click to expand...


I used shell scripts/python all the time writing configuration tools/monitoring tools

I also do a lot of security work and often times need to create my own stuff
 
Shell/VB only to automate things here. Although through attrition I've been moving towards becoming a drupal 'developer' to help things along at my org.
 
shell scripts on my linux hosts, some powershell for VMware stuffs and exchange, vb scripts and some batch scripting for windows automated jobs and logon scripts etc.
 
I do most of my programming with a screwdriver.

But then again, I'm not a network admin.
 
I don't know how to program, but I used to design websites back in the day so I taught myself html, css, javascript, flash and I worked with php. I create the page code the old fashioned way, in a text document, no html editors(although I know how to use them). Knowing that stuff has come in handy in different ways over the years.
 
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