Software Engineering vs Network/System Administration: Which is Harder?

[jimgavagan]

Which is harder: software engineering/development, or network/system administration?

 

[fss]

There is no way to answer a subjective question quantitatively. Both jobs can be easy or hard, depending on the details.

 

[turbo]

I have done both. The level of difficulty is related to the level of dedication you wish to apply to the job. Anybody that is willing to "coast" when things are comfortable will find neither job tough until situations get out of their comfort zone.

I have put in 80+ hour weeks coding custom software, but it was so interesting and rewarding that it didn't seem all that tough. Administering networks was less satisfying, but still better than mill-work or construction, IMO.

 

[jimgavagan]

I have done both. The level of difficulty is related to the level of dedication you wish to apply to the job. Anybody that is willing to "coast" when things are comfortable will find neither job tough until situations get out of their comfort zone.

I have put in 80+ hour weeks coding custom software, but it was so interesting and rewarding that it didn't seem all that tough. Administering networks was less satisfying, but still better than mill-work or construction, IMO.

That's exactly how I feel it would be for me - very interesting for software engineering, and less satisfying for admin.

How can I tell if I have the ability to become a software engineer?

 

[turbo]

That's exactly how I feel it would be for me - very interesting for software engineering, and less satisfying for admin.

How can I tell if I have the ability to become a software engineer?

Do you like coding? Do you have the ability to invent some software that would help businesses address needs that they can't get off-the-shelf software to do? You should learn how to code, build some software, and compile it, and distribute it, to see if you have talents in that area. Remember that if you are a free-lancer (like I was) you are your own troubleshooter/help-desk, so your code had better be really good before you put it out there.

 

[jimgavagan]

Do you like coding? Do you have the ability to invent some software that would help businesses address needs that they can't get off-the-shelf software to do? You should learn how to code, build some software, and compile it, and distribute it, to see if you have talents in that area. Remember that if you are a free-lancer (like I was) you are your own troubleshooter/help-desk, so your code had better be really good before you put it out there.

Which programming language(s) should I learn?

 

[Ivan92]

I taught myself C# when I was a Sophomore in high school. Then senior year, I took a class at my local community college on C++. I found it easy because I was already familiar with C# and its Object-Oriented Programming. Best to start learning C++. Most Universities teach C++ as first programming language. So pick up a book and start writing some code. Then once you get the grasp, go ahead and learn another language

 

[EntropicLove]

If you haven't done any programming at all I would go with python for starters followed by c++.

I've found python to be a really practical foundation and really useful for writing simple applications.

 

[jimgavagan]

Do you like coding? Do you have the ability to invent some software that would help businesses address needs that they can't get off-the-shelf software to do? You should learn how to code, build some software, and compile it, and distribute it, to see if you have talents in that area. Remember that if you are a free-lancer (like I was) you are your own troubleshooter/help-desk, so your code had better be really good before you put it out there.

Also, when you say invent the software, do you mean that the coders/engineers come up with the software independent of any of the businesses' requests, or is it the businesses that ask for the type of software that they want you to make and then you make it?

 

[jimgavagan]

If you haven't done any programming at all I would go with python for starters followed by c++.

I've found python to be a really practical foundation and really useful for writing simple applications.

Do you mean visual c++ or regular c++?

 

[EntropicLove]

Do you mean visual c++ or regular c++?

I use visualc++/ironpython.

 

[turbo]

Also, when you say invent the software, do you mean that the coders/engineers come up with the software independent of any of the businesses' requests, or is it the businesses that ask for the type of software that they want you to make and then you make it?

I would supply my standard accounting software (written in dBase III+ and compiled using the FoxBase compiler) to most commercial customers at little to no cost - just the time that I spent on-site installing and maintaining the package. As I got to know the owners, office managers, etc, I would ask them what problems that they had that were costing them time and money, and I would try to find solutions. A lady that ran an interstate trucking company was ranting to her dispatchers about drivers who would buy fuel in states that refused to pro-rate their fuel taxes based on miles driven. I asked her to provide me a list of states, their fuel/road-use tax rates, and whether or not they pro-rated. In a couple of days, her dispatchers had a software package that would allow them to tell the truckers where and when to fuel up, to minimize fuel taxes. The owner was thrilled.

Another company (sales, maintenance, manufacturer of wood harvesting equipment) was having problems with an antiquated manual inventory system based on tubs of note-cards. I asked the owner if he'd like to have a software solution for that, and he seemed pretty eager. I made up a simple database structure, and he set an employee to the task of populating it with the parts numbers, names, prices, etc. In the meantime (about a week of VERY long days and nights) I wrote a complete point-of-sale and inventory control program that flowed in-house sales, wholesale sales and retail sales directly to his accounting program in the front office. I even added the functionality of switching from first-in-first out inventory pricing to first-in-last out, so that his accountant could see at a glance whether it would be profitable to switch from one to the other. Business are only allowed to make such a change infrequently, to prevent tax-avoidance shenanigans, and with his old manual system, it was very expensive and time-consuming to even evaluate such a change. After a week or so with the new system, there were new computers going to his satellite operations in Canada and western Maine loaded with my new software. I never once had to make a service call on that package. I think I charged him about $800 for my labor, plus travel-time and expenses. Pretty darned cheap for custom software, but it earned me a whole lot of extra business through word-of-mouth. This was back in the 80's, when 286's were the norm and 386's were servers, so the code had to be very lean and fast.

 

[AlephZero]

I agree with Turbo's experience. Software eng/dev is only interesting in so far as the applications are interesting. Otherwise, after you have done it for say 5 years and got proficient in 3 or 4 languages, its just "the same old same old" for the rest of your working life.

Network admin is a lose-lose job. If everything is going smoothly, nobody in the organization even knows you exist, which is a "lose" so far as career development and status are concerned. But if things are not going smoothly, then everybody knows you exist, and you lose faster.