This post is in reply to Steve Murawski’s post titled “Scripting/Sysadmin Meme”

How old were you when you started using computers?

Hmm.  I vaguely remember typing “catalog” on an Apple ][.  I want to say it was a ][e, but I’m not positive because according to wikipedia, that model came out in ‘83 and I know this computer was in a house where I lived when I was in kindergarten or first grade so doing the math…1979-1980.  Must’ve been an earlier model.

What was your first machine?

The first one which I could call my own was a Commodore 64 which I got for a birthday or Xmas.  My friends had Vic 20’s or TI-99/4a’s.  Losers, all of ya!  Man, I wore that 1541 disk drive out!

What was the first real script you wrote?

When I was around 10 with my C=64, I was big into bulletin board systems.  I remember making scripts in the macro language used by my terminal software (which was called {Commo}) that would help in playing door games or downloading …stuff.

What scripting languages have you used?

PHP, VbScript, batch, PowerShell.  Nothing before Posh really counts, though, it was all lame.

What was your first professional sysadmin gig?

I helped a guy part-time with a company he ran out of his home.  Sysadmin work was oh…1/8th of the job, the rest was boring junk.  I think it was a LANtastic star-topology network.

If you knew then what you know now, would have started in IT?

Oh yeah.  However, I know I should have applied myself in order to finish college.  Messed that one up.  And I can’t even claim that I had fun partying because I don’t drink. 

If there is one thing you learned along the way that you would tell new sysadmins, what would it be?

Like Steve, I’ll have to say get involved.  Find something you really get into, and read up on it, make new content by blogging or podcasting or answering questions in forums and newsgroups.

What’s the most fun you’ve ever had scripting?

I really like solving problems.  I really like to solve a problem in such a way that it’s a non-issue to me, but embarrassingly difficult to a cow-orker.  I’m also having fun right now writing scripts for my book.

Who am I calling out?

Jay Stewart and Marcus Oh.