OSDev.org

I'm 22 and this is high time i decide the direction of my career.

Looking at the number of posts in 'Jobs' section (only 9 on 19/02/2007), i sometimes doubt my original direction of entering into systems.

i have done systems programming, some work in compiler and algorithm designing and even game development. Point is that, overall, i'm in a top few at my university. I also have done fair work in hot cake areas like .NET and Java (i know it sounds cheap) n stuff like that - i dont like it; and i dont hate it. but i do like systems programming, because in the 7'th month i bought a computer (other words - saw a computer, and could use a computer), i started working on my kernel, before that i had written many small c programs, did some algos and basic implementations, so it wasn't a careless jump.


My question is - if you compare a normal job (for which btw i do have the actual offer letter at hand, and can join in July-07) with systems job, where can one flourish? What are the odds? the odds are making me think.

Money is equally important to me besides job satisfaction.
i am at the stage that whatever i decide now, is roughly going to be my career (AFAIK, please enlighten if possible).

as most of you here are doing - they work for a respectable company, and do osdeving ni leisure time; i could do that, but it sounds somewhat odd to me; working on what you like - in your free time. again, why not make it your profession? omg i'm getting into an infinite loop.


i'm sure many of you have gone through this stage

Please help

In my understanding, A great deal of people here are writing their OS as a hobby.. And a majority are also Open Source.

Most of them have jobs doing other things, and work on their OS when they have any spare time.

As for Making Money..
Some here might be selling their hobby OS..
but it's probably not the most profitable hobby on earth.

But it's a fun hobby

Brynet-Inc wrote:As for Making Money..
Some here might be selling their hobby OS..
but it's probably not the most profitable hobby on earth.

Yeah, look at SkyOS for instance. It looks mighty pretty, and apparently they plan on selling it....eventually. (It's been in private development for as long as I've known about it...)

As for developing your operating system for a living....I don't know...It's somewhat far fetched. Take Linux for example. It's just now making it's way into the home market(Slowly, that is.) and it is open source (Thousands of volunteers working on it for nothing.) and has been around for 15 some years now.

To actually sell your operating system, you would have to develop an OS that is completely revolutionary, and better than Linux and Windows and Mac OS. Otherwise, who would switch and buy your system?

It could happen....yet, I could also be struck by lightning and win the lottery all in the same day.

Just a thought.......I could be wrong though....

You could try games programming? I'm studying a bachelor at college specialising in video games..

I had about the very same decision to make in fall 2000. I did send my resumee to RedHat, SuSE, IBM and several other companies hiring "system programmers". I ended up getting a job offer from a small company doing standard software for banks.

(Serious "IMHO" warning.)

Take the job offer at hand. Build your experience. Stay sharp, build up your skills, stay on the lookout for a "better" job, but get working as soon as you can. Very soon, your university skills will count less and less, and people will judge you by your experience instead of your training.

I would suggest you widen your scope, to the point where you realize that your hobby is software engineering (instead of narrowing it down to "system programming"). All you learned could be put to use in many different subfields of software. Seeing this will also make you write better resumees, in my experience, because you probably can't compete with the top-notch specialists, so it's better to show that you are an accomplished generalist (which is something HR people are on the lookout for just as much).

For every kernel programmer there are hundreds of people working on marginal subsystems, and for each of them there are thousands of application programmers. It's not as "geeky", but it is still software engineering, you usually have a stronger say in how things get done (after a few years' experience, of course), and it pays the rent, which is not to be sneered at.

As for actually getting a job working at your "dream project"... call me desillusioned, but I'd say "forget it". You might win it big, you can even work your way towards it but it's not wise to plan or insist on it.

Yes I know this is somewhat incompatible with the "American Dream" (you can achieve everything if you just try hard enough), but how many people despair for each one making his dream come true? Being content with an "above average" result while always working on improving yourself a bit, that's a good thing too, and with a much better chance of ending up with a happy life - which is the most important thing, isn't it?

prashant wrote:Money is equally important to me besides job satisfaction.
i am at the stage that whatever i decide now, is roughly going to be my career (AFAIK, please enlighten if possible).

I also thought this was true when i was about 22 now at age 33 i have readjusted my vision. It turns out that money is less important then job satisfaction, true the money is nice but when you make a lot of money and go to work everyday with a depressed feeling you will not make it to the end of the year. If you make a decent amount of money and go to your job with a smile on your face you will be able to take on the world.

as solar said: take the job at hand, get the familiar with the business, have a nice hobby, specialize and adjust your career when the need arises. a career is a desicion you make and the fun part it that you can adjust it to your own needs, heck if you don't get the satisfaction you need and find out that you want to help people you can even become a nurse for instance.

As for Making Money..
Some here might be selling their hobby OS..
but it's probably not the most profitable hobby on earth.

But it's fun Wink

Yes, it can be really fun , like selling a 16-bit unreal mode OS - but 16-bit OS'es are usable operating systems too! (and easier to program, unlike PMode, but RM has some disadvantages).

Anyway, some OS'es here are really cool, like BlueIllusion OS and DexOS, they have really cool GUI though. But - a OS without beautiful GUI is still a OS!, you should see Linux 0.01 - a OS with his own filesystem and kernel.

A operating system you can sell *must* have its own kernel, not like something as a Zot OS (freeware), a simple DOS shell running on DOS kernel with FAT12 file system...

inflater

Solar wrote: I would suggest you widen your scope, to the point where you realize that your hobby is software engineering (instead of narrowing it down to "system programming"). All you learned could be put to use in many different subfields of software. Seeing this will also make you write better resumees, in my experience, because you probably can't compete with the top-notch specialists, so it's better to show that you are an accomplished generalist (which is something HR people are on the lookout for just as much).

True.

Solar wrote: Take the job offer at hand. Build your experience. Stay sharp, build up your skills, stay on the lookout for a "better" job, but get working as soon as you can. Very soon, your university skills will count less and less, and people will judge you by your experience instead of your training.

Hmm. Looks like a better option. Thanks