Reply to: Going from permanent to Linux contracting in London

[darrylmg]

I agree with both sides:

- The old Unix systems are bomb proof.
- Linux is cheaper.

Guess which is winning in the reality we know today, that is "IT on the cheap" or not at all...

Also, some people make a living out of being "mind-numbing boring". You could go niche...

[TheFaQQer]

not according to some peeps, large part of senior management at an old client of mine were adamant that linux wasn't 'enterprise ready' - and anything serious should be left to aix

I can't imagine that Oracle share the view that OEL isn't enterprise ready.

[ujjain]

Thanks, I think I should be fine then. I have a great passion for IT, DevOps, Linux and it's IT contracting is not about the money for me.

I don't mind accepting a lesser salary to work on a very cool project. My current job is so extremely mind-numbing boring.

[portseven]

My thoughts exactly, I see once-dying Solaris making inroads over AIX territory now tho, HP-UX is a bit dead still, Linux is what it is, a hack on a big PC.

We have several T-series SPARC boxes in full-partition mode (POWER term) i.e. not doing LDOM's, not partitioned (which x86 cannot do anyway) uptimes on ALL of them is around 1850 days, there's a lot of them, and no trouble. PRAM batteries are dead but boxes still going...

same client has a lot of solaris too in the investment banking side, still fighting its corner (and growing) and resisting linux, again because its not 'enterprise ready'

[BlasterBates]

The large bank I worked for was strategically moving to Linux, and the large co I work for now uses Linux, Centos distribution. The main weakness of any of these high availibility systems is the application code not the OS. I've seen plenty of problems, but not one due to Linux, mainly the problems are caused by thoughtless maintenance on the network or hardware failure.

[stek]

not according to some peeps, large part of senior management at an old client of mine were adamant that linux wasn't 'enterprise ready' - and anything serious should be left to aix

My thoughts exactly, I see once-dying Solaris making inroads over AIX territory now tho, HP-UX is a bit dead still, Linux is what it is, a hack on a big PC.

We have several T-series SPARC boxes in full-partition mode (POWER term) i.e. not doing LDOM's, not partitioned (which x86 cannot do anyway) uptimes on ALL of them is around 1850 days, there's a lot of them, and no trouble. PRAM batteries are dead but boxes still going...

[portseven]

Whether you like it or not, Linux is winning the war and "legacy" O/S such as Solaris and AIX will soon be gone

not according to some peeps, large part of senior management at an old client of mine were adamant that linux wasn't 'enterprise ready' - and anything serious should be left to aix

[worzelGummidge]

Concentrate on linux, DevOps stuff, programming, automation puppet etc
Dump all of the Unix stuff. It's a shame as I think that it is better (more stable and better written / documented) but it's dead now.

Think about things like OpenStack.
The OS will be dead / integrated ( 10 years ish ) soon. Pushing buttons for cloudy stuff will be the norm along with lots and lots of coding / integration / sticking things together.

That's my opinion.

Anyway, watch the market. Hand your notice in if contracting or just apply for permy roles.

[petergriffin]

Whether you like it or not, Linux is winning the war and "legacy" O/S such as Solaris and AIX will soon be gone

Ex-Linux man speaking here.

The Linux kernel is robust, provided you recompile it and take all the NSA reference out (examples abound).

The Linux userland (in particular freedesktop.org, that provides all the X11 graphics userspace and libraries) has been hijacked by Red hat and they won't compile without SystemD. In other words Red Hat has made of an Open Source platform a proprietary (not in code but in implementation) one. In 5 years Linux will be legacy.

To the IT-illiterate on this board, your beloved Mac OSX uses BSD code in Darwin.

[stek]

Linux? That inferior operating system bugged by the NSA and completely disgraced by Lennart Poettering's stupid SystemD?

Tough geeks use BSD!

ToytownOS lol!!

It's despairingly awful, mishmash of half-finished cobbled-on bits written by god-knows-who and forgotten about.

[Platypus]

Linux? That inferior operating system bugged by the NSA and completely disgraced by Lennart Poettering's stupid SystemD?

Tough geeks use BSD!

Whether you like it or not, Linux is winning the war and "legacy" O/S such as Solaris and AIX will soon be gone

[petergriffin]

Linux? That inferior operating system bugged by the NSA and completely disgraced by Lennart Poettering's stupid SystemD?

Tough geeks use BSD!

[worzelGummidge]

You would be better off handing in your notice though and then looking for contracts when available in a couple of weeks.

Yes it's hard to do but that is the best way to do it.
If your notice period is one month then hand in your notice in Feb (after watching the market for a bit to see how things are going).

p.s. You could ask for a wage increase prior to handing in your notice if you want.

p.p.s It will not work out so well if you wish to apply for contracts while still having a notice period - unless going permy again. That could be the best option for you though.

[worzelGummidge]

You should be looking at the DevOps stuff.

Will be slightly more quiet at the moment but very busy (i.e. VERY busy) in the 1st quarter next year from about Feb.

Go play my friend. You are in the best place to work.

[ujjain]

I will be working Sundays starting next month, so I have Fridays for doing interviews. At least I'll be able to get a better feel. Anyway, going contracting is not all about the money for me.

Thanks for the replies. I guess that a contractor should mostly find his own way. Life as a permanent at my current and last job have just been a bit boring at times for me, the expectations are very low.