17 Jan
2004
17 Jan
'04
7:12 p.m.
As the discussion progressed, we decided that there
are two types of
advanced computer users -system programmers and system
administrators.
There are. (I'm not convinced there aren't other types.)
That in itself is debatable but where our discussion
became bogged
down was when we tried to decide which user was left brain, and which
was right brain. [...]
Here's my take on it. (Note that, for the sake of ease of discussion,
I will accept without further comment your characterization of the
brain hemispheres, though I am not convinced it's really correct.)
Personally I'm not convinced that either of those two is any inherently
more left-brained or right-brained than the other. A heavily lopsided
person can be competent but not brilliant at either one, regardless of
which hemisphere is dominant and which sort of person is under
discussion...but to be really outstanding, I think, requires a
significant contribution from both the left brain and the right brain:
each is both an art and a science, and to shine at either requires
being both artist and scientist.
For all that, though, they are very different disciplines, and it's
entirely possible to be a stellar sysadmin without being a more than
reasonably competent programmer, and that much only in a certain class
of languages; and it's entirely possible to be a stellar programmer
without being an even minimally competent sysadmin. (Yes, this is not
symmetric.)
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