Unix software development vs. Unix systems administration

For various historical reasons, I've ended up with skills and experience on both sides of what can often be a divide in the technology world. I've done work pertaining to both systems administration and software development. Some recruiters seem fuzzy on the difference, thus this page.

The system administrator is responsible for keeping the machines running smoothly - for installing and configuring the system and software, for making backups, for adminstering user accounts, and other things along that line. Over the years I've picked up a significant bit of Linux systems administration experience -- this has been especially true during my time at Vervendi, where for most of my employment I was the sole person with sysadmin responsibilities. However I have never had a position where it was my primary task.

My background is mostly in software development - creating the programs that make the system do the things we want it to do. Those programs might be used only in-house, or might be sold as commercial products, or anything in between.

-Tom Swiss

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