Which Career to Choose: Programmer Vs Administrator

The Science behind computer and computation has always attracted a mass of people from the career prospective. Jobs in computer technology are numerous ranging from hardware to software. In this article I will be discussing career as a Administrator as compared to career as a Developer (Programmer).

Programmer vs Administrator
Programmer vs Administrator

OK, I will tell the whole article from my point of view. About two years ago I used to think whether I should concentrate on Programming or Administration. I loved Developing and creating new things everyday so I make up mind to be a developer, then the very next question that came to my mind was which language should I go for.

Personally I liked C. Why C? because C was the first Programming Language. But from the market point of view, C was not in demand at all. So I thought to learn ASP.net, Java and Oracle. Even this learning process remained in my routine for a few weeks but soon I got disinterested in all the above said languages, C was my first love and no one forgets his/her first love.

It was time to move to the next semester where I was introduced to UNIX Operating system. I came to know that whole UNIX was written in C. Although they said UNIX was in our Syllabus but they taught Linux, as UNIX was neither free nor easily available.

I Got my way to C was there, the joy of creating new was there. Linux was something for which I could wake up daily and go to work happily.

Why should you choose programming from the career point of view?

  1. Because you enjoy the sense of creativity.
  2. Because you work for yourself and don’t bother for interaction with peoples directly.
  3. Flexibility to work from office or home.

Why should not you choose Programming from the career point of view?

  1. Less opportunity as a result of job outsourcing.
  2. Erratic hours
  3. Repetitive
  4. Sharp Deadlines
  5. Keep pace with changing frameworks and technology.

Why should you choose Administration from the career point of view?

  1. Always something different
  2. New challenges
  3. Controlling and coordinating with number of professionals.

Why should not you choose Administration from career point of view?

  1. Stressful working hours.
  2. Sometimes boring taking backups, restoring, fixing, installing, updating, scanning,etc.

A very famous quote in our world is:

A programmer gets famous when he does something good and an administrator if he does something bad.”

What point you should have in mind when choosing a particular career opportunity.

  1. You should choose the option you are comfortable, for which you can wake every morning happily.
  2. You can make money in any field you have mastered and should not depend upon the current market trend.
  3. You should do what you love else love what you do.

Both System Administration and Developer as a job is highly sought after by professionals. Both will remain in demand forever. My personal recommendation is to listen what your heart says and not to take decision what other insist or what the current graph says.

You are one, you are different. No one can be you, ever. Your career is not only a source of income, it should be your passion, your desire, your dream.

With all these I am signing off today and will soon be back with an interesting article. Till then stay tuned. Come visiting Tecmint.com for any recent update in the FOSS world.

So what should you choose as a Programmer or Administrator? do, tell us know your choice in our Comment Section.

If you read this far, tweet to the author to show them you care. Tweet a thanks
Ronav Saive
A Passionate GNU/Linux Enthusiast and Software Developer with over a decade in the field of Linux and Open Source technologies.

Each tutorial at TecMint is created by a team of experienced Linux system administrators so that it meets our high-quality standards.

Join the TecMint Weekly Newsletter (More Than 156,129 Linux Enthusiasts Have Subscribed)
Was this article helpful? Please add a comment or buy me a coffee to show your appreciation.

163 thoughts on “Which Career to Choose: Programmer Vs Administrator”

  1. Sir I’m newer to both technologies my sir said one thing administrator is stress-less job better than development i was completed my two courses as little bit means as a developer I’m completed Python. now I’m fully confusion which I want select what I’m doing please give me suggestion which is better way for me..

    Reply
  2. I started out as a sysadmin over 18 years ago. I am still a sysadm, A programmer gets famous when he does something good and an administrator if he does something bad

    Reply
  3. what does professionalism mean to a system administrator? what does it mean to a programmer? please help me understand this.

    Reply
  4. Java developers are presently very much in demand by a huge margin. Being platform independent, many enterprise applications run on Java. Although .NET is an outstanding framework and C# is an excellent language, they are very much affected by the Microsoft Windows Server platform

    Reply
  5. I am with Administration Development is boring sometimes. Administration is less stressful than developing specific products in time-bounded manner. But also Administration have its own stress as the above quote. But for me Development is boring in some ways

    Reply
  6. Comparatively which would be a better option for a beginner – studying python basic+advanced for data science or doing an oracle OCA and OCP certification just to get the entry into IT.I finished my masters in information and communication technology 5 years back , since then i have been working in a totally different field and would like to get back into [email protected] you

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Priya Cancel reply

Have a question or suggestion? Please leave a comment to start the discussion. Please keep in mind that all comments are moderated and your email address will NOT be published.