> So this authors example of an ideal young systems programmer looking to get hired was one that provided (free!) significant contributions to their Golang client, their database and _an academic paper_, presumably over the course of many weeks (months?).
That's not how I see it! I love databases and open source; libsql seemed right for me. I had no idea (or expectations) I would get hired by doing so. By contributing to open source, I am getting to work on some complex codebases where some brilliant people are helping me with my code in pull requests. Isn’t that awesome?
Sure, it may only work for some, and this isn’t the only way to systems programming. It is totally okay if someone wants to take a different path.
Instead of focusing on what’s wrong, why not use this opportunity to help and guide others in a similar boat?
To rephrase, how would you advise someone like me to change the domain from the backend to systems programming? For someone who doesn’t have experience with systems programming, knowing only Python, and Go professionally. During the (previous) job, I was working on scaling micro services and building web backend. There was zero room for systems related stuff.
It's awesome that you found a project that speaks to your interests and is fun to contribute to.
In fact, I often recommend folks looking to get into tech to do exactly that, or at least have a few side projects they tinker with to demonstrate proficiency and willingness to learn.
My complaint here was with the authors using your journey (which you weren't doing expecting to be hired, which is important) as an example of what others should do to get a systems eng job.
Honestly, if you already have development experience and want to move into some other subfield, my advice in your general case would be to use your network to get a referral into companies you're interested in or message recruiters offering those jobs indicating your interest.
> So this authors example of an ideal young systems programmer looking to get hired was one that provided (free!) significant contributions to their Golang client, their database and _an academic paper_, presumably over the course of many weeks (months?).
That's not how I see it! I love databases and open source; libsql seemed right for me. I had no idea (or expectations) I would get hired by doing so. By contributing to open source, I am getting to work on some complex codebases where some brilliant people are helping me with my code in pull requests. Isn’t that awesome?
Sure, it may only work for some, and this isn’t the only way to systems programming. It is totally okay if someone wants to take a different path.
Instead of focusing on what’s wrong, why not use this opportunity to help and guide others in a similar boat?
To rephrase, how would you advise someone like me to change the domain from the backend to systems programming? For someone who doesn’t have experience with systems programming, knowing only Python, and Go professionally. During the (previous) job, I was working on scaling micro services and building web backend. There was zero room for systems related stuff.
[0] - https://github.com/avinassh