Lately, I have spent a small amount of time looking through people’s resumes. Without fail, every one has a section at the end that shows what flavors of Unix and what flavors of Windows they are proficient in. It struck me today that if I was the one being interviewed, I could say that I was proficient in Windows 3.1 (and actually I could probably go further back and say Windows 386 or even Windows 1.0) up to Windows 2000. Although Windows XP is supposedly obsoleted by Windows Vista, I would end up having to say “I could probably figure out Windows XP or Vista if I had to.” I do not believe I have ever used Windows XP hands-on and have never seen Vista outside of screenshots and videos.
I find this all a little bit shocking and surprising, although I have no idea why. I’ve never had the desire or necessity to run Windows XP, nor have I really had the hardware. I have an almost fanatical dislike of the company and the OS …yet… I feel a little weird that I have never used it and know next to nothing about it.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I think this is an issue of well-roundedness… from a technology standpoint, i can respect a professional who praises himself, but rightly so with solid experience on all systems, rather than those who claim the same expertise/proficiency, but only within their ‘favourite’ system(s) – whether they’re loyal to Linux or Windows (even Mac). With Windows being such an enormous market, I can imagine it would feel odd to not have any experience in that market… I’m the opposite – I’m only in Windows, with only a couple little dabblings in Linux. I can respect a Linux geek who can at least acknowledge the importance of understanding and using Windows
in general culture/media. But I know with my lack of Linux-lore, I wouldn’t stand a chance in the grand scale of OS developers… heh
I’d say go for it – play around with XP/Vista. It’s good to have on the resume these days, especially with heavy experience in alternate OS’s.
On a semi-related note, my Powerbook wend down hard last year and I was shocked to see how much more unproductive I am using XP. Things took easily twice as long that first day. I mean, for all the preference I have, they are not THAT different.