Early in my career I had the option of taking the proprietary track (mainframes, DEC/AXP, Microsoft Windows NT, several other proprietary platforms), or the open one (Unix, Linux, shell tools, GNU toolchain). One thing I realized was that just on an ability to get my hands on the tools I wanted to use, the open route was vastly more appealing. It's gotten somewhat better, but you could still easily pay $10-$20k just for annual licenses for tools you'd use.
The other benefit I found was that there was a philosophy of openness and sharing which permeated the open route as well. I've met, face to face, with the founders of major technological systems. And while there are many online support channels for proprietary systems, I've found the ones oriented around open technologies are more useful.
Dittos on training for proprietary systems. It's wonderful ... if you want to learn a button-pushing sequence for getting a task done, without a particularly deep understanding of the process. The skills I've picked up on my own or (very rarely) through training on open technologies have been vastly more durable.
Early in my career I had the option of taking the proprietary track (mainframes, DEC/AXP, Microsoft Windows NT, several other proprietary platforms), or the open one (Unix, Linux, shell tools, GNU toolchain). One thing I realized was that just on an ability to get my hands on the tools I wanted to use, the open route was vastly more appealing. It's gotten somewhat better, but you could still easily pay $10-$20k just for annual licenses for tools you'd use.
The other benefit I found was that there was a philosophy of openness and sharing which permeated the open route as well. I've met, face to face, with the founders of major technological systems. And while there are many online support channels for proprietary systems, I've found the ones oriented around open technologies are more useful.
Dittos on training for proprietary systems. It's wonderful ... if you want to learn a button-pushing sequence for getting a task done, without a particularly deep understanding of the process. The skills I've picked up on my own or (very rarely) through training on open technologies have been vastly more durable.