You can test and test all you want outside of production, and any respectable shop will have every piece of code thoroughly unit tested and will test "significant" changes against simulated (for changes that load can affect) and limited users.
But, for an environment with huge infrastructure, it becomes literally impossible to test every scenario against real user loads with real user patterns ("random" requests is not real).
When your test scripts get timeouts, they gently retry after $TIMEOUT. People arent like that. Never underestimate the power of $BIGNUM users clicking 'reload' every coupla seconds....
I put debian on my Dev G1. Zero problems.
It's safe - all it does is run a chroot environment from your SD card, thus you are unable to break your existing system (/dev hacks aside). No kernel is booted, it lives off the running system kernel.
This means two things:
- Resources are only consumed by actual running debian processes you initiate. No mysterious background daemons. I run a bash shell, and the only extra process on the phone is one bash shell.
- Aside from memory/cpu resources (not really scarce on a 192Mb phone), zero impact on the rest of the phone (I can compile a kernel whilst making a call at the same time).
I can now install and run any debian app. With a $12 4Gb micro-sd, I can install a *lot*. Access either via keyboard or network (ssh).
python and perl on my phone - w00t!
All I'm waiting on now is someone to create python modules to interface with the phone's GUI. And/or an X server.
That's almost exactly how. Started at a small but growing local ISP, and worked my way up.
Also, trade conferences (geeky ones, not suity ones) are vital for getting contacts and job leads. Don't forget to attend the dinners.
A degree says you might be able to do a particular job. Experience _proves_ that you can do the job.
I never finished my degree, yet I have been able to pursue a computing career without it being a roadblock.
My present role is as an engineer at Google.
Quantity is no substitute for quality, but its the only one we've got.