Company switching to Macs, should I switch my job?

Publish Date: Aug 15 '19

2 22

Like in the title.
The company said they will be getting Mac laptops for everyone. Everyone will have to use them as it's not an option.

The main reason they give is that the IT support will have much less work to do (like Ubuntu desktops ever required much attention).
The second reason is that Macs are supposed to be faster than current desktops (just give us better desktops).

Up to this point I was hoping that people who want to stay on Linux will have that option. As you can tell I am not very enthusiastic with the switch, and I seriously started considering switching jobs.

#help?

Comments 22 total

mnivoliezAug 15, 2019

DISCLAMER: I'm a long time linux user and I can't think of any other plateform I prefer to work/game/other on to.

That being said, truth is, we as programmer use mostly IDE and/or editor + other dev tools.
Mac propose that, the question will more likely be "is your favorite and useful tools be on that plateform". For my case, I found painful to have to work without bash. Hopefully, mac propose that.

Plateforme being ultimately only a small part (even itchy, I give you that) of our daily work, it's not by far the essence of it. You should consider if leaving your current working project/team is worth it over a plateform choice. I believe that if the answer is that you should, then the problem lies truly elsewhere.

It's only my opinion I hope it will help you a little.

As I have already spoke to much, I'll just wish you good luck in your decision, whatever it may be.
rhymesAug 15, 2019

I interpreted your post in a different way: "I'm staying at my job because I can use an operating system I like", which makes me think there's more to the situation.

If being handed a Mac is enough to make you question your job you either left out something or you're already one step from leaving.

If you like your job a lot, learning to use a Mac shouldn't be much of a issue, if learning Mac computing is the tipping point you already know the answer to your conundrums :)
- Thomas H Jones IIAug 15, 2019
  
  If being handed a Mac is enough to make you question your job you either left out something or you're already one step from leaving.
  
  If a company is saying to its system users, "we don't care about your comfort or productivity," then company has probably provided no shortage of reasons why someone would already have been one step from leaving.
  - rhymesAug 15, 2019
    
    Exactly. What I meant is that this is a symptom of a larger problem. It's either not the entire story or it's part of a larger issue which prompted the OP to vent their discomfort being this the final act
    - anpos231Aug 16, 2019
      
      Yeah, you are all right. The agency was acquired by a larger "Corporation" and since then everything was a shitshow.
      - Thomas H Jones IIAug 17, 2019
        
        Been there. Worked for a great, high-performing consultancy that got bought by a much larger consultancy. I still remember some of my customers bemusement and asking, "you don't have to get a lobotomy as part of your onboarding with the new company, do you? We'd previously kicked that company out because their people were so useless."
        
        There was a reason why the new ownership allowed all of us to keep our old email addresses: they knew that if they forced us to wear their sign, those that had otherwise stayed would have left.
DhruvAug 15, 2019

I was a windows fan until I switched to macbook and I am not returning back to windows at all!

My team had a mix of windows laptops and macbooks and we kept encountering things that kept screwing us because of the windows vs mac OS differences. It might sound minor but its a big productivity roadblock where changes work for some members on team and doesn't for others.

If you're working on private repos then everyone switching to macbook would be worth it as you will no longer find those roadblocks.

I feel much more productive with the macbook and the trackpad gestures and many little things that just work.
- anpos231Aug 16, 2019
  
  I totally get you.
  But most of our software is built to work on Linux.
  Since most of us used Linux in day to day work, we did not have to worry about differences between server OS and dev OS.
  
  New we'll all be switching to Macs and when we asked about the potential differences the answer was "Docker containers".
  - Thomas H Jones IIAug 17, 2019
    
    Yeah... While OSX gives a familiar-feeling environment, some of the CLI tooling is ancient enough that people working on Red Hat would chuckle at their decrepitude.
  - DhruvAug 17, 2019
    
    For windows laptops vs macbook scenario that I described, our main motivation was docker containers too; however I dont think there are such large diffs between linux vs macOS with regards to docker containers for those. (I doubt that due to lack of knowledge between linux and mac on that aspect).
    
    Regardless, I feel productive with macbooks and dont have to worry about performance problems I used to have before where windows laptop cpu kept being high on usage with the fan remaining noisy! Not the case with macbook.
Humza K.Aug 16, 2019

I have been a Windows user primarily my whole life, with trying Mac/Linux for a short while. This was because I have been primarily a .NET Developer until this point. I started a new job with a Fintech, and they are a Java/Scala shop. My experience working with Java in production grad environments is far less than that of in .NET environments, but here I'm, absolutely in love with my job.

I made the switch to Mac for this job, and I have never looked back since. I made the switch to another platform because it seemed exciting the kind of things the company was doing leveraging this stack. Your ability to create and your levels of comfort should not be tied down to specific things. At some point in life, we have to evolve, we have to change the way we operate and work.

How will you know whether you like it or not unless you decide to give it a try?
AminAug 16, 2019

There are ways to install GNU/Linux distributions alongside if not onto Mac OS X. So you can have your operating system booting and automatically start parallels with your Linux environment. Switch keyboard for a non Mac keyboard and you got it.
- anpos231Aug 16, 2019
  
  I don't think we'll be allowed to install GNU on Macs.
  I don't think we'll be even allowed to use our keyboards.
  Security concerns, you know.
Jim PriestAug 16, 2019

I've used Linux at home for ages but have always had to use Windows at work. Recently I had the opportunity to switch to Mac and so far I like it. Most of my tools are cross platform so had a Mac option and the few that didn't I was able to find a suitable Mac alternative.
Brian BarbourAug 16, 2019

Run a VM with linux on it?
- anpos231Aug 16, 2019
  
  Docker :P
  Yeah that was the answer we've got from management. If you can't run something on Mac, run it in a docker container.
  - Thomas H Jones IIAug 17, 2019
    
    You're still stuck with the horrid "we know what you want better than you do" WM and that annoying-assed, "buttons are too complicated" track-pad.
    
    /me vomits.
diekAug 16, 2019

"Up to this point I was hoping that people who want to stay on Linux will have that option."

You know that Mac is a Linux, right? You can do almost everything you do with any Debian distro.

I don't really care what SO i use on work, i used Win, Ubuntu and Mac in different works, and if the company has the workspaces ready you should not worry about it.
- anpos231Aug 16, 2019
  
  Mac is not Linux, it's Unix and there are some huge differences. But I guess it depends what you are working on.
  - diekAug 16, 2019
    
    Nice, you got it.
- Thomas H Jones IIAug 17, 2019
  
  You know that Mac is a Linux, right? You can do almost everything you do with any Debian distro.
  
  Oof. You just pissed off both the Linux- and the BSD-fanbois. :p

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anpos231 @anpos231

Company switching to Macs, should I switch my job?

Comments 22 total