Day: February 13, 2019

SubString in Bash

This is a note for myself.

I have a string “version=1.234.5” and I want to get the value after the equal and keep the value in a variable. Here is what I have done.

 test_str="version=2.150.2"
 echo $test_str
 ver=${test_str##*=}
 echo $ver

In addition, if I want to retain the part before the equal…

key=${test_str%=*}

Bash looks so cryptic… I use it for wherever necessary but not my favorite language.

What makes you a good engineer?

I’ve always wanted to be a good engineer. I consider myself a “good enough” engineer but maybe not a good engineer yet. I’m going to list the qualities for good engineers below.

  • Technical knowledge
  • Communication skill
  • Programming skill
  • Networking knowledge
  • Security knowledge
  • Meticulousness
  • Curiosity
  • Respect for others
  • Open-mindedness
  • Documentation skills

I’m sure someone can add more to this list but that’s what I think of right now. As I see them now, I am far from my ideal engineer…

One day, when I was watching a technical YouTube channel, this guy said that to be a good engineer, you have to be somewhat jerk. I guess he meant it takes being aggressive without a fear of hurting someone’s feelings to get things done, but I don’t really agree with him. I believe if you are a truly good engineer, your communication skill is very good to a point where you can nicely persuade your fellow engineers. I have met such engineers that I respect and keep in touch even now.

Technical skill is the most important one to be a good engineer but that’s not all that it takes. We are all humans before we are engineers. We ought to remember that.