The best thing you can do is to start! Your background sounds similar to mine. V2 of the docs are really good. I've called them my favorite piece of technical d

The best thing you can do is to start! Your background sounds similar to mine. V2 of the docs are really good. I've called them my favorite piece of technical documentation somewhere on HN before. Anyway, the other comments about reading the docs and building things are correct. I'd just point out two things in addition. 1) Don't feel like you have to go write some impressive low level application just because the language is lower level - fizzbuzz works fine too. 2) Don't worry too much about whether you're strong enough on systems concepts. It's not a class you fail if you show up unprepared for; it's (presumably) play time you're engaging in to scratch your own itch. You'll make mistakes but that's not something to be avoided, it's the only way to learn.