I am currently in my fourth year at my University studying Software Engineering. I have come to notice that throughout all of my courses I am really the only person who uses Linux or Open source software on a regular basis and typically is my go to solution. There have been others in this space, but most I have noticed use Linux or “the terminal” in a brief or superficial way.
I bring this up as I have been more or less labeled the “Linux guy” and I get a lot of questions when others have to use Linux in any capacity or when Mac users get lost in using their terminal. I have no problem with being that supportive person people need, but it tends to be sometimes complex or hard to explain how things work or how to go about a problem. I also have rather good troubleshooting skills, so its not a big deal.
My problem is that people notice that I know a thing or two about an OS and that I can figure problems out, and I tend to get bombarded with a lot of questions, sometimes that are outside my scope of knowledge. I do feel confident in a lot of ways about my skill set in this regard, but I have been noticing that people tend to think rather highly of me on the level of someone who is an expert when I don’t have as much as knowledge on the topic as an expert would have.
Has anyone experienced anything like this before, and if not, how would you handle a situation like this? Also, it can be tough at times to explain the mindset of using a CLI over a GUI in some situations as it just is easier to run a command vs explain a user interface. Is there any easy way to explain this to people that “just don’t get it”?
I forget where i read/heard this, but its true… you don’t realise how well you do or do not understand something until you have to explain it to others.
I mean truly understand. Most of the time you can increase your own knowledge by having to try and explain something properly to an end user and fielding the questions they ask that you maybe didn’t think of.
Yes. I’ve been “the linux guy” among my circle of friends/colleagues for 20+ years.
If you don’t have time, sometimes you don’t have time. “Sorry, i’m really busy right now and that will take a bit of time to explain properly”…
Some people don’t and never will “get it” because they don’t care about the underlying stuff going on. And that’s fine. Not everybody’s JOB is to understand lower level OS stuff. Some people only care about the tools that run on top of the platform, whatever the platform is doing is for them uninteresting and irrelevant.
They aren’t lesser people because of it so try to resist talking down to them or whatever.
Offer “the short version” (i.e., what do it do to just get back up and running) and maybe ask if they want more details, if you have time.
I started my side business essentially at the behest of people wanting me to do this type of thing. You might have other plans for your career, but it sounds like you could easily start doing contract IT for individuals and/or small businesses.
You make a good point honestly. The fact that someone can teach something at all does demonstrate understanding. I take it as an opportunity to network and get to know people and sometimes learn something new.
I realize that some people just don’t understand or even care to understand, it just is somewhat annoying that they aren’t as aware at least in theory how things work. I suppose you don’t need to know how a cars engine works to be able to drive it, but that understanding can be invaluable when something goes wrong.
I do my best to not talk down to anyone, but darn sometimes it is tempting. I try to be a nice person and if I don’t have the time, I just don’t have the time.
I suppose it can come across like that, and it isn’t my job at this point, just something I do to make school more interesting as well as build some relationships and some knowledge at this point.
That’s an interesting thought actually, but I haven’t thought about it too hard. I am actually only 23, and I realize experience and networking are huge in the technology space. At this point I am doing mostly hobbyist and personal projects when time allows for it and I’ve had a few paid gigs here and there on a personal level but nothing crazy.
And you are right. Time is very valuable and I do well in my schooling, this is more of a matter of when I do have the time.
Most of the time you can increase your own knowledge by having to try and explain something properly to an end user and fielding the questions they ask that you maybe didn’t think of.
spend 10$ get a ton of business cards with your name, email, linkedin, whatever and pass them out to all these people in the tech school youre helping. “if you ever need a linux guy for a job when you get out in the working world hit me up”.
free advertising and they KNOW you know your shit. not all but some of these guys are going to get good jobs some day and when their company needs a guy with your particular skills this will all pay off big.
100% this. I struggled with this a lot in University. A few of my peers had a hard time grasping programming concepts and gave some time here and there to help them out but it quickly adds up and soon got known as the programming guy and kept getting asked to debug everyone’s code. Not saying you shouldn’t help people out or point them in the right direction just be aware of the time it takes and whether it is affecting things elsewhere.
Were my grades still good? ye, could they have been better had I used my time more wisely? definitely.
I recognise the OP. I studied History at university, but I did everyone’s set up for Lan parties (late 90’s) and helped others build PCs and install Windows etc.
You’ve started your career in IT without realising, and yes people you help today will tap you in future and offer you work
I’m not “the Linux guy”, but I’m often the one all my collegues go to for tech stuff. And I’m studying computer engineering. It really feels weird that so many people study the same things as I do but there’s no passion, they don’t try to understand things, don’t get informed outside what they study.
More often than not I find myself watching computerphile or numberphile on Youtube (or similar channels) instead of Netflix for example.
Feels just like a race to the end more than a path to knowledge.
I’m sure race car drivers don’t know or care how the company got more power out of their engine. they just care that it works.
Ditto for application software. At the end of the day a computer is purchased to do a job, and its the software running on top of the platform that does the job. The OS is largely irrelevant and replaceable to be honest - the application software is where the actual productivity happens.
I’d say to remember that (and i say this as a platform/network guy myself) - you may be a linux expert, (or windows or whatever) but that is often the most replaceable part of the solution. Nobody in business or creative endeavour cares what the OS is, it’s what tools that run on it and the people who extract the most from said tools that the business tends to value.
If you’re a platform expert, try to remember that your experience and skills are worth something only if they enable somebody in production to get the “Real work” of the business done. In the real world (i.e… outside of school, university, etc.) no one cares if you built some amazing platform if it doesn’t produce anything business-wise
Unless you happen to land a job at an IT company, IT is a cost centre that management would rather not pay for if they could avoid it
Yup, and i’ve experienced it first hand many times when trying to document something i have made or implemented at work.
Getting something working and being able to document it for others are two entirely different levels of understanding
From your title, I can relate. I am in the position I’m in now (being paid, btw) because I am “the Linux guy”. I work in a predominantly Windows environment but they needed someone who knows Linux very well to modernize/containerize them as well as make them more “web friendly”. Their shift over the next two years will be from 70/30 Windows/Linux to probably 90/10 Linux/Windows.
However, regarding:
Being honest goes a long way. You don’t have to put yourself down, if you view it that way, by saying “I don’t know”. Simply stating “I’ve never experienced this before” is a nice supplement.
Regardless of your field of subject matter expertise, there are those that will notice it, crave it, or sometimes abuse it. Honesty is another winner here. “I’m working on some other things, how about we schedule some time in a week to figure it out?” is often something I default to. Or, if you don’t want to help them, recommend some resources. Eventually, as some have said, the abusive types will leave you alone (not necessarily abusive to you, just to your time). If people are genuinely interested in learning or bettering themselves, if you gently nudge them in the right direction they’ll sometimes figure it out. if they can’t, they should be able to wait patiently until you’re available. You might make lasting friends and colleagues, who knows.
