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10 Characteristics of a Linux Guru?

Posted by khess on · 16 comments
DaniWeb; By Ken Hess
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What makes someone a Linux guru? Is there a set of distinct criteria to earn that moniker? I've compiled a list of 10 that I think makes someone qualify.

I just read a post on another site from someone who calls himself (herself?), linux guru, and it made me ponder the following question: What is a Linux Guru? I've known many knowledgeable people over the years but never have I met an actual guru. I wonder if people like linux guru think that he can call himself "linux guru" because he believes that everyone else is a Linux Newbie? Or, perhaps linux guru is the world's only true Linux Guru and he wants his due fame. To help answer the question, I've compiled a list of ten characteristics that I think define what a Linux Guru is.

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Comments (16)

Sorry Ken, too many of your points are subject to circumstance.

Quoting:1. Knowledgeable in all major Linux distributions.


This I kind of agree with, knowledge across a variety of distributions would be a better phrase.

Quoting:2. Configures Samba, DNS, Sendmail and Apache with no Googling.


How about, knows how to read man pages and can translate that into practical application.

Quoting:3. Helps others solve their problems with Linux. 4. Blogs or writes about personal experiences with Linux. 5. Donates time and resources to at least one Linux project.


Shares accumulated knowledge, you need not be personable to write a how-to, nor have pretensions of literary fame that require you to blather on. I have to blog? puh lease. A simple how-to covers all three points (nor does it need to be distro/project specific.)

Quoting:6. Uses Linux on a variety of computing hardware. 7. Hacks Linux-based devices for fun and/or profit.


Assuming one has access to or funds to play with. Big assumption.

Quoting:8. Finds innovative ways to use Linux at work.


This would depends on the latitude you have from your employer now wouldn't it?

Quoting:9. Is a Linux Evangelist.


How does being an evangelist in any way shape or form have anything to do with my knowledge or ability? It just means that you have habits that annoy the heck out of the people around you.

Quoting:10. Has a collection of very early (Kernel 1.x or older) Linux CDs.


irrelevant, this means your a pack rat with a collection of deprecated junk laying around. I suppose most of us do, but it has nothing to do with skill level or competence.

Seriously, even if just taken as opinions they dont hold up to logic, as guidelines, this list would be better if approached as tongue in cheek humor. I realize that this is a late post on the article, its just been annoying me since I first read it.

oh and as an FYI: Yes I write how-to's and wiki entries Yes I assist others Yes I donate my time and knowledge Yes I am on a developer team for a distribution as a contributing member. Yes I spend scads of time with google No I am not a guru.

Yes I have random bouts of literary pretentiousness (blogging), just not to the level of diarrhea of the keyboard.
Quoting: . Finds innovative ways to use Linux at work.

This would depends on the latitude you have from your employer now wouldn't it?


It would indeed. How does no lattitude where Linux is concerned sound.
Sounds like our employers have a lot in common.
Quoting:How does no lattitude where Linux is concerned sound.
Sounds like time for a new job.
No one else lets me play with radars.
Quoting:Seriously, even if just taken as opinions they dont hold up to logic, as guidelines, this list would be better if approached as tongue in cheek humor.
That would describe the bulk of Ken's bloggings. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to realize it.
Quoting:Sounds like time for a new job.


No other job in town.
According to a man who emigrated to the USA from India, I am a guru.

Then again, he did describe the Internet connectivity problem to me, and I did tell him how to fix it, sight unseen.

To thank me, he invited me to a monthly dinner at a local Indian restaurant. There, described me to his friends as his "Internet guru."

And that's good enough for me.
Quoting:No other job in town.
Time for a new town?
I have a Latitude running Linux at work.
"That would describe the bulk of Ken's bloggings. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to realize it."

Heh... I would postulate that the majority of LXers think that Ken's writing is more "foot in mouth" than "tongue in cheek".
> I would postulate that the majority of LXers think that Ken's writing is more "foot in mouth" than "tongue in cheek". To the point of not reading anything he writes, as soon as I see his name.

Interesting list. I'm no "evangelist", I just point out problems someone has that are because of the OS they use, and that there are alternatives. Sometimes people are interested, sometimes not, such is life.

Have you Hear the Word of Stallman? bleck. No thanks.
Just because I'm not allowed to talk about Linux, and I'm not even allowed to mention it at work, doesn't mean I don't use it. I actually use Linux in lots of ways that make my life easier.

To start with, while my programming environment is Ms Visual Studio, on Windows, of course, I have Windows running on a VM (VirtualBox) I have the public directory shared between the host and VM. I run Windows in one Monitor and Linux in the other. I actually save all the MS Word (.doc and docx) to the public directory and view/edit them using OO.o and spreadsheet files (.xls the same way..and .xlsx) . I access all our remote desktops (servers), using rdp on Linux, on seperate Virtual desktop (I have 9 configured), so I can quickly and easily switch between them. I don't use FTP clients to connect to our FTP filesystems, instead I use curlftpfs from Linux and share the filesystem with Windows via a symlink in the Public directory.

I keep finding new ways to make my life easier.

All this happens under the radar, my boss has no knowledge of this, because he fibids me to discuss it. My work mates do know though, and I keep them updated on new developments. They unfortunately don't have Linux, and are forced to rely on the legacy operating system the company prefers.
> To the point of not reading anything he writes, as soon as I see his name.

So much time saved by such a simple policy. I wonder why so few people use it. :)

Folks, Ken Hess = Do not read. What else is there to say?
Well, I like his articles which are not on DaniWeb. I saw two good articles by KH recently, not on Daniweb, but on some other site.

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