Journal Journal: To geek or not to geek...
This is copied directly from this post: http://shifuimam.livejournal.com/863685.html. I just figure Slashdot can probably provide way more insight into "real geekiness" than ten people on Livejournal can.
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I'm curious to know something.
What actually makes a person a [computer] geek? Being an Apple fanboy doesn't make you a geek. Using AIM and Facebook a lot doesn't make you a geek. Writing a blog about how great you are doesn't make you a geek. Learning how to make a hideous Myspace page doesn't make you a geek.
So, what does? Is it getting a graduate degree in Informatics or Computer Science? Building computer type devices from the ground up (meaning buying breadboard and transistors and DIP switches and programming in assembly)? Writing software? Fixing computers? Developing websites? At what point do you have enough experience to be labeled a computer geek?
I've gotten more experience with laptop hardware in the last year than I have during the rest of my known existence. While the great majority of that experience has been with Macs (fixing a 12" iBook G4, a 12" PowerBook G4, several 12" iBook G3s, and the now-infamous clamshell), I've worked with Dells and Compaqs, too. Does that make me a geek?
I pick up some coding quickly. I'm pretty good at PHP, and my SQL skills are growing every time I write another report for the timesheet application I wrote for work. I know XHTML and CSS like the back of my own foot. Does that make me a geek?
I know far too much about making Windows do exactly what I want it to do, all the time. I know command line stuff for manipulating files and directories, and killing off rogue tasks that make my machine have a grand mal seizure. I am the go-to person, at both work and home, for Windows help and tips. I know less about OS X, but I know enough to make it (usually) behave the way I want it to. Does that make me a geek?
Obviously, I've worked enough with desktop hardware, but everyone has. I know what brands are good and what brands suck when it comes to shopping for internal components. I've replaced everything in various desktops, from something as simple as RAM or a hard drive to the motherboard, processor, and power supply. My soldering skills are nonexistent, so I ended up replacing the board in my 400sc, rather than trying to solder on new capacitors myself. But does that still make me a geek?
I play Magic, although I'm still not very good. I will destroy anyone who challenges me to a game of Rummikub. I slaughter my opponents at euchre, gin, and rummy, and I used to be damn good at Egyptian Ratscrew. Does that have any influence on my geekiness?
Throughout the years, my geek status has been challenged by various people, both IRL and on the Internet. It's as though there is a particular threshold in each person's mind that differentiates between "geek" and "not geek". In my mind, a geek is someone who enjoys learning new things for fun (as opposed to due to requirement or obligation), picks up things quickly, and has an inherent interest in geeky things (video games, science fiction books and movies, fantasy stuff, science, math, computers, technology, etc). Someone who is not a geek within certain constraints (other than the obvious things) can be defined as someone who is just in IT for the money and gets no enjoyment from it, or someone who does nothing but play WoW or Call of Duty all day. There has to be more to it than that, I think. True geekiness cannot have a single side - it must be dimensional or multifaceted.
I don't know. Am I geek? What do you, my internet fans, think? What defines "real geek" for you?
Plz advise.
------
I'm curious to know something.
What actually makes a person a [computer] geek? Being an Apple fanboy doesn't make you a geek. Using AIM and Facebook a lot doesn't make you a geek. Writing a blog about how great you are doesn't make you a geek. Learning how to make a hideous Myspace page doesn't make you a geek.
So, what does? Is it getting a graduate degree in Informatics or Computer Science? Building computer type devices from the ground up (meaning buying breadboard and transistors and DIP switches and programming in assembly)? Writing software? Fixing computers? Developing websites? At what point do you have enough experience to be labeled a computer geek?
I've gotten more experience with laptop hardware in the last year than I have during the rest of my known existence. While the great majority of that experience has been with Macs (fixing a 12" iBook G4, a 12" PowerBook G4, several 12" iBook G3s, and the now-infamous clamshell), I've worked with Dells and Compaqs, too. Does that make me a geek?
I pick up some coding quickly. I'm pretty good at PHP, and my SQL skills are growing every time I write another report for the timesheet application I wrote for work. I know XHTML and CSS like the back of my own foot. Does that make me a geek?
I know far too much about making Windows do exactly what I want it to do, all the time. I know command line stuff for manipulating files and directories, and killing off rogue tasks that make my machine have a grand mal seizure. I am the go-to person, at both work and home, for Windows help and tips. I know less about OS X, but I know enough to make it (usually) behave the way I want it to. Does that make me a geek?
Obviously, I've worked enough with desktop hardware, but everyone has. I know what brands are good and what brands suck when it comes to shopping for internal components. I've replaced everything in various desktops, from something as simple as RAM or a hard drive to the motherboard, processor, and power supply. My soldering skills are nonexistent, so I ended up replacing the board in my 400sc, rather than trying to solder on new capacitors myself. But does that still make me a geek?
I play Magic, although I'm still not very good. I will destroy anyone who challenges me to a game of Rummikub. I slaughter my opponents at euchre, gin, and rummy, and I used to be damn good at Egyptian Ratscrew. Does that have any influence on my geekiness?
Throughout the years, my geek status has been challenged by various people, both IRL and on the Internet. It's as though there is a particular threshold in each person's mind that differentiates between "geek" and "not geek". In my mind, a geek is someone who enjoys learning new things for fun (as opposed to due to requirement or obligation), picks up things quickly, and has an inherent interest in geeky things (video games, science fiction books and movies, fantasy stuff, science, math, computers, technology, etc). Someone who is not a geek within certain constraints (other than the obvious things) can be defined as someone who is just in IT for the money and gets no enjoyment from it, or someone who does nothing but play WoW or Call of Duty all day. There has to be more to it than that, I think. True geekiness cannot have a single side - it must be dimensional or multifaceted.
I don't know. Am I geek? What do you, my internet fans, think? What defines "real geek" for you?
Plz advise.
