GNHLUG SLUG - Wiki - 8 May

[David Hardy]

Wow.

I will save this email for future reference.  It delivers a solid and
comprehensive summary of the HOWTO stuff we all work and play with.

And here I sit, with Reflection running my connections to the VAX and the
Tru64 Alpha box from this Windows machine, well, above my right shoulder, a
sagging shelf of OpenVMS, Tru64, and local site-specific docs threaten to
bury me.  Also a can of Air Wick, the Lavender Fields aroma, which was here
when I got here;  I didn't buy it.

Second day on the gig, tech-savvy boss, and the bullpen here of three
network/Windows guys, one telco guy, and one soon-to-leave VMS consultant.
Life is good.

Except it ain't Vermont and it ain't the Granite State.  And today's steady
rain is at least wetting down the remains of three major fires here in the
Haht of the Commonwealth.

Thanks much for your thoughts.

Regahds,

Dave


On 5/2/06, Paul Lussier <p.lussier at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> "David Hardy" <belovedbold357 at gmail.com> writes:
>
> > I've been on the list for a few years now and wouldn't dream of heckling
> Ben
> > or anyone else here;  way in awe of you guys.
>
> Awwww, shucks :)
>
> > I've been running Linux since RH 6.1 but what I know can fit on the
> > business end of a pencil compared to you all.
>
> Well, not to spill a secret or anything, but everyone else on this
> list started at the same point :) There are days when I feel like an
> idiot[1] compared to those I work with[2].  Knowledge, like poverty, can
> often be a matter of perspective.  In otherwords, you can make a
> million dollars a year, but if you overspend, you're still broke, and
> still feel like you don't make "enough".  It's the same with
> knowledge.  The more you know, the more you realize you have to learn :)
>
> Most of us accumulated our knowledge following a simple 7 step
> program (you can try this at home kids:)
>
> 1. We read.
> 2. We read a lot.
> 3. We read multiple mediums and multiple sources.
> 4. We attempt to apply what we read to reality.
> 5. We read some more.
> 6. We correct for our mistakes
> 7. Goto 1.
>
> After several iterations of that, we usually break down and ask
> someone for help, whether it's on this list or another.
>
> Note that we do in fact ask for help, but that it's usually the *last*
> thing we do[3].  If you've been on this list or any technical mailing
> list for a while, you'll notice a pattern among the posters there.
>
> - The more experienced posters  (Group A)
>
>     - pose questions about rather arcane or complex issues; things
>       the average list member might not have any knowledge of, any
>       need to know, or something just so far past the realm of what
>       the "average" would think of, they'd never consider asking a
>       question like that.
>
>     - usually get a few responses of the form "have you tried this?",
>       or "What if you went about it a slightly different way." With
>       the occasional "Wow, that's a tough one? Why do you need
>       that?!"
>
> - The younger/lesser experienced folks (Group B)
>
>    - ask FAQs or rather simple questions.
>
>    - get multitudes of answers, many duplicates or variations of the
>      same theme.
>
>    - are usually answered by the group above
>
> From this pattern, we can deduce several things:
>
> - The more experienced posters
>    - know the simple stuff, therefore don't have to ask
>    - know where/how to get the answers to most questions quickly
>      without having to ask
>    - probably read/experiment a lot
>    - know how to use google effectively
>
> - The younger/lesser experienced folks
>
>    - don't know the simple stuff yet
>    - don't know where/how to get the answers quickly
>    - haven't read (enough)
>    - probably haven't experimented much
>    - probably haven't googled
>
> Also note:
>
> - Everyone has been a member of Group A at sometime or other
> - Everyone *will* be a member of Group A for some amount of time for
>    every new community they join
> - Upward mobility is not only possible, but encouraged!
> - The time it takes to move from Group B into Group A is largely
>    dependant on:
>     - How closely other already attained knowledge pertains to this
>       new group.
>       (i.e. lots of experience with general UNIX sysadmin lends
>       greatly to the knowledge required to understanding Apache and
>       Samba.  Knoweldge of Windows, greatly aids configuring Samba
>       even more.)
>
>     - How quickly/often one reads/learns/experiments
>     - How motivated the individual is in moving to Group A
>
>
> Footnotes:
> ----------
> [1] Like the time I couldn't figure out why I had a routing problem,
>    only to have pointed out by Ben that a) I configured a default
>    route, and b) I didn't have anything at that address :)
>
> [2] I work with a bunch of MIT alumni.  One of them is a
>    "mathematician" because the EE/CS curriculum at MIT was "so easy
>    it was boring".
>
> [3] Of course, everyone is guilty of asking the occasional stupid
>    question first without following the 7 steps above, regardless of
>    whether it's due to a brain-fart, impatience, or whatever :)
> --
> Seeya,
> Paul
>
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