Where do you go for help and news?

[Ben Scott]

On 1/30/07, Paul Lussier <p.lussier at comcast.net> wrote:
> "So, what does it take to get to this level of understanding Linux?".

  Wow.  Ah, got a few minutes?  ;-)

> "Ditch Windows, increase your pain threshold to nearly
> intolerable, and don't use anything but a UNIX-based OS for 15+ years?

  I suspect that's pretty much on the mark.  Though I doubt your
colleague is looking for that answer.

  I often have people ask me how I've learned what I do for a living
(mongrel IT jack-of-all-trades).  I've spent a fair bit of time
thinking on that question, and I've decided it's mainly been
experience.  Sure, I've read a lot of books, and I've joined (and
left) countless forums like this one, but ultimately, it's been time
and exposure.

  The university classes I took in Comp Sci did nothing for me in this
department.  Some of them were good (some stunk), but ultimately, CS
is about something very different than practical computing.  Sometimes
the background comes in handy, but that's about it.  (I'm not putting
down CS, just saying it's about something different.)

  I haven't had much direct experience with the "certification" and
"practical training" classes, but from what I have seen, most of it
has the opposite problem: Focused exclusively on task-based knowledge.
 "If you need A, do B.  If you need C, do D."  Nothing about why and
how and history and all that good stuff.

  I think, to be good in any field, you have to be driven to learn
more than you have to, and do more than you have to.  To be good in
*this* field, you additionally need good analytical and
problem-solving skills, and enjoy taking things apart to see how they
work.  I suspect the ability to enjoy and do well at learning by
reading is also extremely beneficial, if not essential.

  I suspect an interest in the history of the field helps.  Not just
where computing is going, but where it has been.  If nothing else, it
teaches you some of the mistakes that have already been made.  It
helps put things in perspective.  It also teaches you that most
everything that comes along has been done before and will be done
again.

  As for specific resources, like so many others, I turn to books (and
online equivalents) a lot.  I've got shelves full of O'Reilly "animal
books".  I've spent serious time at The Linux Documentation Project
(http://www.tldp.org), which is HOWTO heaven.  I learned shell
programming by reading "man bash".  Not very sexy, but it works.

  Community has helped me immeasurably.  Forums like this one, and
some of the comp.unix.* groups before Usenet died in a hell of spam.
On the 'doze side of the world, the nt-sysadmin list.  Aside from my
own questions, I see answers to other people's questions.  I see
answers to questions I didn't know to ask.  I see all those FAQ's --
and they're Frequently Asked for a reason.

  I also saw patterns.  There are patterns in most of the mistakes
people make. There are patterns in how the gurus approached problem
solving.  Very hard to codify this, but many people here will know
what I mean.

  If I had to put it words, I'd say it involves taking a
scientific/engineering approach to everything.  Learning, design,
operations, problem-solving, everything.  If you're guessing and
hoping and doing trial-and-error all the time, you're never going to
be as good as the gurus.

  And finally, to be a true zen master Unix sys admin, you have to
read and grok the Jargon file (http://www.jargon.org).  ;-)

  "There is no silver bullet." -- Fred Brooks

-- Ben