Inside a Mind of a Linux Admin: A Story Forged Through Time

All of us, at some point of in our lives, have in some form knowingly or unknowingly been touched by the beauty of Linux. First timers, always have felt the need to exaggerate themselves as hackers or some cool dude who can break into shells and terminals using guided instructions either from GitHub repositories or YouTube. However, over the years, the need for showing off to your peers gradually turns into passion and appreciation. This notion of simplicity eventually morphs a young hustler to being more patient and mindful of how you perceive the digital world in a nutshell.

Early years are always the best for a young mind whose purpose in life is a bit strayed. You are bound to explore, make mistakes, learn, be happy and content with whichever path you choose to take. Similarly, a Linux fresher feels the same way when they find themselves bounded with many options. Most commonly, people are inspired through movies, documentary series or some famous influencer etc. that made it sound cool. Specially in today’s day and age, it is more prevalent. Most people are made to opt for more known over the top distros such as Ubuntu, RedHat or CentOS ( now Rocky ) either via social chain or through the most acclaimed websites on search engine consoles. Either way, the young hustler starts its journey towards its core with limitless procrastination and less practicality. The main reason being less guidance towards foundational knowledge. Many of us never started off the right way to understand filesystems, architecture or basic instructions set to start off. This knowledge was found through years and years of repeated firing of commands to the point where muscle memory automatically grasps the gist of what it is trying to do and through which your mind makes up a concept of what it actually does. On the other hand, same can be said for people who attend Linux course to understand basic as well but ideally not everyone has the privilege or financial circumstances to cover the expenses at those age. As a result, free and opensource knowledge comes as a blessing for everyone not fortunate enough to learn it through proper means. However, a dilemma slowly counters the intuition you have for Linux: Are you really into it because of the love for it or is it just a passing interest that you want to show off one time to your dear friends ?

Unix is user-friendly. It’s just very selective about who its friends are.

– Anonymous

This skepticism is innate with all human beings in general because we live in a logically behaved society. You are bound to challenge your way of thinking regardless of if a person has challenged you or not. Every knowledge comes with a price, the price of over confidence and egoistic beliefs that each of us possess at some point in time. Rarely you ever see a person morph into the way you are expected to be once you attain those knowledge. But most of us are young leaves ready to takeover head on without a care for consequences. This subtle but sad reality really takes over the game for couple of years before we realize what was the actual requisites that was needed to fulfill the aspirations you had it in the first place. The building blocks for what was to come becomes a playground to revive yourself from boredom with no basic concept and a knowledge full of potholes and heavily misunderstood. Most of us at that stage either leave for a better entertainment to keep the bandwagon rolling or realize the true essence of what the knowledge really conveyed all those years, acknowledge and accept the failures of the past.

After realization, Every person has to step into their basic roots of how they perceive the digital and real world in a nutshell. The very first thing after realization is keeping it simple. The fact that every command and sub-system serves a purpose to a greater outcome has always been a forefront mantra in general. You only address what you need and let others be at rest until it is required to do so. This in result helps to isolate your focus on a problem before jumping to the next instant. Patience is another factor that kicks in. This unlocks observation skills to like never before. This ideal person now has the capacity to perceive all things from the root as they can navigate their way to all paths without any setbacks. This self guided thought process along the way creates a massive network of mind maps which the person will be able to recall whenever something is not correct or is missing. Ultimately, the person once a hustler turns into a seasoned admin with years of experience over his back and prime years ahead to enchant any professional expertise. But at the core of their heart, all that matters is balance of performance and efficiency.

What’s next ? the passionate admin now finds a humble abode where he can explore the vast desert like a vagabond with a simple approach and mindful application. The life over the years become more clearer and meaningful knowing the ability you possess has fruitful purpose to serve and yet you remain humble enough to guide young leaves to even more greater depth to keep the cycle going. In due time, this marks the legacy of a true Linux admin whose purpose defines and inspires many to find their own version of simplicity and appreciation towards the knowledge they embark upon all behind the screen firing from a desk.