Linux
21 July 2002, 6:05 PM

Last week I spent two days in a training seminar for installing, configuring and securing Linux.

I learned a lot, but it was also quite an ego boost to realize just how much I already knew . (And a bit of an eye-opener to realize that I had already assumed that I was not capable or knowledgable enough and that I would need much more training than it turned out I needed.) I'd been a *nix shell account user for ten years, so I knew a lot of basics and felt comfortable at the command line right away. It's also nice to know that I'd absorbed a lot by just listening to my sweetie talk about the sysadmin kinds of things he was doing. Now a LOT more things I'd already heard about, like "nfs", "ip masquarading" and "system V run levels" actually make sense to me.

Oh, and in a class of 11 people - I was the only woman. At least now there's one more woman out there who knows this kind of stuff.

The class was great. The instructor was not only very knowledgable, but he was a very good teacher too boot. On top of it all, it was a much needed change of pace from a lot of what I do now, which seems to be more policy and politics than the old hands-on stuff I used to do. Sometimes I feel like I'm in over my head. But after this class I felt "smart" again. It was a much needed ego boost. And just getting to spend the day at the command line, learning new stuff and being a geek felt like a vacation.

Looking back, I realize that this is the second time where I actually HAD a lot of skills to begin with, but thought that I didn't because, well... I don't know why really. I just know that back when I was a college student (late 80's early 90's), and I was applying for a part-time job in an enginneering college computer lab I was nervously thinking the whole time that I couldn't POSSIBLY be qualified for the job. Sure I knew a lot of computer stuff, and I'd learned a lot of cutting edge stuff hands-on, but I couldn't possiby know as much as the engineering students would - I was a mere anthropology/biology student! Surely I had been exposed to less than they had...

I was WRONG. Really, REALLY wrong. Within weeks of getting the job it was apparent that I was the MOST skilled person with those various pieces of hardware, operating systems, software, and internet services - of any students that worked there or any student and most faculty that dropped by! I was troubleshooting systems, teaching basic internet skills and answering a lot of questions. Later, I'd be working full-time for the university, teaching a lot of these same things in workshops.

That same thing occured to me in the past two days. All this time I've assumed I really didn't know that much about the "root" end of a linux system - I think because there was usually only one person who was root, and it was so hidden and mysterious. I couldn't possibly know enough to be qualified to install Linux, configure it, set it up on a network and set up user accounts, because I'd never seen the mysteries of root.

But, even though I was the only woman there, I was the MOST knowledgable person about Linux (and expereinced to boot) besides the instructor. There were only two guys there that knew more about a particular aspect - networking and security - than I did. I'd learned so much by just doing things, reading, playing with the syustem, and listening to others (Like linuxchix and the guys I knew who were doing this sort of thing) troubleshoot, etc. Even so, I didn't realize the extent of my own skills. It was rather empowring to come out of that class having learned a lot of new stuff AND having organized everything I already know into something more clear - like having all the puzzle pieces fall into place.

Anyway. Thought I'd share a newbie's epiphany.