Weblog entry #1 for medwayman
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3 years on, I realise that I can now install, configure and maintain my Debian servers, largely thanks to this site and a little help from friends. Just recently I've taken on a dedicated host, and have happily set that up as an MTA, webhost, and a backup repository.
But there seems to be a whole load of stuff that I still don't know, sometimes I stumble with basic command line stuff, and feel like a real newbie, but then realise that if I can set up an internet server I can't be.
So is it a state of mind? Just when does one stop being a newbie?
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For instance, I've been using Linux only a little longer than you, and I've set up a lot of stuff, but I've never set up any sort of email-related service (MTA, POP3 server, etc). If I had to, though, I'm pretty sure I could read a man page or two, google up a howto, or locate a good O'Reilly PDF and figure out what to do to get the job done and done right.
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It has the wonderful benefit of NEVER being taken on any forum, wiki, or other account-based site I join.
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I think you stop being a newbie when you feel confident that you yourself can accomplish the tasks you wish to perform.
Whether that means you know how to do something, or you know how to find out, is mostly irrelevant.
I tend to think it is a mindset thing. Some people will say "I'd like to do X - but I don't know how", wheras a non-newbie would say "I want to do X - lets get started".
It doesn't mean you know everything, it doesn't mean it will be easy, and it might not even work. But that initial attempt and the searching for help is what makes the difference.
A newbie will follow a tutorial and if one of the steps shows an error they will give up. Somebody more involved will think "Hmmm this guide step is broken. Lets go search google/call bob/whatever".
Still these are kinda vague questions and answers. Its like asking "how old are mature people?"...
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To add perhaps a wee bit to the other fine answers in this thread...
As someone who has professionally supported assorted UNIX flavors off-and-on since 1995, my feel is that your journey away from newbie-ness starts to begin when you realize that there is far more breadth and depth to UNIX and TCP/IP than you will ever be able to grasp or learn, and that any one person can only be a true, bona fide, charlie-potatoes expert in an pretty darned limited realm.
Mind you, this doesn't neccesarilly occur at the same time as when you gain reasonable competance in aspects of UNIX critical to your own needs.
A corrolary is that there will always be somebody smarter than you, even in your own field(s) of expertise.
Yet another corellary is that the exception proves the rule.
My thoughts, worth exactly what you paid for 'em.
cheers,
ybiC
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What is worse, you forget things you did know, and by the time you come back to them, things have moved on. So you can become a newbie again at things you knew well. I used GNU Emacs at University, and I really wish I'd stuck with it, as I can't be bothered to learn it again, now it does so much more. Similarly I was very proficient in Fortran when it was FORTRAN 77, now I'm not even sure how to capitalize the name. When I used Java it was a small language, with just a handful of libraries to learn about outside of those SUN supplied, with no huge corporate frameworks.
When I programmed HP-UX, I understood all about shared libraries, archive libraries, and knew by heart the tools to manipulate them on that platform. This week I'm reading the Debian guidelines on libtool, and realising just how much more than I knew (and I was above average on those sort of things as a programmer) the average Debian developer must grasp merely to package up software for the Debian project correctly (or they can mindlessly follow the procedures and hope!).
I think it was best summed up by a friend who pointed out that a modern operating system typically has many more configurable items than the hardware in a modern aeroplane. So you should not expect to understand more than a small fragment of it.
If it makes you feel better, I've seen comments on the kernel mailing lists, which lead me to think it wouldn't be a good idea to trust many of the contributors there to set up my email servers. But that's okay, they wouldn't want my C code in the kernel either.
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NEWBIE - you know very little and have no idea what you don't know but you assume you don't know. You tend to be careful and ask questions as you're not confident yet.
(OVER) CONFIDENT NEWBIE - you know something but still have no idea what you don't know. You can be rash and do stupid things as you do not know your boundaries.
SKILLED - you know than before but more importantly you know where your knowledge ends. You know when to be confident and when to ask for help.
Your plain newbie is harmless but can be a pain with all the questions but as general rule they don't break things. The middle ground is the most dangerous stage as they easily break things. Once you know when to ask for help and when you can do things on your own you're not a newbie any more - but that doesn't make you an expert.
I cringe at the things I've done in the past when I was a confident newbie. Now I'm quite happy, I know what I know and more importantly what I don't.
--
"It's Not Magic, It's Work"
Adam
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