Quality of Linux People Declining
 

This is a completely subjective thought on my part. I have noticed here at LQ, and even at my job, that people who say things like "Yeah, I've used Linux for years" generally are horrible at using Linux.

Here at LQ, there are at least 5 current posts where someone is claiming that their title is something on the order of "Linux System Engineer" or "Linux Admin" or similar, and each one of those people is looking for help on how to write a script - and not even attempting it on their own.

Here at my shop, I have a kid that has more experience at Burger King than he does in systems administration, but he sells himself in his resume as a "Senior Linux Administrator" but he is unable to tell me the difference between systemd and sys-v. Apparently he has used Linux for years (Ubuntu) and has written many scripts (Copy and pasted from github).

It just seems like the over all ... education? ... of Linux people is on the decline, especially people who would call themselves experts or engineers.

Thoughts or observations?

Member response
 

Hi,

I have noticed a lot of this type are just by association people who can read but not necessarily perform as an admin. Not saying that is bad but one does need; Does not a admin make. Just someone who knows where to look and how to interpret. Sure the skill to transfer information to the real world is important.

Just like some who claim to be hackers when actually they are nothing more than script kiddies.

Admin is a skill that can be learned and not necessarily via certs but getting into the inner working and understanding what needs to be done and when. Organizational skills are important for a good admin along with intricate understanding of the system. Communication skills are another trait that a admin must have in order to pass information(s) to users.

Here at LQ we do have members that want to help others; But you should not fall into being; Too bad we cannot give out a pill to get the brain boost to allow one to become a superuser. And not just allowing someone to login as one that fools that person into thinking "That's all folks!' to become a superuser. :)

Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!
:hattip:

It seems that way, but it's not always like that.

More is being done on linux than ever before. It's in Android, OSX, watches, SoCs, phones, scanners, etc. More software & drivers are out there to work stuff under linux. It's too big to know everything, as people used to do.
That said, young people have shorter attention spans and are used to GUIs. Who calls pppd these days from the command line? Menu,point & click is just faster. Nobody needs to know anything really - just google it.

Then when google doesn't know, they post a question and nobody might see the value of answering it.

These posers have #coolhashtag stickers on their car bumpers?

Part of the problem is that there's more work to be done. When I was an undergraduate, we were proud that Cambridge had two computers - you can guess how long ago that was! Think how the number of administrators there must have expanded since then - you can't be as choosy as you were.

Then there's the way in which computers have expanded and got more complex. Way back when, I wrote an extension to the OS of my Sinclair QL in Motorola 68000 assembly language; I can't imagine tinkering with the Linux kernel in C!

First let me start off saying that i have used linux for years :) (about 20). Im 60 now and havent had a linux job in years, but i never really knew much about specific systems solutions even tho my last linux job title was "Network and Systems Analyst" completely overblown imo.

All i really ever knew when i was getting paid to do linux was a little perl, a smatterng of shell and other kinds of scripting, general system knowledge, enough php to contribute to web dev and how to use a search engine.
I would rate the last skill as perhaps the most important, no use wasting time on a problem that someone else has solved.

I have to say tho that the attitude of most my cohorts and myself was a little shameless, usually if asked to do something we would just say sure, even if we didnt know how to do it, and then find out how. Literally making it up as we went along.

There is alot i used to do that i have forgotten and thats ok, as long as there is google and lq ill be fine. So i guess i am and was one of those guys you are talking about :)

While not a rocket scientist myself. Who lives by the mantra, "ignorance is bliss".

I can usually tell a poser within a few posts or minutes in person.
My job allows me to walk away from posers and ignore them in a heart beat.

My ignore list here is short and sweet. I do not mind helping a sincere new learner who is polite and has manners.

I guess you are just noticing how Linux going main stream brings in some flotsam and jetsam.
It happens in all things that become popular. Old schoolers know the posers.

I guess they hit a nerve on you at work. Just smile and play dumb with the poser.
Works for me anyways.

I met some real young smart cookies while in Austin Tx. I thought I knew something something till I talked with them. They were kinda surprised I knew a little about linux file structure and linux terms plus was running a small linux touchscreen atom netbook (that everything works) with a Window manager.

But then, I do not look the part. I guess. Motorcycle vest and all. I hope I am not one of the
Because I kinda fit the mold, I guess.

Edit: But. I'd rather be that than a real smart rude Linux genius who
does not try and help at all and puts down newish members because
they are clueless and lost. Though I do yell at Kali users who make grandiose claims (thread title) on how linux messed up their laptop.

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/new...upts-grub.html

So yeah. I guess I am a bit of a a$$hat also. Schizo.

Heh, why limit it to Linux people? One sign of getting older, no doubt, but it seems that from my perspective that the quality of writing, journalism, statesmanship, customer service, medical care, product engineering.... etc etc. has declined and that inflating one's credentials is expected and accepted. O tempora, o mores!

Part of the problem, as I see it, is that there is no system of "apprentice .. journeyman .. master" in our business. Furthermore, there is the expectation that "an H-1B visa hound" (with, by definition, no more than 6 years' on-the-job experience and quite probably less than two ...) will be able to do the work, merely because s/he is "cheaper."

We've never bothered to establish a cohesive career-path ... let alone a system of professional licensure such as exists (say ...) in the business of "low-voltage lighting" or "pipefitting." In the 1990's, we laid-off "expensive" people by the cart-ful, and we removed the "quaint" notion that you could "grow with the company and have a career here." We hired "contractors" instead of full-time employees, and made it abundantly clear that we considered these people to be "irritatingly expensive." Consequently, we have people who will jump-ship like a flea.

Having hired these people, what do we subsequently do with them? If they're "not cutting it," do we offer them training, or do we make them fear a pink-slip? If some mistake happens, is the person who made that mistake gonna bring a box to work with him the next day ("I've never been fired yet, and you're not gonna be the first one to do it!"), or is his/her manager going to step up and take the heat for them?

Quite frankly, I feel that many companies crap on the "foot soldiers" in their IT ranks: refusing to invest in them, and making them feel that the Sword of Damocles is going to drop on them from above, the first moment they show themselves to be human. They "wonder" why they have a (rapidly ...) "revolving door" in their IT departments. But I don't.

As an IT (software) consultant (of more than two dozen years ...), I am usually called-in to "flaming fire" situations, and I almost always find human relations problems bubbling very close to the surface. The situation has drifted out-of-control, the heat is on, and the foot-soldiers are getting parboiled ... briefly.

But, I do not find "the quality of the people" to be declining. I find that the situation ... overall ... sucks large.

sundialsvcs Sales magnates have somehow convinced the world that they are the "income generators" and everyone else is the dead weight of "cost centers" that needs to be minimized.

szboardstretcher, I haven't found this but I also don't talk about Linux with the guys at Burger King... so... LoL

You need to just call people out on their bullshit, implement pair programming to see how they do what they do, and mentor these kids rather than writing them off. They really don't know any better and are just trying to make a career happen in an increasingly uncertain world! You are the man now, dog!

. . . and I ordinarily don't deal with Sales or Finance people.

This is by design. :D

This is the social media generation. You write what you like about yourself. When it comes to applying for a job you fill your application full of superlatives. This goes to a headhunter via a robot which flicks all those applications which don't meet the criteria. Depending on the quality of the headhunter you might get a few pointed questions (nothing to technical mind). You may then get through to the hapless employer who IS likely to ask a few technical questions.

Old lags who actually fill their application with actual experience probably don't make it past the robot.

I doubt the times have changed.

Pretty sure Plumbers, and tree cutters and butchers and doctors all BS their way.

As for me ... I will (graciously ...) not sell these people under the bus.

Instead, I will lay whatever-blame at the feet of "what task we have laid to them." In the name of "saving money," we seem to have decided that we need not "invest money" in those whom we pay to work for us . . .

. . . and we seem to be willing to exact "a dozen decade's worth of e-x-p-e-r-i-e-n-c-e" from . . . (face it, how could they as-of-yet be otherwise?!) . . . "n00b1es."

I wouldn't write off someone for those reasons. How is his actual ability to get the work done?