Date: Sat, 03 Jul 1999 18:11:08 -0600 From: Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com> To: "Brian F. Feldman" <green@unixhelp.org> Cc: Janie Dykes <jkn33@pangeatech.com>, freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: how to start to be a hacker? Message-ID: <377EA69C.6729DB43@softweyr.com> References: <Pine.BSF.4.10.9907031750190.40035-100000@janus.syracuse.net>
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"Brian F. Feldman" wrote: > > On Sat, 3 Jul 1999, Janie Dykes wrote: > > > When scouring through the threads - this one in particular caught my > > attention. In my experience, which is still very new, I think all of > > you make excellent points. For the most part, the novice/average > > person, believes that hackers are malicious, destructive individuals. A > > huge number of computer users are misled and misinformed about the true > > definition of the term 'hacker'. This is unfortunate - if those people > > could spend some time reading the brilliant posts to this list, they > > might realize that we are not all 16 year olds, hiding behind the glow > > *cough* Care to explain that comment? Trust me, greenie, those of us who a FAR from 16 wish we weren't. ;^) You're obviously not the wastrel Janie is talking about here. THEY're all over at SlashDot calling me names. ;^) > > The > > first time I experienced that curiosity - I got a little carried away. > > eh hem I learned that my skills, which included aptness > > and dexterity, had been misdirected. Upon my awakening, I was blessed > > with my mentor. He challenged me to use my skills productively. One of the important aspects of being a hacker is discipline, both self-discipline and team discipline when working with others. Both are learned behavior for the typical hacker type; something you have to develop an admiration for before you are even willing to try it yourself. A certain amount of discretion is called for as well, which can ONLY be learned by experience. In the meantime, a good mentor can help by giving advice (and/or an occasional butt-kicking) to avoid doing something REALLY stupid. These two traits are certainly not unique to hacking, that's why mentoring is a concept as old as the children of Adam and Eve. In fact, I've found it to be MUCH more important in other occupations, like motorcycling, sailing, and chemistry. ;^) > > In > > retrospect, I learned [the hard way] and gained some experience with Preferably without losing any body parts? > > some help from my mentor [some of you may know Peter Mountain - > > BRU2000]. All in all, there are many contributing factors to becoming a > > hacker. I rarely post to this list - so I hope that my lengthy post > > doesn't offend. So on that note - I will continue observing the minds > > at work. No problem, you're always welcome. Do try to keep the quoting to a minimum. ;^) -- "Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?" Wes Peters Softweyr LLC http://softweyr.com/ wes@softweyr.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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