I just read a document over at Really Linux that drives home the point that one of Linux’s major hurdles in gaining acceptance is the arrogant assholes that bash newbies trying to learn the ropes of the OS. I have to agree with it. In my own experiences in experimenting with Linux I have found that there is little out there to encourage a new user to continue their studies. The posts and responses of many of these rude jerks in forums provide so little constructively to encourage learning, that they turn the uninitiated away forever.
Kind of reminds me of some of the Jazz snobs at Berklee.
Or jazz snobs ANYWHERE, for that matter!
Well, I don’t have the real-life experience to confirm whether or not this is true for the IT community, but I’d imagine that it holds true: The bigger the snob, the more insecure and inept they probably are. They are very often not as good as they want you to believe they are. Not always, but often.
The Jazz teachers that got through to me are amazing people as well as amazing musicians. Being a dick never gets you anywhere… it doesn’t matter if you ARE brilliant. No one wants to work with you.
I should also say that Rock has more than it’s share of snobs, and they are kind of like the hicks in New England who think they are exempt from being Rednecks because they’re not from the south.
You know… Massholes.
Oh yah man…every group has its snobs. Rock snobs are the kids that dress the part and try to act the part, and think less of you if you don’t, or if you don’t listen to the “in” bands…total weenies.
Thats one of them. I had the guys in mind who make every effort not to learn anything about music because “music shouldn’t have rules” and then end up play the same regurgitated crap that has been churned out for the last 20 years.
Yeah, I know that dude too. “Learning to read music limits you,” “knowing scales stifles cerativity,” and blah blah blah. Tell that to Jimmy Page.
But back on topic. In my brief forays into tech issues, whether it’s trying to learn a program or getting help for various hardware or software issues, I find myself completely turned off by the absolute arrogance of the people: it’s like dealing with a bunch of people who never grew out of that smarmy, adolescent fourteen-year-old mentality. Luckily for me, many of my cloesest friends are tech gurus, so they help me through my troubles with a smile on their face and not a disparaging word.
Linux snobs totally suck!! I am a software developer and all through college I had to deal with geeks who were into Linux and would snob out everybody, including some of the professors about how much they knew. The one thing I have definitely figured out though is that the person who acts like he/she knows everything, usually knows a lot of useless info that they just paraphrase back to you. Every genius programmer I have ever known acts like they know nothing, asks tons of questions and then provides you with results that blow everything anybody else could do away. I always learned the most anyways when I owuld enter into a learning environment with relative newbies who all wanted to learn instead of laugh at others for not knowing it already! Good Thought Provoking post
Prestone — you hit the nail on the head. Same holds true for network people, not just programmers (this is another huge arena for linux). I hate the snobbish types. They don’t realize two things: we were/are all newbies at one time and the more you know the more you realize you don’t know.
Gentoo rulez! I’m l33t because I use it! I bet you can’t compile your own kernel!
just kidding.
i am a gentoo user though — it’s just so much more flexible than others i’ve used in the past. they do have a great community who’s willing to help even the newest newbies.