Reading 10: Torvalds
Blog 10:
As an absolute alpha male, I don’t relate to Torvalds upbringing at all. /s
Actually, I can see a lot of similarities between his childhood and mine. Well, mostly just in the sense that I also enjoyed sitting in front of a computer 24/7. Though, I can’t say I wholly connect with “how” he used computers growing up and his overall fondness for it. Honestly, I kind of wish i spent less time on computers in high school, though it probably made me who I am. He seemed to have very “big brain” connections with his childhood on computers. I did program growing up on my first computer, but i didn’t do nearly what he seemingly did. I just made “shit posts” and small games that I thought were fun.
I really think his exposure to computers paired with his status as a “nerd” and perhaps more outcast-ey really drove him into hackerdom. That seems to be the general trend with a lot of the LEET hackers we learned about this semester.
With all of this being said, I am not sure what to feel about the story of Linux. I would call it more interesting than inspiring, as it is really cool how a community clinged on to a small project from college Linus and it became what it is today. However, I am impressed in his ability to make the kernel in general. That’s pretty dope and honestly I couldn’t do that (yet maybe?). I blame my operating systems class.
Comparing Torvalds to a Jobs or Gates is very interesting, as we are talking about some of the most wealthy and conventionally powerful figures in technology. However, we have “humble” Linus dominating the cloud computing space with his operating system. I feel like from what I remember of Gates’s story, they seem to be two cut from the same cloth actually, minus the whole sellout “American” values of Gates. I really feel like Torvalds feels like the hippie Gates, or perhaps just the European Gates. Jobs I don’t see much of a connection.
Personally, I hope my story is honestly closer to Gates if I were to choose, as I honestly like money. I really don’t think I know enough to be a Torvalds or a Gates yet at least. There hasn’t been a problem I feel like I could aptly solve. However, I do believe in learning through industry I could absolutely see myself getting annoyed about something not existing or existing and sucking and wanting to fix it myself, as I have done in previous internships. Just currently, I am really ready just to work and grind out at a job on what I’m told to do. Maybe thats a lame story, but it could be an epic origin story at least.
~ Sam