| [Tags**|geek, linux, self-improvement, work] [Current Mood** |
thoughtful]A year ago I didn't really know anything about udev—okay, I knew what it was, but not how to drive it. Two years ago I didn't really know anything about the device mapper. Now I wonder how I ever claimed to know anything about Linux, and I wonder what other bits I really ought to know about but don't.Working where I do, with some really good people, it's been easy to see myself as mediocre, verging on the inadequate. Teaching other people has been quite the dose of perspective. Not only do I know a heck of a lot more than many people whom The Bank has graced with higher technical ranks than me, I apply it with a lot more energy, and with a lot more nous about what a computer is actually used for. (That's to say: when faced with a broken computer, fixing it is way down the list of priorities.)It's not good to spend much time comparing yourself to other people. You start depending on it for your self-image, which then begins to rollercoaster up and down depending on whom you're comparing yourself to at any given moment. But if you've been feeling a little overwhelmed from being surrounded by people who're markedly better than you at what you do, then it's kind of nice to be reminded that you're by no means at the bottom of the heap. |