---

The Importance Of Being An Idiot

“There appears to be a general culture in IT, partly, but not
completely, because it is male dominated, that it is bad to say the
wrong thing, reveal your weaknesses, or be an ‘idiot.’ I have been
an Engineer for about 10 years now, and I have felt it from the
beginning. When I first started learning Unix/Linux at the
beginning of my career, I felt stupid quite a bit, and was afraid
to ask questions as there was a culture that scoffed at ‘stupid
questions.’ Why don’t you read the manual, ‘idiot’?

“When I transitioned from working as a sysadmin to working as a
Video Engineer in Film and Television, I felt the same way. By that
point, I had done enough in my life that I wasn’t as deterred to
ask stupid questions, but I do remember several times people
telling me, you should know this, why are you asking this
question…?”


Complete Story

Related Story:
Linus
Explains Why Open Source Works
(Aug 13, 2007)

Get the Free Newsletter!

Subscribe to Developer Insider for top news, trends, & analysis