Geeks vs 9 to 5'ers

by Tracy R Reed — last modified Jan 15, 2008 12:19 PM

When I look for employees or look for an employer I consider whether they are a real "geek" (which these days is a serious compliment)or just a 9 to 5'er. This message, posted to OSNews.com explains the difference quite well. I'm quoting it here in case the original message disappears someday:

 geeks vs 9-5'ers
 by TechGeek (3.49) on Mon 14th Jan 2008 03:07 UTC
 TechGeek
 Member since:
 2006-01-14
 
 Working at a university I see a lot of trends that people talk
 about. Its easy to spot these when you have seen thousands of
 students cycle through your program. The attitude that Open Source
 users are more capable looks like its true on the surface. But its
 just an illusion. The real problem is that there are two types of IT
 people, as I like to label them, the geeks and the 9to5'ers.
 
 We have students who just went in to IT because they thought it
 would be a good career. These are the 9to5'ers. They do the minimum
 learning to skate by. And nothing is easier to look good at running
 than Windows. Thats not to say it IS that easy to do well, but with
 a little knowledge its pretty easy to look like you know what your
 doing. These people don't touch linux or unix because it requires a
 lot more effort to learn it to any degree of proficiency.

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This comment misses an important point

Posted by Anonymous User at Feb 14, 2008 05:14 PM

Well characterized, however, I think this misses a/the big point. It makes it sound like the choice to run Windows vs UN*X/*nuxes is merely one of 'convenience of administration' and ignores the benefits/fruits that will be reaped expending that extra effort learning *superior* technologies.

Right

Posted by Tracy R Reed at Feb 24, 2008 10:52 PM

But convincing people that they really are superior technologies is the hard part. :)