Federal Linux

Geeks vs 9 to 5’ers

Tracy R Reed  | 

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.