Ask HN: How did you get started in tech and/or Linux?

I was not involved in tech growing up. In high school I was more interested in sports (XC/track, wanted to run in college) and science.

I did my undergrad in neuroscience with the intent of going to grad school and getting into research. After getting some research experience in undergrad (genetic research on DNA transcription patterns of certain bacteria), I realized that I didn’t really enjoy research. It might’ve been that the professor I worked for was an awful mentor and it might’ve just been the nature of the beast.

So I broadened my horizons and decided to apply to PA schools as well as grad programs. Wasn’t accepted to any of them, so I spent some time getting healthcare experience in nursing. I got a job in a critical care unit at a hospital. I disliked the job (for a lot of reasons, I like to think I’m not a terrible person for disliking it) but I learned a ton about working with people well, dealing with hard situations, and prioritizing what is important in crises situations.

Another round of applying to PA and grad school got me nothing even when talking to profs who were interested in my work and helping with theirs. At this point I was so frustrated I decided to go a different route. I was really good at stats so I started teaching myself “data science” and Python. I contacted the nearby university about what it would take to get into a masters program for software development with little to no prior experience. Thankfully they let me in and my life changed pretty dramatically.

In school I ditched data science and instead got interested in security. I got really interested in exploit development especially in kernels. My masters work actually was still a data science tool because I partnered with a local security company, but now I work in R&D at another security company and my current project involves developing applications with BPF in the Linux kernel.

I feel like I’ve come a really long way, but I gained many skills along the way that I noticed many of my coworkers don’t have. Namely, because of an academic history I’m better at starting projects from ground zero knowing little to nothing about a technology and I tend to have stronger communication skills. I have some ways to go to be as solid of an engineer as I’d like, but I’m very happy where I am in life and I’m happy to be in tech :)

Sorry for the essay! Hope someone enjoys it!

I'd watch a film of this story.

A girl I fancied in school used Linux (various distributions, installing new ones to try out was a hobby of hers). I had been meaning to try it out anyhow, but being able to impress her with Linux skills was the trigger to actually get into it. Also Python; she was also into Python and so I started on learning that as well.

Took me a few months to get settled, initially using Linux Mint, but I never looked back. I actually tried going back to Windows when buying a new laptop and the latest hardware just wasn't supported at all, figuring I'd just modify and tweak it in every possible way, but it is just too cumbersome and inflexible now that I'm used to Debian.

As for the girl, the impress-her part worked well enough I think but sadly we never got together and ended up losing touch. Sometimes I wonder if she's alive: accounts on all social media are inactive since years and while she didn't seem unhappy, she was an unusual person and didn't easily fit in with society. I hope she's okay.

Knowing Linux and Python are invaluable skills for the work I do now. If I hadn't started then, I would have had to catch up later or maybe ended up in a more standard tech job, so a head start there was definitely good to get a foot in the door at places that use both extensively in pentesting.

I got a thinkpad when I was 10 years old, found my first use for it when world of warcraft was released a few weeks later.

Recovering from World of Warcraft addiction at age 12 (having spent the time fully immersed all day every day) caused me to read B.F. Skinner's research.

I was quite shocked reading about the Skinner boxes and felt empathy for the mice after having been trapped in one myself.

By coincidence I went with a friend to a lecture at the local university at this time... some guy called Richard Stallman was speaking about computers.

I came home and installed Linux, I have been learning what I need to participate in this fight ever since.

Originally I just wanted to be free from manipulation, so I put in the hours to protect myself.. but now I want everyone to be free from manipulations so I try to find out which kind of software I should contribute and maintain to move us closer to that dream.

1965, sixteen years old, learned FORTRAN at a summer Math Camp. Walked off the street and got a programming job with an insurance company in 1970 (Assembler).