29 Reasons Why YOU Could be a GREAT Linux Engineer

Some consider Linux to be the most powerful and successful software of all time. If you’re like most people, you’ve been hearing tales of greatness for years (maybe even decades), but never really dove in. Even advanced programmers or engineers can feel intimidated by its unique nature, but the fact is that anyone with an interest is capable of doing great things with Linux. It’s free and totally open source, meaning you can do whatever you want with it with little to no risk factors.

I’ve been interested in Linux for quite some time, but I’m not sure I have what it takes!

Fear not; we are here to save the day and clear all your doubts. We’ve worked with programmers, engineers, and developers of all skills and backgrounds and have managed to put together a super list of everything that makes a Linux engineer GREAT.

You have what it takes to be GREAT if:

1. The relationship between human and machine has always fascinated you.

2. You are curious by nature — you’re the type of person that likes taking things apart to see how they work.

3. You’re a control freak and proud of it. You have eyes everywhere and are ready to tackle anything that comes your way.

4. You like being a part of an online community and belonging to a group of people with passion.

5. You spend your life tweaking and preening everything you can until its exactly how you like it.

6. You value transparency and good communication in all aspects of your life.

7. You spend every waking moment figuring out how to make things faster and more efficient.

8. You thrive on the power that comes with figuring things out. You get immense satisfaction from learning all the time.

9. You care about the process just as much as the end result. To you, the thrill of the chase is just as satisfying, if not more, than achieving your goals.

10. You understand the relationship between cause and effect.

11. You like manipulating things to make them behave in a way that the original design was never expected to do.

12. You love automating every day tasks.

13. Security is not something you take for granted.

I do have some experience with Linux, but how do I know if I can be GREAT?

You are on your way to being GREAT if:

14. To you, Linux is more than a job or career opportunity; it’s a lifestyle.

15. You’ve tried different distributions throughout your life and have your own comments and opinions about each.

16. You know that the only real differences between distributions is their maintainer philosophy, default package choices, and default configurations. If you wanted to, you know that Linux is Linux; you could make one behave exactly as another with no problem.

17. At least once in your life, you’ve successfully compiled your own kernel from scratch in order to make it as lean, efficient, and hardware specific as possible.

18. At least once, you have “sniffed” network traffic, just because.

19. You know the difference between a Black Hat and a White Hat hacker, and that those skills can be used for good as well as evil.

20. You understand how the network layer works as well as DNS.

21. You are familiar with most of the things that power the internet, from routers, to firewalls, to cloud infrastructures, and how it all comes back to Linux.

22. You understand and can comment on the flame war between vim and emacs, and can say you have had at least one discussion about systemd.

Ok, so I’m pretty much a Linux expert. But am I GREAT?

You’re GREAT if:

23. You don’t depend on a GUI. You look at a mouse with disdain, knowing everything you could ever want to do is achievable through the command line.  You know what the word TTY is, and even understand what a baud rate is.

24. You know and recognize the power of the “Enter” key and treat it with the respect of a nuclear launch button.

25. You love your root access, but never forget that “with great power comes great responsibility.”

26. You prefer to build things yourself rather than rely on third party software.

27. You’re paranoid, and rightly so — you always assume that any system that you build or configure can and will be compromised.

28. You can happily use a Linux Live distribution to fix a broken Windows system.

29. When people tell you that Linux is a hobbyist’s OS compared to the Mac or Windows, you snicker…

Do you have what it takes to be a GREAT Linux Engineer?

If your answer is “yes,” then LinuxMagic wants YOU!

We are looking for great engineers to intern with us this summer. You have the knowledge, the know-how, and a passion for all things Linux; all you need is the experience and training that comes with working at an established Linux development firm.

What you bring to the table:

• You have a strong desire to learn accompanied with a great customer service attitude;
• You’re involved in various open source projects, whether it be as a contributor, a volunteer, etc.;
• You love puzzles, challenges, and aren’t afraid of the unknown.

If you want real life experience that will benefit you throughout your career, LinuxMagic is the place for you! To apply, send us your resume and cover letter to jobs@linuxmagic.com

We can’t wait to hear from you!