Sunday, March 30, 2014

Computer Geeks - Who Are They?


The word geek pertains to an odd person, an enthusiast, an expert-overly obsessed with things such as technology, intellect and the alike. Nerd, gimp, dweeb, dork and spod are akin to being a geek.

Nerd is a socially awkward person who had learned technical skills through the spare time they enjoy from being neglected. However, dork, still a socially awkward person but he doesn't have the intelligence to fill the void with technical pursuits. A dork is forced to do foolish activities. He is mostly alone with an XBOX (a video game console from Microsoft) and likes playing Halo (a science fiction video game) all day, everyday. Nevertheless, geek is an outwardly normal person who devotes his time to learn technical skills. They have a normal social life like anyone else. You can tell someone "he's a geek", if they acknowledge their own skills.

Earlier, geek is being described as an insult but recently turns out to be a compliment, a badge of honor to a particular field, an extra ordinary skill. In recent history, some geeks have promoted geek culture like for instance a geek humor and design a fashion statement like the so called geek chic. But still the definition remains to that of a person engrossed in his area of interest at the value of social skills, personal hygiene and status.

To be a computer geek is profitable and very fulfilling. Why? The highest paying jobs available and highly in demand is to be a computer guru or a geek. Becoming a computer geek means you have to learn a lot of computer stuff. Like for instance, you must learn the hardware and software of your computer, the specs (meaning technical specifications) of a computer, how to use your computer's command line, learn to ask about anything, learn a programming language (CSS, HTML for web pages) and basic repair procedures, interact with others, learn to recognize computer viruses, spyware, etc., use a restrictive firewall and an open source operating system (BSAD or linux), use shortcuts, know how the internet works, always remember to keep things simple and expand your knowledge.

A true computer geek never stops learning. They are always open to something new and if they don't understand, they ask for help. Their objective is to collect knowledge and put things together into a perspective. Frequently, they read articles on Wikipedia. They too join computer forums for programming languages or just mere regular forums. Computer geeks do not talk with chat room languages but use command line to write instead. They are as always a person with genuine interest and passion on computer technology who wants to learn everything.