From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Oct 3 03:51:32 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 13FF916A4CF for ; Sun, 3 Oct 2004 03:51:32 +0000 (GMT) Received: from sccmmhc91.asp.att.net (sccmmhc91.asp.att.net [204.127.203.211]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BF31D43D31 for ; Sun, 3 Oct 2004 03:51:31 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from metaridley@mchsi.com) Received: from kaworu.dave.cedar-falls.ia.us (12-219-24-19.client.mchsi.com[12.219.24.19]) by sccmmhc91.asp.att.net (sccmmhc91) with SMTP id <20041003035130m9100iptrae>; Sun, 3 Oct 2004 03:51:31 +0000 Date: Sat, 2 Oct 2004 22:50:28 -0500 From: Dave Vollenweider To: FreeBSD Questions Message-Id: <20041002225028.05205e9a.metaridley@mchsi.com> X-Mailer: Sylpheed version 0.9.12-gtk2-20040622 (GTK+ 2.4.9; i386-portbld-freebsd5.2.1) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: When Unix Stops Being Fun X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 03 Oct 2004 03:51:32 -0000 This has nothing to do with technical problems, but rather it's more of a request for moral support. This may seem disjointed, so bear with me. I've been using FreeBSD for over six months now, but I've been using Unix-like operating systems for almost two years. I started with Red Hat Linux back when Red Hat was making and selling their "consumer-grade" version of Red Hat Linux, then switched to Debian before going to FreeBSD last March. I now also run NetBSD on one of my machines. Through all this, I've developed a passion for this type of OS, seeing the elegance, performance, and sheer power of Unix. This has affected me to the point of me changing my career path. Before I got into these OSs, I wanted to get into radio. Now I'd rather either be a system administrator or run my own consulting business for entities that use these types of OSs. But herein lies the problem I've been having lately: while searching around for what I'd need to know to become a system administrator, I came across this page: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2001/8/13/131727/462 and I'm overwhelmed by the sheer amount of knowledge I'd have to gain. It took me almost two years to get to where I am today, and it looks like I've barely scratched the surface of what I'd need to know. But now, I feel like instead of learning things on my own for fun, I have to learn other things I don't really have a need to learn for myself or that I want to, just so that I can apply that to oth er peoples' situations. The result is that lately learning these OSs has become more of a chore than a fun hobby, and I'm still intimidated by what I need to learn to get to where I want to go. It almost seems like it's not worth it. Now, being that I know there are some very experienced people on this list, I'm betting that I'm not the only one that has experienced this, that learning new things in Unix-like OSs becomes more of a chore than something to do for fun. My question is, what advice would you have for dealing with this?